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4.46 AVERAGE
4.46 AVERAGE
Eine nichtendenwollende Folge von Landschaftsbeschreibungen umgeben von einer dünnen Story - ich schätze, ich war zu alt und fantasymäßig zu belesen um dem Charme des ersten seiner Art erliegen zu können. Sicher in vielerlei Hinsicht - auch linguistisch und historisch - höchst interessant; aber für mich keine lesenswerte Fantasy.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
informative
inspiring
medium-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
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
WOOOOOOW this book took forever to read!!! I am proud to say that I read every single page! However, I never would have picked it up, let alone read every word, if I had not been required to for a literature class with daily reading quizzes and conversations. But boy am I glad that I did read it! Having grown up watching the extended versions of the movies, I had no idea how much MORE was in the book! A great great read and excellent plot and characters for those who are patient enough to last through Tolkien's extensive description of trees ;)
A genre classic that has been on my list for more than a decade. A satisfying read, even though it was a bit like self-assigned homework. Many thoughts, so this is a little jumbled, and I'll probably add more as I think of it over the next couple of weeks. I think I would have loved it (with maybe a few reservations, particularly around pacing) if I had read it when I was much younger, especially prior to seeing the movies.
Parts of it were a delight and read quickly (The Council of Elrond, Farewell to Lorien, Helm's Deep, The Ride of the Rohirrim, Mount Doom). Other parts plodded more slowly than Sam’s over-laden pony. Even for me, a person who loves maps and backpacking, the sheer amount of travel was a little much. In fairness, I don't think anyone has ever captured the sensation of hiking 50 miles in two days under a burning deadline better than than JRRT did with LOTR; all due respect to JRRT there. Takes a long distance hiker to know one.
I can’t imagine how much these books must have meant to those that fought in the World Wars. The books are absolutely steeped in them. I appreciated JRRT's thinking on evil being self-defeating because its lack of empathy clouds its thinking. (497: Sauron’s fear of the greed/might of a rival is what leads him to preemptive war, which leads to his downfall. 585: Gandalf: "Often does hatred hurt itself!”) Thinking also of Frodo's last journey to the Grey Havens.
The relationship between Sam and Frodo is a balancing of hope and despair, threaded through with love and devotion. My absolute favorite parts were when the spirit of hope against all odds, perseverance, loyalty, and love of better times shines through in every character.
Samwise Gamgee:
Hope and Toil Against All Odds:
Themes of bittersweet endings (the unavoidable passage of time; the ends of on era; the loss of beautiful things) wrecked me. The passages about Lothlorien's end made me really emotional because of the obvious parallels to (1) climate change and (2) growing up.
Themes of Loss and Endings:
The rejection of Faramir by Denethor is heartbreaking. Faramir will never be good enough to earn his father's love, no matter what he does. From pages 812-815 of my copy:
Strongly agree with this review here. There are serious race and gender issues with this work. The linked review discusses the racism of the Uruk-hai/orcs and stratification of races better than I ever could. I also just wanted to mention/add that the "Eastern" men are described as having "slanted eyes" and a proclivity towards evil. Yikes.
--> I don't have the right words for it, but I thought I'd mention too: Maybe it's just an artifact of a different time, but the subservience and contrast of Sam and Frodo--the heavy use of "Master" language, the frequent reminders of Sam's "brown hobbit hands" as contrasted with Frodo's paleness, Sam's much quicker temper and Frodo's "temperate wisdom"--struck me the wrong way. As much as I love the relationship that they have, it was hard to get past. I had to think of it as more of a "knight and squire" type relationship to get through those passages, but even still the constant power imbalance and almost doting "Sam, you fool," language was rough.
--> Eowyn's depression was never covered in the movies, and I think it was a good choice. Eowyn's depression and death-seeking behavior as a consequence of her gender non-conformance in a highly gender-stratified world made sense to me and called to my heart. I saw the films when I was young and, as a gnc queer girl, Eowyn always made me feel seen. The resulting depression as it's shown in the book felt like a natural consequence, and I was glad to see it. But JRRT "resolving" the issue by having Eowyn give up her desires to be recognized as valiant and valuable and instead marry a man who at first "pitied her" for her depression was... upsetting, to say the least. I understand what he was going for (Eowyn having coveted Aragorn, etc.), but it felt very much like a narrative being told to wives who came home from WWII after being war nurses and mechanics, who were forced to re-frame their lives back around men (and the 1950s era of regressive feminist identity that followed).
Favorite Poems/Songs
77-78: Walking song of the Elves:
278: Bilbo’s Fireside Poem:
908: In The Tower of Cirith Ungol:
Parts of it were a delight and read quickly (The Council of Elrond, Farewell to Lorien, Helm's Deep, The Ride of the Rohirrim, Mount Doom). Other parts plodded more slowly than Sam’s over-laden pony. Even for me, a person who loves maps and backpacking, the sheer amount of travel was a little much. In fairness, I don't think anyone has ever captured the sensation of hiking 50 miles in two days under a burning deadline better than than JRRT did with LOTR; all due respect to JRRT there. Takes a long distance hiker to know one.
I can’t imagine how much these books must have meant to those that fought in the World Wars. The books are absolutely steeped in them. I appreciated JRRT's thinking on evil being self-defeating because its lack of empathy clouds its thinking. (497: Sauron’s fear of the greed/might of a rival is what leads him to preemptive war, which leads to his downfall. 585: Gandalf: "Often does hatred hurt itself!”) Thinking also of Frodo's last journey to the Grey Havens.
989: Frodo: “The wound aches, and the memory of darkness is heavy on me. It was a year ago today.” / “Alas, there are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured,” said Gandalf.
