Review for The Hobbit

The Hobbit By J. R. R. Tolkien

Published by: Ballantine Books®

Summery:

[From back cover]

Bilbo Baggins was a hobbit who wanted to be left alone in quiet comfort. But the wizard Gandalf came along with a band of homeless dwarves. Soon Bilbo was drawn into their quest, facing evil orcs, savage wolves, giant spiders, and worse, unknown dangers. Finally, it was Bilbo—alone and unaided—who had to confront the great dragon Smaug, the terror of an entire countryside….

This stirring adventure fantasy begins the tale of the hobbits that was continued by J. R. R. Tolkien in his bestselling epic The Lord of the Rings.

Introduction:

If you have read my previous reviews, you’ve probably seen me mention The Lord of the Rings and J. R. R. Tolkien before. In my opinion, Tolkien is the greatest author of all time, and The Lord of the Rings, is the greatest story of all time. I first found out about Middle-Earth with the release of Peter Jackson’s film versions. They caused me to read the trilogy and The Hobbit as well. I even tried reading The Silmarillion twice, but never got any further than the halfway point both times (I do believe I need to try reading it again). I was eleven when I read The Hobbit for the first time. I remember enjoying every minute of it, but for some unknown reason, I never read it more than once. I don’t know why, since I read The Lord of the Rings so much that the spines of the books are now quite worn. Perhaps I should blame it on Legolas, my preteen self was in love with him. However, just because I only read it once, that didn’t stop me from wanting a film adaptation of The Hobbit. But as the years passed, I started to believe that the only film version I would ever see was the old cartoon. I would actually recommend the cartoon versions of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Return of the King to anybody who enjoys the stories. They’re…interesting to watch. Anyway, after ten years, The Hobbit has come to the big screen! In anticipation to see it, I picked up my old, dusty copy and started reading it again. My plan was to have it read before I went to see the movie, but alas, college finals got in the way and I was forced to leave Bilbo and the dwarves on the side of the Lonely Mountain, looking in through the hidden door. That didn’t stop me from going to see the movie on that Friday, and I did finish the book afterwards.

Reading through The Hobbit again was like returning to a childhood home. It was so full of nostalgia, and even new discoveries that I didn’t remember after all these years. On front cover of my copy of The Hobbit this is written: “The enchanting prelude to The Lord of the Rings,” and that’s the only word I can think of to describe it. Enchanting. You might say awesome, or amazing, but enchanting just fits this book so much better. The way Tolkien wrote it, the narration comes across as having an ageless voice, and it seems like an ancient story, but it also fits perfectly in this modern age. The tone is different from LotR, it’s more lighthearted, but it doesn’t make light of the dark and sad moments. I guess you could say that I think this book is perfection. It’s so easy to believe in these characters and their cause, almost like this really happened. It’s just a beautiful book. I can’t say it any better than many people have already said it. I really want to share this book with others. I think it’s something that everyone should read, young or old.

Characters:

Many people are probably familiar with the characters, but just in case someone who reads this isn’t, I’ll talk a bit about them. Firstly, there’s Bilbo Baggins, who many will remember from LotR as Frodo’s uncle. He is a peaceful, and a well-respected hobbit in the Shire. He never does anything unexpected or has any adventures. All that changes for the poor hobbit, however, when Gandalf the Grey shows up. He’s the wizard who gives Bilbo a little nudge out of the door, and starts him on his way. Gandalf is also there throughout the story, coming and going as he pleases, after all, he is a wizard, he does what he wants. The leader of the dwarves is Thorin Oakenshield. He is decendent of the King Under the Mountain, and vows he will reclaim the dwarves’ home, and take back their treasure from the evil dragon Smaug, who has been guarding it in the Lonely Mountain for many years.

