The Hobbit, or There and Back Again question

Whenever I see a scathing or otherwise controversial opinion posted about a book I love, I always feel the need to check out that person's profile to see what's on their Favourites shelf(am I the only one who does this?). Sort of a "Well, what DO you like?" And if you do that here, well...let's just say that it says a lot about why young Elebu didn't like this book. Too few love triangles and teen-angst scenes, I presume.

If the title of this thread had been I Hated The Hobbit, there could be no dispute. If you hate it, you hate it. But to say it is "horrible" suggests a critical analysis of its worth, but a simple emotional response to the story doesn't substitute for reasoned judgment.

The Hobbit was written as a children's story and should be judged first on that level. It also formed the inspiration for writing Lord of the Rings and deserves special hommage for that if for no other reason.

Tolkien's works were ground-breaking and set the standard for every work of fantasy that followed--and even the sub-genres that developed. Some may argue that others have done better since--I would not be one of them--but Tolkien did it first and with no trail-blazer to open a path first.

LotR is my favorite book of all time and I have to admit I dont' find The Hobbit to be on the same level. But I appreciate it as the precursor of a great work and as a brilliant children's story.
I find it sad that many of the younger generations today fail to appreciate the traditional hero's story or grasp the underlying brilliance of what Tolkien had to say about a simple hobbit who lived in a hole in the ground. I know that no book can be loved by everyone, but I truly feel sorry for those who can't be touched by the genius of The Hobbit and especially The Lord of the Rings. I would open everyone's hearts and minds to it if I could, but that is not in my power. In the mean time, it is best for anyone who does not appreciate the contribution The Hobbit and then The Lord of the Rings made to fantasy literature to avoid attaching value judgments that simply cannot be justified. In no universe can Tolkien's work be called "horrible". Unappreciated by some, yes, horrible, no.

Yes, a horrible book! I couldn't put it down, I was held captive by it for a day until I finished it because it kept me ensnared in a engrossing, compelling story. And then guess what happened? I was forced to read The Lord of the Rings because I was so fascinated by Middle Earth. Look what reading The Hobbit did to me! Now I read fantasy all the time . . . oh, that I not read The Hobbit.

Elebu wrote: "Do you like this book? I think it was horrible! Others may not. What do you think?"

I LOVED IT!!

Middle Earth got another troll

http://reddkaiman.blogspot.com/2013/0...

I've noticed that a lot of folks who express negative opinions about a book don't seem to be able or willing to articulate what it is that they don't like. Whether an opinion is positive or negative, if it isn't supported by anything, it's really not very valuable.

So, it's not enough to say you didn't (or did) like this book. What is it that you didn't like? If you can't say what you didn't like... your opinion is probably not worth paying attention to.

Oh dear, you did NOT just call The Hobbit horrible. I can understand that it is not your cup of tea, but calling it horrible is just an outrage to English Literature.

You might not like, even despise it, but give it a chance...

I do not aim at anyone who has revealed their point of views under this thread. And, no offence, but if you try to base your opinions about fantastic literature only depending on the plot then you will near to a Sundays-reading-group-guide.

I dare say literature is a scientific approach to life and prepares you to 'look through a glass darkly'.

Thus, fantastic literature ought not to be understood as a bamboozling and a little-touch-with-reality engagement. Not to mention the widespread, long-held, false belief that fantastic literature consists of blundering stories, compilations of sorcery, withcraft, dragons and 'archmages'.

I can not say my opinion is unique, for more detailed information, check Tzvetan Todorov's book titled 'The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, 1973'.

But what I can offer as a different approach not only to 'Hobbit' but also for the LOTR is that fantastic literature is a second-version of the reality in which we live, expressed with exaggeration, emphasizing, how human beings and their problems might still be so central.

Whether under exaggerated situations or in seemingly realistic novels like 'Great Expectations' people feel the hunger to define, understand the world and their own existence, identity or whatsoever. It does not mean that since fantastic literature is more 'childish' it is less serious.

Imagination does not equal to creation. Fantasy is more like a creation of the scientists, standing, their palms covered on their head, struggling to find out 'what if we could clone people or animals?'.

Bottom line: 'The Hobbit' provides a counterpart yet also co-operating 'reality' compared with Philip Pirrip's.

If Bilbo Baggins' story is stupid, stop at once and take a look. I'm sure most people have had the experince of a turning point in their lives, left face-to-face with decision- making. You do not have to find a old-wise man or woman figure for yourself to relate yourself with 'The Hobbit' or like it; from time to time, among your loneliness you might be your own saviour, your own Gandalf.

But, none the less, you have your Gandalf, for sure.