The relationship between Sam and Frodo is a balancing of hope and despair, threaded through with love and devotion. My absolute favorite parts were when the spirit of hope against all odds, perseverance, loyalty, and love of better times shines through in every character.
Samwise Gamgee:
361: Sam: “It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish, as my old gaffer used to say.”
375: Galadriel: "In this box there is earth from my orchard, and such blessing as Galadriel has still to bestow upon it. It will not keep you on your road, nor defend you against any peril; but if you keep it and see your home again at last, then perhaps it may reward you. Though you should find all barren and laid waste, there will be few gardens in Middle-Earth that will bloom like your garden, if you sprinkle this earth there. Then you may remember Galadriel, and catch a glimpse far off of Lorien, that you have seen only in our winter. For our spring and our summer are gone by, and they will never be seen on earth again save in memory.”
405-406: “Coming, Mr. Frodo! Coming!” called Sam, and flung himself from the bank, clutching at the departing boat. He missed it by a yard. Frodo was just in time to grasp Sam by the hair as he came up, bubbling and struggling. Fear was staring in his round brown eyes. / “Up you come, Sam my lad!” said Frodo. “Now take my hand!” / “Save me, Mr. Frodo!” gasped Sam. “I’m drownded. I can’t see your hand.” / “Here it is. I won’t let you go.” // “It would be the death of you to come with me, Sam,” said Frodo, “and I could not have borne that.” / “Not as certain as being left behind,” said Sam. / “But I am going to Mordor.” / “I know that well enough, Mr. Frodo. Of course you are. And I’m coming with you.”
700: The ground seemed to quiver under their feet. “I think we are in for trouble anyhow,” said Frodo. “I’m afraid our journey is drawing to an end.” / “Maybe,” said Sam; “but where there’s life there’s hope, as my gaffer used to say; and need of vittles, as he mostways used to add. You have a bite, Mr. Frodo, and then a bit of sleep.”
922: Far above the Ephel Duath in the West the night-sky was still dim and pale. There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.
940: [Sam] knew all the arguments of despair and would not listen to them.
950: “I am glad that you are here with me,” said Frodo. “Here at the end of all things, Sam.” / “… But after coming all that way I don’t want to give up yet. It’s not like me, somehow, if you understand.” / “Maybe not, Sam,” said Frodo; “but it’s like things are in the world. Hopes fail. An end comes. We have only a little time to wait now. We are lost in ruin and downfall, and there is no escape.” / “Well, Master, we could at least go further from this dangerous place here…” / “Very well, Sam. If you wish to go, I’ll come.”
Hope and Toil Against All Odds:
171: “I am Aragorn son of Arathorn; and if by life or death I can save you, I will.”
242: Elrond: “You will hear today all that you need in order to understand the purposes of the Enemy. There is naught that you can do, other than to resist, with hope or without it. But you do not stand alone. You will learn that your trouble is but part of the trouble of all the world.”
269: “Despair, or folly?” said Gandalf. “It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.” / “The road must be trod, but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us far upon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere.”
281: “Faithless is he who says farewell when the road darkens.”
333: “What hope have we without [Gandalf the Grey]? … We must do without hope,” [Aragorn] said. “At least we may yet be avenged. Let us gird ourselves and weep no more! Come! We have a long road, and much to do.”
429: Legolas: “Rest, if you must. Yet do not cast all hope away. Tomorrow is unknown. Rede oft is found at the rising of the Sun.”
437: Aragorn: “I thank you for your fair words, and my heart desires to come with you; but I cannot desert my friends while hope remains.”
441: Aragorn: “There are some things that it is better to begin than refuse, even though the end may be dark.”
518: Theoden: “What is your counsel?” / Gandalf: “… To cast aside regret and fear. To do the deed at hand. … If we fail, we fall. If we succeed - then we face the next task.”
672: Faramir: “I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.”
841: A sword rang as it was drawn. “Do what you will; but I will hinder it, if I may.” … “For living or undead, I will smite you, if you touch him.”
Themes of bittersweet endings (the unavoidable passage of time; the ends of on era; the loss of beautiful things) wrecked me. The passages about Lothlorien's end made me really emotional because of the obvious parallels to (1) climate change and (2) growing up.
Themes of Loss and Endings:
349: Haldir: “The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater. / Some there are among us who sing that the Shadow will draw back, and peace shall come again. Yet I do not believe that the world about us will ever again be as it was of old, or the light of the Sun as it was aforetime. … Alas for Lothlorien that I love! It would be a poor life in a land where no mallorn grew.”
365: Galadriel: “Do you not see now wherefore your coming is to us as the footstep of Doom? For if you succeed [and destroy the One Ring], then our power is diminished, and Lothlorien will fade, and the tides of Time will sweep it away. We must depart into the West, or dwindle to a rustic folk of dell and cave, slowly to forget and be forgotten.” / Frodo bent his head. “And what do you wish?” he said at last. / “That what should be shall be,” she answered. “The love of the Elves for their land and their works is deeper than the deeps of the Sea, and their regret is undying and cannot ever wholly be assuaged. Yet they will cast all away rather than submit to Sauron: for they know him now. For the fate of Lothlorien you are not answerable, but only for the doing of your own task. Yet I could wish, were it of any avail, that the One Ring had never been wrought.”
378: Legolas: “Alas for us all! And for all that walk the world in these after-days. For such is the way of it: to find and lose, as it seems to those whose boat is on the running stream. But I count you blessed, Gimli son of Gloin: for your loss you suffer of your own free will, and you might have chosen otherwise. You have not forsaken your companions, and the least reward that you shall have is that the memory of Lothlorien shall remain ever clear and unstained in your heart, and shall neither fade nor grow stale.” / