Reviews

Beren e Lúthien by J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien

jere_127's review against another edition

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3.0

Going through Beren and Luthien was definitely a chore. I was expecting a single story much in the way of Children of Hurin, but did not find it. The story, through its several retellings, elaborates in the expansive Tolkienverse and surely has it's merits for it, but unless you're a huge Tolkien fan, i wouldn't really recommend this book.

bookdreamer24's review against another edition

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5.0

Tolkien is an excellent writer. I liked the combination of text and poetry. Has a similar feel in someways to the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit.

annettebooksofhopeanddreams's review against another edition

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2.0

Ik geloof dat Tolkien en ik gewoon echt niet voor elkaar gemaakt zijn. Ergens vind ik dat jammer, want ik hoor er zoveel over en zie zoveel mensen die helemaal weg zijn van Midden Aarde en de verhalen die hij bedacht en verteld heeft, anderzijds ben ik me er ook heel erg van bewust dat lezen iets persoonlijks is en dat wat de ene aanspreekt, de andere niet aanspreekt en omgekeerd.

Laat ik beginnen met het positieve van dit boek: Ik vond het heel interessant om het proces te lezen hoe het verhaal gevormd, vervormd en ontwikkeld is. Hoewel ik Tolkien's boeken wellicht niet zo kan waarderen, heb ik wel heel veel respect voor zijn fantasie, zijn oog voor detail en de uitgebreidheid van zijn wereld. Je kan van Tolkien veel zeggen, maar niet dat het niet doordacht of uitgedacht is.

Daarnaast vond ik de dichtende verhaallijn heel mooi en daar moet ik ook een pluim geven aan de vertaler, die heel puik werk heeft afgeleverd. Het is een beetje jammer dat ik tijdens die dichtregels constant de draad kwijtraakte. Wellicht omdat ik moe was, wellicht omdat ik de zinstructuren te lang vond, wellicht omdat het verhaal op geen enkel moment echt bij me binnen kwam.

Want met het verhaal zelf had ik ook nog wel wat issues. Ik kan zien wat er mooi aan is en wat mensen raakt, maar ik merkte dat ik meer nodig had gehad om dat te ervaren. Meer dan wat dit boek me bood. Het deed me niets, ik vond sommige stukken te summier beschreven, andere stukken te uitgebreid. En het verhaal pakte me gewoon niet.

Maar hey! Ik heb het een kans gegeven, ik heb het hele boek gelezen en besloten dat Tolkien gewoon niet voor mij is. Even goede vrienden, toch?

valeria_anedda's review

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GDL Storia di Arda
Seguendo il GDL sono stati prima letti il capitolo su Il racconto di Tinuviel e Un passo dall'abbozzo della mitologia. A seguire tutti i capitoli sul Lai di Leithian e, da fonte esterna, in lingua originale The Lay of Leithian. Per finire i capitoli rimanenti.

Questo libro è stato inserito (in ordine di lettura) dopo il capitolo 19 (Di Beren e Luthien) presente nel Silmarillion, con l'obbiettivo di sottolineare le differenze tra le varie riscritture della storia.

Questo non è un romanzo, ma una raccolta di scritti commentati da Christopher Tolkien, riguardanti la storia d'amore più bella e tormentata scritta da Tolkien.
La trama di base è sempre la stessa: i due protagonisti si innamorano, ma non possono stare insieme perché l'eroe deve compiere una "missione impossibile". Nonostante le piccole differenze che contraddistinguono ogni racconto, ciò che si ritrova ogni volta è il loro amore più forte di qualunque cosa, indissolubile, immortale, eterno.

Ogni versione è a suo modo emozionante e ciò che rende il tutto ancora più profondo è la fonte di ispirazione: Tolkien si è basato sul suo vissuto con la sua amatissima moglie Edith.

Non è un libro di facile lettura e non lo consiglio, se non per ampliare le conoscenze sul mondo di Arda.

maartaa's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

queerofthedagger's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

This one is kind of hard for me to review because while I loved the verse of this actually, and once again deeply admire Christopher Tolkien's work on both forming this into a cohersive narrative as much as possible, while also trying to give context and weight to the differing versions, breaks, and so on in the source material, I will have to admit that I was simply not that much into the story itself. I already wasn't overly invested in the shorter version of The Silmarillion, and that opinion frankly only solidified here. 

It's not even that surprising; I've never been the biggest fan of these kinds of fairy tale romances, and in this particular case I just couldn't really form a connection to the supposed heroes of the story. Which is sad! I know this is more or less Tolkien's favourite romance of his legendarium, and I can see why objectively that would be so. Subjectively, though, this was one of the tales where I noticed most how much my own worldview and moral framework clashes on a fundamental level with Tolkien's own. Which is fine, I knew that. But it does mean that, while I can admire the technical and objective skill of the story itself and the way it has been carefully put together here, the narrative itself simply didn't really do it for me at all. 

eva_papier's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging informative inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot

3.75

ayeclaymay's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

tinuviel's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

lakserk's review against another edition

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5.0

Το βιβλίο καταπιάνεται με την ιστορία του Μπέρεν και της Λούθιεν, πατώντας πάνω σε υλικό που έχει δημοσιευτεί σε τόμους της Ιστορίας της Μέσης Γης, και φέρνοντάς το σε μια πιο συγκεντρωμένη και (μέχρι ένα βαθμό) εύπεπτη φόρμα. Το πραγματικό διαμάντι εδώ μέσα είναι τα τμήματα της Ωδής τους Λούθιεν, που πιάνουν περίπου το μισό βιβλίο.
Η Ωδή (που δυστυχώς είναι ανολοκλήρωτη, φτάνοντας μόνο μέχρι το σημείο που ο Κάρχαροθ κόβει το χέρι του Μπέρεν) είναι η έμμετρη (και πολύ αναλυτικότερη σε σχέση με το κεφάλαιο του Σιλμαρίλλιον) αφήγηση της ιστορίας των Μπέρεν και Λούθιεν, ψίγματα της οποίας είχαμε πάρει από τον Άραγκορν στη Συντροφιά του Δαχτυλιδιού. Η έκτασή της οφείλεται σε μια πολύ πιο άμεση και κοντινή οπτική σε σχέση με την αποστασιοποιημένη πένα του Σιλμαρίλλιον.
Ο ρυθμός και η γλώσσα της Ωδής είναι φανταστικοί, και αξίζουν για άλλη μια φορά συγχαρητήρια στην Ευγενία Κόλια για την εξαιρετική της μετάφραση.
Το υπόλοιπο βιβλίο περιλαμβάνει εναλλακτικές (πεζές) εκδοχές διαφόρων σημείων του Σιλμαρίλλιον που σχετίζονται με την ιστορία των δύο εραστών από τις σημειώσεις του Tolkien, καθώς και επεξηγηματικά σχόλεια του υιού Christopher.
Εξαιρετικό ενδιαφέρον έχουν οι πρώιμες εκδοχές όπου τη θέση του Σάουρον στο νησί των Λυκανθρώπων έχει ένας Γάτος (αναμενόμενα το πνεύμα είναι αρκετά πιο παραμυθένιο) κι ο Μπέρεν είναι Ξωτικό, ενώ λίγο αργότερα βλέπουμε πως η πρώτη εκδοχή του ονόματος του Σάουρον ήταν Θου. Μπόνους η close-up σκηνή της καταδρομικής επίθεσης του Μπέρεν στους νάνους που έχουν λεηλατήσει το Ντόριαθ.