I have always intended
to read ‘Lord of the Rings’: it’s a well recommended classic, and I believed I
would enjoy it. However, somehow I never seemed to get round to it… until now!
It seems in the last few months I have been exposed to more Tolkien-related
things than ever before, it’s partially due to the release of ‘The Hobbit’ film,
but also several people I have met seemed to hold the book in some kind of holy
esteem. With a clutch of book vouchers I entered W H Smiths and decided to act.
After several weeks I
have finally conquered the first novel; can I have a gold star? I really feel I
deserve one after the length of time it took me to read it! It wasn't even that
I didn't enjoy it; I think it was just the kind of book that bumbles along and
is deceptively longer than it seems. My
copy seemed to have a devious size font that was only a little smaller than
usual, but seemed capable of cramming a whole lot more words on one page.
Moreover, Tolkien’s style is in detail. He does not skim over things, the
length of the journey is felt and reflected by the length of the novel. As I
read, I thought that modern editors may have told Tolkien to scrap the
descriptions of travelling and cut to the action. At the same time, Tolkien’s
loving immersion into Middle Earth makes him eager to explain the history of
the characters and their relations in depth. The amount of times I read “so-and-so
son of so-and-so” was unbelievable and each time my head cried am I supposed to
recognise any of these names from earlier? My nature is to really understand a
book, I like to have everything plotted out in my mind as I read, so the information
overload was sometimes a little too much for me. Moreover, I am not
geographically minded, so every time someone went east of the mountains and
ended up south of the woods I was hopelessly lost. And yes. That was even after
consulting the maps.
Now that I have ended
my excuses for taking so long to read it, I’d like to say how much I enjoyed it.
My favourite chapter was at Lothlorien, because it seemed so beautiful and the
description so rich and yet minimal enough to simply prompt my imagination into
conjuring my own images. When I watched the film afterwards, I was amazed by
the beauty of the Lothlorien portrayed, but it was on epic, filmic scales far
from the simple, ancient society I imagined. To me, Rivendell is more architectural,
whereas Lothlorien is a more natural place with more ancient traditions.
My preconceived ideas
of The Lord of the Rings, was of gruesome bloody battles, displays of manliness,
horrifying monsters and events on epic scales. The book had traits of all of
these and yet was much more enjoyable than I expected, in that the story was
not simply led by a desire for action, but also an in depth admiration of
surroundings and people. However, the film had too much unwashed, long male
hair for my liking, causing Legolas’ groomed locks to become increasingly
refreshing!
I am looking forward
to reading the next book, but am currently taking a strategic break with the
rather contrasting ‘Bridget Jones’ Diary’!
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