There are many Goblins around yourself, countless Gollums who may have or have attempted to trick you, and eat you alive.

Even when you state that 'The Hobbit' is a horrible book you are mirroring your own perception about this world which we claim to have the ability to survey analytically and empirically.

Because this world can not easily defended to be the heavenly one, either. Though the book ends with 'merry-making', it is the one option you might end up with in the end. You may also fail, and the Goblins could have feasted over Baggins as well. It provides you with one of the many options. But to to believe it is so boring and life- (un)like, is to deny fantasy the slightest bit of reason.

Maybe, it would be helpful to take this line of thought:

That literature and fantasy are not sheer imaginative narratives and ratherthey are scientific investigations highly central and beneficial to our understanding of humanity just alike the way, say, Hilary Putnam or Arthur Koestler do put their effort in the process.

You might not like, even despise it, but give it a chance...

The Hobbit is a fantastic book. It is far better than all of those Twilight and teen books that are currently circulating. This is a challenging, creative and interesting piece of literature that actually forces a person to think about what they are reading. It is truly original in its approach to story telling. Unlike other books, the little things actually matter. There are certain books that ascend to an untouchable level; a place where other authors can only dream of but realize they will never reach those heights. The Hobbit is one of those great books. I suggest reading it again and to keep a look out for the small gems hidden in the story as well as the thematic importance of a hero's journey that has become extinct in our time. The most beautiful parts of this story are similar to the existence of hobbits; the big people really never notice them but "even the smallest person can change the course of the future."

I have this sort of loved it / hated it experiences with movies, too. Some movies I really love don't seem to speak to the younger generation. There is a difference in pacing and archetypes, I think. I read The Hobbit for the first time like a lot of people my age, and we didn't have the endless variety of streaming media available today nor was young adult fiction as vibrant. So I could understand a tween, teen, or 20-something thinking this book sucked. It moves slowly, and you have to enjoy the journey, getting to know the characters and learning about the milieu they inhabit. Having a hero go out and kill the dragon, well, that's just the excuse to set things in motion, not the reason for being.

Elebu wrote: "Do you like this book? I think it was horrible! Others may not. What do you think?"

What do you find so horrible?

perhaps this gives people an idea what your idea is with this thread and what you actually want to discuss.

I say this, if it is as bad as the naysayers say it is, it would not have lasted as long as it has, simple. I love it and will always have a copy at hand so I can introduce it to those who have never read it.

I thought it was GREAT novel! and to think Tolkien wrote this in the 30's is just amazing! i'd say he's a genius!

I never read it in my youth, but only as a middle-aged old geezer after I'd already read Lord of the Rings.

The Hobbit feels like a Boy's Own adventure story, with some of the staples of that genre as well as adding fantasy elements.

I'm not sure it has the same appeal for girls - I don't mean to sound sexist, and yes I am generalising, but I really do think girls are more interested in personality and personal relationships than in fighting, which is possibly why the Twighlight series is so popular. The Hobbit doesn't have any strong female characters to latch onto. It also plods quite slowly in the early stages.

I honestly don't think Tolkien had female readers in mind when he wrote it - I suspect that girls were assumed back then to be more interested in The Secret Garden or Milly-Molly-Mandy.

The Hobbit is not a story about a meaningless search for gold.

The Hobbit is about a comfortable middle-class person encountering an extraordinary situation, and choosing a life of adventure instead of a life of predictable mediocrity.

I thought it was really good, and it is definantly NOT horrible!!!!!

You must be insane. I first read this back in the 4th grade and absolutely LOVED it. After Tolkien, the CS Lewis Wardrobe books could hold no appeal. No other series of books paints such a complete picture of a world. The "I hated it" comments depress me and now I am going to go drink. A lot.

i totally Loved "the lord of the rings" movies (even own a copy of each), so i decided to read the books; but since my school's library only had "The Hobbit" i tried reading it instead, and That was when i understood the meaning of the word "Talkative Writer" in L.Bishop's book!

i guess that's why i got so bored and couldn't even finish the first chapter, even though the story seemed to be really worthy...

This book is absolutly amazing. I read it when I was 11, and I read it four, maybe five times. Never found it boring.. :)

It's a book I return to constantly, like a safety blanket. LOTRs too. Although I can appreciate that it is not to everyone's taste. I was read the book firstly by my father as a child, so grew to love the characters really before I could read the words.
This year has lead to putting down many books that are not to my taste as the point of reading is that you love it and it opens you up to new loves and lands, forcing ourselves to finish a book or read one because we should kind of makes it a chore. Who wants that?
At least people have given it a go, you don't know unless you try but I honestly don't think you can ask more than that.
- Answering the question, no I don't think it's horrible. Lol.

