The Hobbit

There's hardly anything I can say about The Hobbit that hasn't been said already. It, together with The Lord of the Rings, kickstarted the modern fantasy genre as we know it. That feat alone is enough to rank it as a classic.

However, just because a work is seminal does not mean it is also flawless. Tolkien was a scholar first and a writer of fiction second. Nowhere is this more obvious than here in The Hobbit. The book is foremost about the journey of Bilbo Baggins (hence the subtitle, There and Back Again), not so much about his character. Why, then, does the journey plod so much in the middle? Just because The Hobbit was first conceived as a bedtime story doesn't mean it should put me to sleep. Where future writers would fill the show more empty spaces with character development and interiority, Tolkien instead has a tendency to get into the weeds of describing geography. It makes for an exceptionally well-developed world, but exceedingly dull reading. What makes it most frustrating, to me, is that Tolkien proves he can execute well-paced plots both fast ("Riddles in the Dark", "Barrels Out of Bond", the whole Battle of the Five Armies, including its setup) and slow (the entire beginning of the journey, "Queer Lodgings"). It created a sort of whiplash going back and forth between phenomenal writing and waffling on about nothing for 20 or so pages.

I posit that a lot of this (as well as most of the criticisms levied against The Hobbit and its sequel) is a sort of "Seinfeld isn't funny" effect. As long as you read The Hobbit early on (it is a children's book, after all) and don't have any frame of reference as far as fantasy, it is probably one of the most magical books you can ever read. For anyone who's read other fantasy works released in the post-LOTR era, you might be left wondering just what all the fuss is about (and struggling to stay awake doing it). show less

Rating a book that you have read many times is not easy, but in this case it only confirmed my view of the book. It's majestic. In all the times I read it I discovered new things. Beside a steadily growing exitement while reading the book, ending almost in disaster (no worry, all ends well) it is also entwined by humor that sometimes might go unnoticed. Though in many ways Bilbo seems to be the hero of the story, for me it is actually Balin, who in many ways opposes others and remains a close friend to Bilbo right up to the end of the book. Tolkien obviously wrote with his own children in mind, (his biggest critics), but managed to write a tale that captivates audiences from all ages

The story (and history) of this book is well-known; it drew heavily on the author's academic research, his wartime experiences and spawned a far more serious trilogy of blockbuster fantasy novels that themselves threw off seemingly a thousand imitators. What can be said about this novel that's not been said before?

Well, I would contend that were it not for the circumstance of its origin, it would be fairly unremarkable. The style betrays its origin as a tale told to children in the 1930s, because there are recurrent authorial asides that a father would use. British readers of A Certain Age should think of the BBC's Listen with Mother; these asides have a similar condescending tone to them. Many of them would not survive a modern show more editorial blue pencil; they don't just speak directly to the reader, they tell the reader exactly how they are supposed to think and feel at that point.

Description is otherwise good and only slightly archaic for the modern reader. Characterisation is a different matter. I first read this book more than fifty years ago and had not picked it up since. But I had seen the Peter Jackson films, and they made it impossible not to see the characters as the depictions from those films. So I came away from the novel thinking the dwarfs excessively petulent, argumentative and unpleasant to each other as well as to Bilbo, something the films improved upon.

Other differences I noticed were that the narrative in the films was adjusted to 'retcon' The Lord of the Rings. I see nothing wrong in this; this novel represents a far earlier vision of Tolkien's Middle Earth than the later trilogy accessed, Having made a detailed film version of the later books, Peter Jackson could not have filmed The Hobbit as is; too many pointers to later events exist in the earlier book. Anyone coming to The Hobbit from the films has to understand this.

