The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
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Book Reviews of The Hobbit
Book Review: A sonnet review (from All-Consuming Books)
Summary: 5 Stars
"When Gandalf kind of offhandedly says
he's sending Bilbo Baggins far away for
great adventures, Bilbo gives assurances
that he's not interested in explor-
ing, but when dwarves desperately need him
to help them win back dragon's gold, he can't
say no, somehow. Now, he'll risk life and limb
traveling to the Lonely Mountain with scant
provisions, dodging goblins, wargs and trolls
befriending elves and solving riddles, then
meeting monsters after falling into holes--
just part of going "there and back again".
He also finds a magic ring that looks
quite plain but plays a part in later books."
This is the story of a smalltown guy stepping far, far outside his comfort zone. Bilbo is a reserved, stodgy fellow living in a society of people (hobbits) who love hearth and home. He has never done anything of interest, and his whole family's known to be so dull that "you could tell what a Baggins would say on any question without the bother of asking him" (pg 3). Fortunately for him, Gandalf the wizard, always a catalyst for adventure, comes by and decides that Bilbo's life needs shaking up. Thirteen dwarves show up on Bilbo's doorstep and Gandalf explains that they need a burglar to help them win back some gold that a dragon stole from them long ago. Bilbo has no skills at burgling--you might even say he has negative skills--but Gandalf knows that Bilbo needs to go on this mission and he also seems to know that Bilbo will have a part to play in larger future events. So off they all go, journeying to a distant land with certain danger dogging their steps.
Bilbo is the star, here. The dwarves are almost as much of a catalyst for Bilbo's character growth as Gandalf, because they mainly exist to give Bilbo a reason to go on the quest. Except for their shrewd leader Thorin, most of the dwarves' personalities are interchangeable (the fact that their names come in rhyming pairs--Fili and Kili, Oin and Gloin, Balin and Dwalin, doesn't help matters). It is nice, however, that they all come to admire and respect Bilbo, who almost becomes a stand-in for Gandalf. Gandalf only travels with them sporadically, and though he saves them all from certain death a few times, he's just as likely to miss their current crisis entirely. By default, Bilbo has to step up become the chief life-saver and problem solver of the group, and he proves more resourceful than anyone could have imagined.
Though the book makes for good reading as an adult, there are some elements in The Hobbit that are obviously intended for a children's lit audience. The narrator occasionally addresses the reader, commenting on what we've just learned about the characters or will eventually learn, and the trolls are frightening, but also kind of clueless so that they won't seem outright terrifying, but what I find most unusual is the portrayal of the elves. The Hobbit was written for a different audience than The Lord of the Rings, and also written about twenty years earlier, but the elves in The Hobbit are vastly different than the ones shown later. The Rivendell elves sit in the trees, sing, and laugh at their own jokes, while the Mirkwood elves are paranoid and drink a lot. Elrond is the only one whose portrayal includes that mix of regal wisdom and gravity that I associate with Tolkien elves. This is neither good nor bad--just an observation.
Awesome elements: 1. Sword-naming. Everybody names their weapons, and they get these fantastic fear-inducing names like Orcrist the Goblin-Cleaver. 2. Gollum. He's just disturbing--a very unique character. 3. Old-school Britishness. Bilbo is so proper and forthright even under the most grueling circumstances, you almost expect him to start singing "Rule Britannia". 4. Shifters. Beorn is a man who can turn into a bear and even Gandalf is a tad wary of him. 5. There is a dragon! Smaug is a giant catlike dragon, who's highly intelligent--a worthy final villain.
All told, The Hobbit is an excellent high fantasy novel that makes for gripping reading. It's on the darkish side so I tend to think of it as working best for older children, and it's also a good book for people who want a taste of Tolkien but don't want to commit to the 1000+ pages of The Lord of the Rings.
Poetry bonus: Lots and lots of poetry, mostly in the form of songs. Elves in Rivendell sing to welcome visitors, elves in Mirkwood sing while drinking and rolling barrels into the river, goblins sing when they take prisoners or corner prisoners--even the dwarves show a talent for freestyling, because they spontaneously compose a song about breaking Bilbo's dishes while they're setting his table. Bilbo doesn't find any of this odd, so we're left to assume that Middle Earth folk do this on the regular. But the songs add flavor to the story, and when the dwarves chant the tale of their history with the dragon, it still gives me chills: "Far over the misty mountains cold/ To dungeons deep and caverns old/ We must away ere break of day/ To seek the pale enchanted gold" (pg 14).