I don't know what the person who started this thread expected: a flameware or something?
Ohnoes, you didn't like a book but you can't even put a reason into the thread you created at all.
I hated Fifty Shades of Grey - just for example! Because it showed an unhealthy relationship between two people with a lot of patriarchic strings attached to it. It turns my stomach to even think about how a lot of people actually like this kind of dirt. It's a horrible story.
The Hobbit on the other hand is a story that was originally written for children and therefore you have to expect that it is a bit "simpler" than Lord of the Rings, but still has a lot of rich characters. What was horrible for you about this book? Was the writing too tedious to read for you? That's what happened to me when I first tried to read Lord of the Rings. A translated version though which unfortuantely can never fully bring across the author's original writing style.
So, whatever you wanted this thread to become, I guess you failed because Tolkien nerds can usualy articulate themselves.

I've had a couple of books that I had trouble reading as a young teen and had to retry several years later. One was 1984. The Hobbit was another. I'm glad I tried again with both novels. A couple of years made quite the difference. With me, anyway.

I read the book when I was 15 and I'll admit I wasn't too awed by it. Maybe cause I didn't find the main characters very interesting, or because I already watched the LOTR movies, the Hobbit seemed rather bland in comparison. I found reading the LOTR books slightly more interesting, maybe cause the story is more exciting, though I haven't gotten through it yet.

I loved this book :)

I loved it! It was fabulous!

Elebu wrote: "Do you like this book? I think it was horrible! Others may not. What do you think?"

LOL, i really loved this book, but then again i am a child at heart, and all the elements involved in the book appealed to me: simple and pure living, the coziness of home, adventure, fantastical beings, symbolism, spiritual growth, etc. but i can totally get why another might not enjoy it: maybe a more practical person, not so imaginative?

The Hobbit, in school, was what got me into F&SF. More SF these days. I've owned a couple of copies, 5 of LOTR have been read to death, but I still have my 1st of The Silmarillion.

If you are used to the writing styles of Stephanie Meyer or even JK Rowling, as most of this generation is, you will find it hard to read and understand The Hobbit or LOTR's style. I personally enjoy the movies a little better than the books, but I in no way think that the books are horrible. To me, they are more fascinating--like reading a textbook. And in my opinion, that's how they should be read, like you are reading a memoir or history book.

I think many posters who didn't like the book are forgetting that this was a book aimed at children. My grandma read this to me when I was 7 years old and I loved it. It helped nurture my love of reading. I've revisited several times over the years and it always brings back wonderful memories. I hope to someday read it to my children when I have them.

Elebu wrote: "Do you like this book? I think it was horrible! Others may not. What do you think?"
I loved it! I loved it more tan the books of "The Lord of the Rings". Why do you think it is horrible???

I wish I could write a book so well loved and so ingrained into our cultural identity as The Hobbit, horrible or otherwise :)

On J. R. R. Tolkien´s books: "The Hobbit" or "There and Back Again", is one of my favorites after "The Silmarillion" (his "magnum opus"). Usually, I dislike children's literature and that is why I postponed reading it for many years. However, when I decided to read it. I was not disappointed, au contraire, I felt so pleased. What an exceptionally gifted author. What an exquisite balance of the main elements of epic fantasy. The time I read it, I really was in Middle-earth; witnessing "The Quest of Erebor". Finally, there were certain dramatic events and above everything, its ending that made me forget that I was reading a "children´s book" and left myself into a critical reflection about mortality and freedom of choice.

Okay sweetie, you can't insult the Hobbit and love Twilight and expect the rest of us to take you seriously.

I have to say I absolutely loved The Hobbit. It really isn't the type of garbage that's USUALLY found out there nowadays. There are some glimmers of hope among the rubble, so to speak. This is one of them. I'm not even out of high school yet and I can appreciate it. I can understand how someone could misconstrue the book's plot and think that it was all about getting gold from Smaug. But it was about getting back what belonged to the Dwarves- their land, their life in a sense. Some may find that kind of story boring; however if you put yourself in the position of the characters in the novel and think about how the personalities of the characters, I think you could enjoy it. I mean, anyone can find their own Gandalf(s) or Bilbo Baggin(s) in the world around them. The only time you may not appreciate it is if you just love gushy, romance books like Twilight or Fifty Shades of Grey. All I can say is they remind me too much of Brave New World...and let's be honest (anyone who has read this book), these current books are all too similar to it.

I didn't like the Hobbit, but I have actual reasons.