One thing that I noticed - and this is possibly my science-fiction reader's critical examination of world-building coming in here - is that I kept seeing signs throughout the book (but especially in the Hobbiton segments) that somewhere there was a reasonably high-technology society hiding in full view. Because Tolkien started this tale as a story for his children, he kept putting into the descriptions of everyday life things the children would have been familiar with - kitchen utensils, crockery, kettles and all the other manufactured things that we take for granted in most normal houses. I thought this might just be in the films, but they are there in the novel as well. We have no idea where Bilbo Baggins gets his wealth from, either, but we are not supposed to think that he is stupendously rich - he is depicted as fairly solidly middle class - and he has the things that any middle class household would have, crafted in reasonable quantity and quality. Dwarvish or Elven metalsmithing is talked about often, but that ls reserved for making swords, chain mail and high-value fine craft objects. Elven swords, indeed, are sufficiently rare as to be given names, suggesting that they have been created by individual masters like Japanese katanas; but everyday items seem to exist in quantity and made at a reasonable price (though Bilbo's silver spoons do become an item of contention with his socially aspirational relatives!).

If we look at hobbit society, there are a number of trades that can only reasonably exist in a fairly well-established society where there is surplus income; there are butchers who sell bacon and pork pies (instead of mere vendors of meat), there are solicitors and there are auctioneers. And as for the existence in Middle Earth of coffee...

There are also a number of scenes in the book which would never have made it to the screen because there was just too many effects needed, even for Peter Jackson's vision; Gandalf's obsession with blowing multi-coloured and highly mobile smoke rings would have required too many effects inserting for no good reason; perhaps more noticeable were the scenes where the Dwarvish Party try to gatecrash the Wood Elves' alfresco feast, only to have it vanish and reappear in a different part of Mirkwood, which may have been too much effort to depict for their role in the narrative, or possibly would have made the pacing too disjointed, being partially interleaved with the spider scenes. This may equally be the reason why the Jackson films - all of them - rather back-pedal on actually showing Gandalf as a powerful magic user; watch the films at all objectively and you begin to wonder just how much magic Gandalf actually uses, whereas in The Hobbit, there are plenty of instances where he demonstrates his abilities; though to be fair, Tolkien does not use Gandalf's powers as a "get out of jail free" card.

There is much use in the novel of the folkloric tropes of shape-shifting and communicating directly with animals through speech, either the animals using "human" speech or certain characters understanding animal speech. This is barely mentioned in the films, and possibly only alluded to. Perhaps we are now too literal-minded to accept this as the legitimate use of a folkloric device.

The films also re-used visual effects and designs from the later trilogy; in particular, the Wargs were a different creature altogether in the films, whilst the goblins are rendered as orcs to a greater degree. Overall, it ended up with the novel giving the impression of being a sketch for Tolkein's later work. Some of the later characters amongst the Men of Laketown are little more than walk-ons in the novel, but are fleshed out in the films; and the Battle of the Five Armies is described in about five pages in the novel; it occupies about the last quarter of the third film.

So after all that, what do I think of The Hobbit? I'm glad that I've re-read it, and I shall look forward to re-reading The Lord of the Rings in due course - but I'm not going to rush to push LoTR any further up the reading pile. And I don't expect to re-read The Hobbit soon. If it were not for its fame, I would not really have had this on the 'to be read' pile at all and I doubt I would have felt I'd missed much. show less

I read far and wide across all genres but my first and truest love has always been fantasy. A good fantasy story takes you on an adventure. There's often a quest, magic, undiscovered abilities, friends, enemies and action - all of this makes a great fantasy story.

The Hobbit has all that and more. It is the epitome of the perfect fantasy tale. The kind you want to sit around a campfire and hear told with dramatic exaggeration. It has a dragon and dwarves, a wizard and one lone hobbit who turns out to be the bravest of them all.

Fantasy is not for everyone, but most importantly there's levels to it. This is a classic fantasy with elements of high fantasy. High fantasy has excessive world building - maps, extra tales, extensive histories show more of people and places - not all of it may be included but a lot of it is. The most obvious example is of course, The Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit is a classic fantasy with elements of high fantasy - Tolkien has created the world building but much of it doesn't come into play in this book. The Hobbit is just a taste of the world retold as one would a folk or fairy tale.