Other characters to note are the other twelve dwarves in Thorin’s company. Let’s see if I can name them all without looking it up. First, there’s Balin, then Dwalin, then Fili and Kili, Bifur, Bofur, Oin, Gloin, Dori, Nori, Ori, and then Bombur. Hey, I did it! Not all of these dwarves have the spotlight put on them. Of course, Thorin gets many lines, Balin gets a number of lines in the book too, Dori gets a few as well, then the rest may get a line or two. It’s a shame that there wasn’t chance to get to know the rest of the dwarves, but then again, thirteen dwarves is quite a lot to deal with.

The evil characters include goblins, led by the Great Goblin, wargs, and icky giant spiders! If I ever saw giant, man-eating spiders in real life, I would probably die of fright. The small ones are bad enough. But of course, the main villain, always looming in the back of the characters minds, is Smaug the Terrible! Their quest will eventually lead them to have to face him, and somehow regain their home and treasure from him. Smaug is a monster of a dragon: greedy, selfish, vain, and extremely dangerous. It will take a lot to get rid of him.

My Thoughts on the Movie:

I guess from the introduction one can tell I really enjoyed this book and have a very high opinion of it. I don’t know what else to add about it. So, perhaps I will speak a little of the movie adaptation that so recently came out. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, is the first of three movies based on The Hobbit. Many people are worried about the book being split into three parts, since Peter Jackson is adding a lot of info and extras to the story. Most of it is coming straight from Tolkien’s notes on the story however. If you open a copy of The Return of the King, you will find near the end the appendices, and this is where a lot of this extra material has come from. Tolkien wrote The Hobbit before he started on The Lord of the Rings, so, at first it was a story meant to stand alone. When he wrote more of Middle-Earth later on, he wrote more connecting his beloved children’s book to the trilogy and lore of Middle-Earth. Peter Jackson is just adding that extra stuff to the story, I believe in a way similar to what Tolkien would have done if he rewrote The Hobbit. Of course, Jackson has added a few things of his own invention. If you haven’t seen the movie, I don’t want to spoil anything for you. Usually, small changes wouldn’t annoy me. It’s a movie, not the book, so it can’t be completely like the book in every aspect. Major changes irk me, however. For example, for those who have watched the LotR trilogy, Jackson changed Faramir’s part in the movie slightly from the book. I never liked the change he made, and wished he had left it the way it was in the story. It showed a difference between Boromir and Faramir, and that’s what I really liked. In The Hobbit, Jackson makes another change, concerning an orc named Azog, and makes it a key plot point. That did annoy me, but it’s the only gripe I have with the movie. It was amazing in all other respects. Sure, there were differences from the book, but there are also so many things that they followed faithfully. Like my absolute favorite quote from Gandalf when Bilbo wishes him a good morning, ‘”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?”’ I really want to use this quote sometime. :)

I think it’s a well thought out movie, full of excitement, humor, and wonderful characterization. Bilbo is amazing. I’ll echo what I’ve heard many reviewers say about Martin Freeman; he is a perfect Bilbo Baggins. There could not have been better casting there. Richard Armitage as Thorin is also amazing and perfect casting. From the previews I wasn’t too sure about him, I guess it was because he didn’t look like Tolkien described him in the books, but I was so glad to see that this Thorin is great. I think I prefer the movie version to the book version.

Warnings:

When it comes to warnings, my opinion differs between the book and movie. In the book, there are some scary scenes where Bilbo and the dwarves get into trouble. (The spiders in Mirkwood are totally icky. If I were little, they might have scared me.) The difference with the movie is that all these scary scenes are portrayed in full, vivid glory, which might make it scarier for the really young. When it comes to the movie, I would judge it by the rating it was given: PG-13. Though, some children younger than that might be able to handle it. I watched The Lord of the Rings when I was eleven, and absolutely enjoyed it and wasn’t scared one little bit. The book can probably be read by younger audiences, since it’s only as graphic as they imagine it. Tolkien didn’t write the book in gruesome detail during any of the fight scenes. In fact, Bilbo is unconscious or doesn’t experience them, so most of the fighting is told in retrospect.

My Age Rating (for book): 9 to 109 (It’s not just a children’s book, anyone can enjoy this.)

~Cya!