1) It was a lot of walking and scenery. Yes, it was well written walking and scenery, but I find that boring.
2) I tend to read "trashy" novels, so it doesn't fit in with my tendencies.
3) Has anyone ever seen the 70's gang movie called "The Warriors" about the gang members who are trying to make it home? Yeah, that movie is the Hobbit. Same concept of going from point A to point B.

But yeah, you don't see me STARTING threads about it :D

Wow, what an interesting discussion, I feel like I have been at a tennis game. Anyway, The Hobbit is not my favorite book, mainly because I was forced to read it, aloud, from beginning to end. It took me 2 years to read another book after that, but I never read Tolkien again.
I have 6 Tolkien Books at home, including The Hobbit, that I was thinking to give a second chance (they never got a first one). They should be the type of books I would love, and I think it is about time to forget stupid teachers and give the books a chance they never got.

but....there's dwarves! dwarves are sooo freakin cool!

I think the book was AMAZING and you say Horibble.. there can be no discussion right? what did u hate? the art? the name? the little short guys with the hairy feet? come on give us fuel to start a fire ;)

I loved it!
It may be hard to understand at first, and a hard beginning to get through, but I liked the story once I began to read it more.

I think it's a great classic. But I will admit it's harder to understand its popularity if you didn't read it first as a child.. or in the era in which it was first published. At that time, there really wasn't much of anything else available as far as modern fantasy fiction goes.

It's hard for anyone who has grown up with The Hobbit to look back at it dispassionately. It was a fantastic book when I found it in a school library back in the fifties, and it still holds up for me now, but I see it as a precursor of something even better, Lord Of The Rings. Tolkien did write it for children in the thirties, so it has a certain slightly archaic feel to it, but the storyline is so good, that swamps everything else. And who could fail to fall in love with those characters, from Bilbo and Gandulf to the rambunctious dwarfs, even to the wonderful Smaug. If you ever get an opportunity to listen to Nicol Williamson's superb recording of The Hobbit, grab it with both hands, as it is fantastic.

This is a fantastic book. I've read this book as well as the Lord of the Rings well over 10 times when I was younger. Couldn't wait to introduce it to my children and read this book to them when they were in 5th grade. They loved it!

The movies made from these works, are what is truly horrible.

Stop trolling, Elebu.

I read this when I was younger and thought it was alright, nothing special but it's still better than Lord of the Rings!

I read the Hobbit when I was 15. I'm 60 now. I loved it and did a puppet show as a sophomore around the riddle game Bilbo had with Gollum (what does it have in it's pocketess). It's really funny though, i've never reread it. I've read the trilogy at least 35 times cover to cover, maybe more.

I read this first when I was 15 and just starting high school. Fantasy fiction that was not Jules Verne or Alexandre Dumas just wasn't readily available back then. Within a year Ballantine books started their fantasy genre printings and the easily available fantasy novels came around. They weren't always worth a read (unless you like William Morris :) ) but The Hobbit was still a good book in my mind. Recently Ir re-read it and was appalled at how juvenile it was. Was it really that silly and lame back then? Oh, yes. It was. But at 60 years of age, I can appreciate it for what it was and what it is. A good, well-written young adult (or even children's) novel that does not include graphic violence, tasteless vampires/zombies or gratuitous sex. That makes it a winner.

im 47 now and i remember at 12 reading the hobbit.i loved it! at that age i "escaped" int o middle earth. i reread it about 10 years later and altho the escape wasnt the same i thoroughly enjoyed the experience. makes me happy to have read it at such a young age when we are much more impressionable and not so "jaded" with so much special effects overkill of today. i really miss those days when our imagination was a clean slate and a simple book would awe us..definitely read the hobbit before the movie and imagine youre a little kid hearing the story for the first time.is there any other way? after that watch the movie which i thought was fantastic! feels good to watch a movie and feel like a 12 year old.......

I think the Hobbit is a wonderfull book! I've read it and re-read it for dozen's of times.
Even though the writing style is a bit outdated, that doesn't change the feeling of "escaping to somewhere far beyond" that this book really breaths out!

I must admit that I do LOVE this book... I even have it on vinyl.. with Richard Burton reading it.. that is how much I loved it the first time I read it over 40 years ago and why I bought the LP... (that's a vinyl record for those that have never heard of that.. lol)

Maybe people may not like it if they assume what they think will happen in it before they read the first page. That is my guess about ones who don't like this book.

I loved it. Going in I figured this would be a great introduction to the LOTR (book series I have not read yet but have waiting on a table!) and it was perfect timing for the movie which I saw weeks after I finished the book.

This book is really neat! I enjoyed it very much.