That said, if you don't like The Hobbit, don't even bother with Lord of the Rings. Lord of the Rings is just a long drawn out, denser version. If you don't like the base elements of The Hobbit, you're going to hate Lord of the Rings. My mum definitely did.

I love Bilbo. His zest for life and adventure is hilarious - mainly because he has it but it's tinged with a lot of reluctance. To be fair, he also gets thrown into a deep end - he has no idea how or when or why this adventure came to be until he's being kicked out of his house without his pocket-handkerchief. He really comes into his own though throughout, finding his bravery and nerve and that he is capable of a lot more than he gives himself credit for. Although I do feel sorry for him, he takes a hell of a lot of hits to the head.

And of course we get the first look at Gollum and find how Bilbo comes to possess the ring. I like the dwarves but it would be nicer if they were truer friends - they have a bad tendency to hesitate or leave Bilbo to his own devices much too often. I loved Bard and I loved how Bilbo resolves the tensions at the end. The dragon seeks revenge on the Lake-Men for helping the dwarves and the hobbit with their supplies. Bard manages to kill the dragon with an arrow but many are dead and they want justice for the deaths they have suffered. Thorin (the King of the Mountains) refuses to share the treasure but he does prize the Arkenstone of Thrain above all. Bilbo finds it and hands it off to the Elves and the Lake-Men to bargain with when.

5 stars. It's a classic. show less

"May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks."

Who would have thought that this little book with a little man would be the genesis of a legendarium?

One of the very first things that stood out to me in "The Hobbit" is the narrator, how he cozily addresses the reader, and occasionally makes tiny off stage remarks that adds flair to the storytelling. You can almost hear the continuous yet subtle cracks from the fireplace, along with the soothing creak of the leather as Uncle Tolkien slowly leans back in his armchair and unfolds his world of fantasy and wonder just for you. And this very unfolding is a noteworthy aspect of the book, as the scale of the story starts small and then gradually expands one step show more at a time. This allows the author to establish friends, foes and mythos without overwhelming the reader - so you can take a bite and properly digest it before you're served another. Albeit two facets do fall short, with the first one being that there's a tad too much plot armor. The second one which did not work for me was the introduction of Bilbo's many companions. It's hard to keep track of them all not just because of their numbers, but their names are also, although jokingly, very similar and this really lessens their brunt.
Bilbo Baggins, by the way, is our protagonist, our hobbit. He's in his 50s, and quite content to never truly be challenged and get out of his routines and comfort zone. In some sense, withering caused by convenience. It's difficult not to see it as an allegory to modern life of western civilization. An allegory that seems to only have become more relevant, and perhaps more obscene in its truth, as we have moved a quarter into the 21st century. At the end of our story - a story that touches on many themes - Bilbo undeniably returns as a changed man, but he also starts out griping that he forgot his handkerchief, signifying the change he undergoes.

As we tread through the trials and tribulations of Bilbo and his company, we're provided with a pacing that feels well balanced. Between the perils and pauses, the adventure is given enough room to breathe to set up its locations, and introduce interesting characters along the way, such as one peculiar being who has an affinity for riddles. All put together, it doesn't feel rushed, slow or like it's wasting time. It stays fresh, and the narrator may even tell you he does not know what happened at a certain point, or that it's not essential to chronicle everything during our ensembles rest. I quite like this within the frame of how the story is told, as both a clever way to skip ahead, but also leave some mystery behind and something up to the reader's imagination.
I like how Tolkien manages to weave the tale of Middle Earth into our world and connect them. It's only done a few times, but that makes it more effective. One such example is that you're given the very map that the expedition is using and describing in the book. And I particularly liked how the proverb "out of the frying-pan into the fire" was given an origin story, and how it was worded differently in the times old. It is cleverly inserted to function as a spark of truth that make it seem as if this story did indeed occur long, long ago.