Book Review: Not just for geeks
Summary: 5 Stars
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Turn on the epic music people! Turn on the epic music! Cause it's Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the Grey, Thorin Oakenshield, Fili and Kili, Bifur and Bombur, The Elves, Bard, EVERYBODY IS GOING AROUND THE WORLD GOING CRAZY! ALL BECAUSE OF SMAUG AND HIS GOLD! To be fair, a geek will enjoy this book very much for the same reason Hobbits enjoy The Red Book (reference to Fellowship of the Rings.) However, I enjoyed this not only for those reasons, but for the true treasure and personality that create heartwarming and heart breaking stories throughout the tail. The characters are both familiar to our every day lives and magnificently mythical. Reading this book is like going through life, and that comes in very handy during the final couple of pages. Why must I say that? Well, that is when you finally uncover the true meaning of this book.
Oh, and just a note, that's awesome. The fact that you don't uncover the meaning until the very end, doesn't make you wanna put it down early. That is genius of J.R.R. Tolkien...or is it? It all seems accidental but apparent, because John Tolkien of South Africa, actually hates analogy and symbolism. He simply wants to create a fun book, and that is why so many geeks are attracted to such a tale. But, I can't help but feel stuff like this is there. The Hobbit represents the ordinary person. The dwarves represent the experienced yet cocky that unfortunately you must go along life with. However, you will be thanking yourself in the end, but that will be when they leave your lives. I guess you could say the Dwarves represent your relatives.
Gandalf, good o' Gandalf Da Grey, WHO DON'T LUV GANDALF DA GREY!!!! He represents the wisest of mentors that you will ever have, but cannot stay with you throughout most of life. Who is the best example of this person? God. Or in some cases, Jesus, Zues, Alah, every religion has one. But even the Athiests have this character, but he is more apparent to them. Or she. Well, scratch Jesus. (offensive comments follow) they've turned the lord (Christians) into some terrifying force. Now that, is Bull$#!T! However, I am religious. Jewish, but that is a topic for another day. Smaug, represents, that old stranger offering you Marijuana. That $1U77Y girl/guy pressuring you to have $3X with them. The billionare pressuring you to become corrupt. The evil people in your life that try to make you leave what is good, out of your own taste for Greed.
Obviously, Gollum took the pressure and became addicted to the ring. What is the ring you ask? In it's extremely addicting powers, it represents drugs. Tobacco. Alcohol. Cocaine. Marijuana. Meth. Stuff like that. In it's power to make you invisible, it represents Ca$h, Money, Dough, My Name. (You haft to see my soul laughing right now.) In which stuff makes you terribly corrupt, but offers you powers unknown to a mortal man. Eventually, you either eliminate the mortal man, or play the masses against each other. You become a monster, George W. Bush, I hope your listening! What a wonderful tale, full of accidental symbolism, but the big question does it all mean?
I think, not matter which way you turn, bad decisions or good, long tales of ultimate journey, immediate success, or a life in your little hobbit hole, fame and fortune, or crime and corruption, poverty and hate, or wealth and generosity, no matter what you do, no matter what you decide to follow your life in, in the end, if nothing else, you have the great friends that have lived with you your entire life. Make sure you keep them, and not become the great terrible creature that Smaug is. Bilbo did almost become a Smaug, by handing the stone...SPOILER ALERT...of Arkenstone to an enemy. He did lose the friendship of a dying legend, Thorin Oakenshield. I still can't believe, writing these so far 5 paragraphs of awesome lineage, that J.R.R. Tolkien does not like analogy's and symbolism.
The book is quite a read, 305 pages. But it's a worthwhile read, and I expect The Lord of the Rings trilogy to do so as well. And if I love those three, I'll pick up every single J.R.R. Tolkien book that I can find! However, I must say that because it was accidental, the analogy's in this literature are hard to find, and thus not very apparent. Also, if you expect a magnificent hero story that the characters are legendary, then probably, you'll only be half satisfied.
The Rating? I say, it deserves a great 4.98/5
Book Review: In a hole in the ground
Summary: 5 Stars
"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit." J.R.R. Tolkien first scribbed down the opening line of this book on an extra sheet of paper.
