4 Jan 2013

REVIEW: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Title: The Hobbit
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Publication Date: August 15th 2002 (First published 1937)
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Format: Paperback
Pages: 351
Rating: 4.5/5
Blurb: 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.

Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent.
Review: A couple of years ago, fourteen year-old Ely thought that reading The Hobbit sounded like an excellent idea and so she borrowed it from her school library- she hardly managed to get past the first chapter. Fast-forward, April 2012: Ely decides yet again that she will try to read The Hobbit- this times she gets five chapters in before she puts the book down again. December 23rd, 2012 rolls around and Ely realises she has six days until she is going to see the movie with her friends which means six days to read the book. 
 
And so began my third attempt of reading The Hobbit and finally, my first successful attempt. If you happened to read my book to movie adaption review (which will be linked further down), you'd known that despite my original difficulty with this book, this time around after the first few chapters I found myself really enjoying what I was reading. As mentioned in the book to movie, I fell in love with all the characters and the world fairly quickly (some more quickly than others), as well as the narrative style that has an aspect of teasing about future events to you. 
 
Out of the three parts (determined by where the movies will end, or rather where they are rumoured to end)- the first and last parts were definitely my favourites. The first part because of the characters, objects, places etc. that were introduced that I was aware of from my very limited knowledge of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the third part because of all the action that was happening and ultimately how everything wrapped up. 

Sometime in 2013 I plan to actually pick up The Lord of the Rings books for the first time and hopefully enjoy them as much as I enjoyed The Hobbit!

You can see the book to movie adaption review here

Questions for you...Have you seen the movie? If yes, and if you've read the book- which did you prefer? And finally, if you've read The Lord of the Rings- did you enjoy them?

2 comments:

  1. Great review! I admit it was a difficult book to get into, so I'll let it slide that it took you more than one attempt :). I prefer the books, which should be expected. I believe the movie was great, and a very faithful adaptation! I especially loved the bits added in. However, there were times where it dragged on. I haven't read your book-to-movie adaptation yet so I don't know your feelings on it. All in all I think it was a great movie and am excited for the concluding parts but, you know.AND YES I LOVED THE LORD OF THE RINGS! I read them all in three days because they were so good (and I was bullied by my mom who was waiting for me to finish each one so we could watch the complementary movie). I definitely recommend them! It's my favorite book series after Harry Potter, which is saying something. There are some bits that drag on because Tolkien becomes a bit to detailed but still, they're amazing! And the movies are just, ugh! Look for the part in Fellowship of the Ring (the movie) where Arwen takes Frodo across the Great River. It's different in the book but it is SO EPIC!

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  2. Not all of us can be classic-reading-geniuses at age fourteen Tyler :P I agree with you there, I loved the movie but there were parts where I thought it could have moved a bit quicker. Wow Tyler, something tells me that you kind of enjoyed the trilogy! :P I'll definitely bump those up on my TBR list now, then we will continue our gushing about amazing stuff. x Ely

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