“If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.”

Tolkien does not mince words, but uses them to great effect. Every word seem to count in bringing the world alive and communicate its presence and significance. One such example comes when we approach a forest which is not just described as black but that it stands as a "frowning wall before them", illustrating it clearly and effectively as an imposing threat. The pen of the professor proves itself versatile from start to finish with rich descriptions, memorable imagery, and small rays of morality that provide moments of insight, making you think more than once. The greedy outburst of one character is described as, "the sort of rage that only is seen when rich folk that have more than they can enjoy suddenly lose something that they have long had but have never before used or wanted." Although I found it a little too on the nose, it was actually rather striking at the same time, and it made me contemplate the materialistic society we live in now and how we live our lives in this condemned digital age.
Songs portray the different cultures you encounter on this adventure, and add some variation. Some of the songs do show that a younger audience was intended at times. It also shows a different era before the advent of recorded music like today, a technology that was still relatively new when "The Hobbit" was written, where knowing and singing songs were more prevalent. To some extent, the songs in the book train your imagination as they demand something of you, to truly indulge in them. I enjoyed trying to put my own rhythm and rhyme to the songs in a feeble attempt to bring them to life. With that being said, as the story progresses, I would definitely say that there are too many songs introduced and I started skimming past them, contrasting my more enthusiastic involvement in the beginning. My favourite, however, is without a doubt "Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold".

If you are on the cusp of undertaking the journey into Middle Earth and The Lord of the Rings, then you would not be amiss to start that journey here, because it is a charming and touching one. Even though it is different from the Trilogy, it lays a solid foundation, and will heighten the impact of the scrolls concerning the Ring. You should not be deterred by the fact that "The Hobbit" often is referred to as children's literature. This little book with a little man is accessible to everyone due to it is written with such sophistication that it can please adults and children alike. show less

“The Hobbit” follows fifteen (sometimes more, often less) characters on a quest for treasure and revenge. The book is told mostly from Bilbo’s perspective and sometimes the perspective of an unknown narrator (which I think is actually Gandalf). As a reader I found it both wonderful and frustrating to read from such a limited perspective. However, the limited perspective did allow me to better experience the character growth and the true tole of an adventure.

As I read I was sometimes frustrated because I wished to know what the other characters were doing and thinking. However, the frustration I felt made me feel more connected to Bilbo as he was also frustrated at not knowing what was happening with everyone else and always show more worrying over what the others thought of him. He was the outsider giving a space at the table and he hated it. However, the limited perspective also allowed my mind to wonder. Normally getting distracted while reading is seen as negative but I disagree with that idea. Sometimes your mind just needs to wonder and explore the possibilities of the world and the characters in the pages. I feel this is especially true for “The Hobbit”, because Bilbo is a pessimist and his thoughts can get quite dark. I doubt I would have like the book as much as I did if I had just accepted whatever ideas and opinions Bilbo had. I greatly enjoyed hearing his opinions of his companions and how it showed they changed as did Bilbo.

The characters go through so much during their journey and it changes them and their relationships with one another. In the beginning everyone doubted Bilbo and his worth to the quest, they thought he was small and too stuck up to be of any use to them. Bilbo thought that he was going on an adventure with people who were experienced adventurers. They were all wrong. Throughout the adventure Bilbo proved his worth and how capable he was several times over even though he made some questionable decisions. And the adventuring party was made up of people who seemed to know what they were doing. However, none of them grasped the true difficulty of their task even the characters with experience, age, and wisdom were stupidly optimistic (I’m not counting Gandalf because he knows too much and wasn’t planning on finishing the adventure with them). However, regardless of their optimism and ignorance they still go and they grow closer to one another. They become a true team by the end, relying on each other and sharing a strong trust that would’ve been impossible in the beginning (which makes the end of the book hurt more). **Spoiler** Their success was pure dumb luck.**
Overall “The Hobbit” wasn’t something I consider a satisfying read, I think its because I wanted more, but that’s part of the reason I love the book. It didn’t leave me wanting more of the story as the end had been good and all the loose ends were tied up. It left me craving adventures that just don’t exist in the real world. The limited perspective allowed me to feel like I had been a part of the adventure and you can never have just one adventure. In short -like any good adventure “The Hobbit” left me craving more adventures. show less