And years before "Lord of the Rings" was seen by anyone outside Tolkien's circle, Middle Earth was first introduced to readers. "The Hobbit" is simpler and less epic than the trilogy that followed it, but Tolkien's brilliant writing, magical world and pleasantly stodgy hero bring a special life to this early fantasy classic.
Bilbo Baggins lives a pleasantly stodgy and dull life, in a luxurious hobbit hole under a hill ("it was a hobbit hole, and that means comfort"). He's the picture of dull respectability.
But his life is turned upside-down by the arrival of the wizard Gandalf and thirteen dwarves, led by the exiled king-in-waiting Thorin Oakenshield. They want to reclaim the Lonely Mountain (and a lot of treasure) from the dragon Smaug. Why do they want Bilbo? Because Gandalf has told them that he'd make a good burglar, even though Bilbo has never burgled in his life.
So before Bilbo is entirely sure what is going on, he is being swept off on a very unrespectable -- and dangerous -- adventure. The quirky little band ends up battling goblins and spiders, nearly getting eaten, and imprisoned by Elves, while Bilbo finds himself in possession of a magic Ring from the treacherous Gollum. But even with a magic Ring, can he defeat a monstrous dragon and win a war against multiple enemies?
Tolkien had been crafting his mythos of Elves, Dwarves, Wizards and ancient Men for years before he ever came up with Bilbo's quest. But it's fortunately that he did, because while "The Hobbit" is overshadowed by the epic sweep of "Lord of the Rings" and the "Silmarillion," it's still an entertaining story that lays the groundwork for his more famous works -- especially the magical Ring that Bilbo finds in Gollum's cavern.
Tolkien's writing is swift, light and full of songs and poetry-laden descriptions, such as interludes in the shimmering, ethereal Rivendell and the cold, terrible Lonely Mountain. The pace in this is much faster than in most of his other works -- not surprising, when you consider it was originally a bedtime story for his children.
Most of the book's action is about Bilbo trying to keep himself and the dwarves from getting eaten, torn apart, or rotting in elf dungeons, but with some quiet interludes like a night at Beorn's mountain home. And the last chapters hint at the epic majesty that Tolkien was capable of, as well as the idea that even little people -- like a mild-mannered hobbit or a bird -- can change the world.
This book also first came up with hobbits -- the peaceful fuzzy-footed countryfolk -- in the form of Bilbo Baggins. He's a likable little guy, if the last person you'd ever expect to be a hero -- initially he seems weak and kind of boring, but his hidden strengths and wits come up to the surface when he needs to. By the end, he's almost a different person.
The dwarves are more comical, and the elves more whimsical in this book, but the supporting characters are still impressive -- the crotchety, mysterious wizard Gandalf, the dignified, flawed Dwarf king Thorin Oakenshield, and a Guardsman who becomes a king. Even minor characters like Beorn, Elrond and the menacing Smaug are given plenty of dimension.
The 70th anniversary edition has some nice extras -- Tolkien's son Christopher wrote a new prologue for it, which is never quite as interesting as it should be. It also contains reedited text, foldouts, and it apparently has all of Tolkien's quirky, solid illustrations.
That's more, this nicely-bound edition includes a duplicate of the original cover, from when the book was originally published -- a gorgeous scenic view of mountains, forests and sky, all done in black, green and blue, with runes all around the edges.
"The Hobbit" started as a fluke, grew into a bedtime story, and became one of the best fantasy stories in literary history -- a charming adventure in the time that never was. Brilliant.
Book Review: Best Book. (period)
Summary: 5 Stars
The Hobbit was just about the most fun reading experience I have ever had. I'm not sure whether the effect stemmed from the great quality of the book or from my particular developmental stage when I read it. Probably a bit of both. It's really just the simple story of a bourgeosis everyman who is thrown into a world of dragons, goblins, wizards, and dwarves and is forced to discover the greatness within himself. The plot arch might be that of Beowulf, substituting a typical well-to-do Englishman for the mighty thewed hero of the legend. The splendor is in Tolkien's wizardly story-telling and poetic vision. The story is worked to a minute perfection on every single page, every single sentence, even. Each chapter is punctuated with songs, or poems, making the Hobbit a true prose romance, in the tradition of the earlier great fantasists, such as William Morris, Lewis Carrol, Kipling, or ER Eddison. And every song is good.