First sentence: In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

ETA: I listened to the audio book narrated by Andy Serkis. It is a little over ten hours, I believe. IT WAS WONDERFUL, FANTASTIC, A JOY AND DELIGHT. He is a talented voice actor. I loved all his voices, except perhaps for some birds? But I recommend the audio a hundred million percent. I would say the audio book is perhaps better than the book. Perhaps. It definitely HELPS the singing portions! I usually skip the poems/songs when I read. But Serkis actually makes them show more enjoyable!!!!

Premise/plot: Bilbo Baggins has an unexpected adventure in J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. When this children's classic opens, Bilbo is decidedly not a burglar. But by the end of it, well, you may have to decide for yourself if he is or isn't... Regardless, Bilbo sets off with THIRTEEN dwarves on a get-rich-or-die-trying quest. They're off to face down a DRAGON, but the dragon won't be the only challenge they face. Will Bilbo return to his beloved shire wiser?!

My thoughts: I love, love, love, love, love, love, love this one. I do. I may even love it a tiny bit more than the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Maybe. It's a tricky thing really because in truth, I just LOVE hobbits. I love spending time with hobbits. I love Tolkien's insights about hobbits. One of the things I love about Tolkien is how quotable he is.

Quotes:

“Good Morning!” said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green. But Gandalf looked at him from under long bushy eyebrows that stuck out further than the brim of his shady hat. “What do you mean?” he said. “Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?” “All of them at once,” said Bilbo.

“What a lot of things you do use Good morning for!” said Gandalf. “Now you mean that you want to get rid of me, and that it won’t be good till I move off.”

He liked visitors, but he liked to know them before they arrived, and he preferred to ask them himself. He had a horrible thought that the cakes might run short, and then he—as the host: he knew his duty and stuck to it however painful—he might have to go without.

“Go back?” he thought. “No good at all! Go sideways? Impossible! Go forward? Only thing to do! On we go!”

He was altogether alone. Soon he thought it was beginning to feel warm. “Is that a kind of a glow I seem to see coming right ahead down there?” he thought. It was. As he went forward it grew and grew, till there was no doubt about it. It was a red light steadily getting redder and redder. Also it was now undoubtedly hot in the tunnel. Wisps of vapour floated up and past him and he began to sweat. A sound, too, began to throb in his ears, a sort of bubbling like the noise of a large pot galloping on the fire, mixed with a rumble as of a gigantic tom-cat purring. This grew to the unmistakable gurgling noise of some vast animal snoring in its sleep down there in the red glow in front of him. It was at this point that Bilbo stopped. Going on from there was the bravest thing he ever did. The tremendous things that happened afterwards were as nothing compared to it. He fought the real battle in the tunnel alone, before he ever saw the vast danger that lay in wait.

“You have nice manners for a thief and a liar,” said the dragon. “You seem familiar with my name, but I don’t seem to remember smelling you before. Who are you and where do you come from, may I ask?” “You may indeed! I come from under the hill, and under the hills and over the hills my paths led. And through the air. I am he that walks unseen.” “So I can well believe,” said Smaug, “but that is hardly your usual name.” “I am the clue-finder, the web-cutter, the stinging fly. I was chosen for the lucky number.” “Lovely titles!” sneered the dragon. “But lucky numbers don’t always come off.” “I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag went over me.” “These don’t sound so creditable,” scoffed Smaug. “I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider,” went on Bilbo beginning to be pleased with his riddling. “That’s better!” said Smaug. “But don’t let your imagination run away with you!”

If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. show less