The Hobbit evokes a sense of nostalgia in this particular reader, a nostalgia for a lost pre modern world of primordial Northern England and Europe. As CS Lewis wrote somewhere, no other writer is able to capture the feel of Norse mythology, its symbols and moods, and weave them into a story the way Tolkien does. Tolkien employs his own private mythology, later published as the Silmarillion, to give the setting a sense of historical depth. For example, at one point the heroes find swords "forged duing the goblin wars of Gondolin," foreshadowing a subsequent encounter with goblins. Each encounter brims with invention and unique imagination seldom found in any other author, but at the same time invoking an homage to the other great heroic stories of the world. The eyrie of the giant eagles recalls the story of Sinbad in the rocs' nest. The riddle game with Golum, one of the most inventive scenes in any story, reminds one of the Sphinx from Greek mythology. And each riddle is brilliant.
All Tolkien's works are incomparable, but the Hobbit is his greatest, I think, mainly for its simplicity. It lacks the Manichean overblownness of the Lord of the Rings or the Silmarillion. Here is not a cataclysmic war between absolute good and absolute evil, but a simple quest to get some loot from a dragon. The story is thusly more like real life, and closer to primeval mythologies of Europe in that there is no Zoroastrian conception of good and evil.
The Hobbit has some real life relevance too, I suspect. I think there is a message in the Hobbit, about a cataclysmic world event, but to recognize it requires one to have an encompassing understanding of twentieth century history, a familiarity with Tolkien's own life (i.e. a sense of when the book was written), and penetrating awareness of the tropes of the fantasy genre. The story sort of picks up the thread started in the Worm Ouroboros, as pertaining to the allegory behind Gro and the ambassador. I've always wondered if any one else can answer the riddle of the Hobbit.
Book Review: A review by a soon-to-be 5th grade girl
Summary: 5 Stars
In the fantasy novel The Hobbit by J.R.R Tolkien, a small mythical creature called a "hobbit" leaves his home on an adventure to help dwarves reclaim their stolen treasure. This happens after the hobbit was chosen as a burglar. The story's setting is long ago in Wilderland, a fantasy place. The main conflict is that long before, a dragon had raided a dwarvish town and stolen all of the treasures. The company of dwarves were eager for revenge on the dragon, "Smaug the Magnificent". Smaug was, unfortunately, a fearless and dangerous "worm" who lived in the faraway ruins of the town under the Lonely Mountain on the heap of treasures. Eventually, a team of 13 dwarves, a wizard, and a hobbit set off on a long journey. Along the way, there are many dangers. First, there are trolls who are hungry and would love to eat the dwarves. Luckily, they are all saved by the wizard. Next, over the goblin-infested Misty Mountains they were caught and taken into the heart of the goblin town, where they would have been slaves for the rest of their life. Then, in the dark, deep forest Mirkwood, they are captured by giant spiders who would eat them like flies. Only for Bilbo's quick thinking do they survive. And after surviving all of these ordeals, only to find a dragon at the end...
Main Character:
Bilbo Baggins the hobbit is the main character. He starts out with two sides of personality. One side is a respectable, jolly fellow who enjoys a comfortable life with two breakfasts a day if possible. The other side of him urges him to go on an adventure to faraway lands. The book tells of how his second side wins and he becomes a hero and burglar.
Character Traits:
The hobbit is jolly, excitable, and clever. Most of the time he is happy, and is not ever too grumpy. He sometimes has fits where he yells out strange things if he is scared. He is clever when the time comes. When the dwarves have all been captured by spiders, the hobbit came up with a plan on the spot! The hobbit is also stubborn and proud. He is looks down on the dwarves. Once, he sniffs, "all this dwarvish racket!" although " You or I wouldn't have noticed is the whole cavalcade passed within two feet of us!"
Theme:
The main theme of this book is the conflict between the good and the evil. The evil is always trying to thwart the good from doing what they have the right to do.
Recommendation:
I strongly recommend this book to children in 4th to 6th grade. The book is full of adventure and the outcome is often unexpected. Throughout the book, the language is engaging and playful which lessens the often scary scenes. I read it when I was 8, and now I am 9, I love it even more as I understand the story better!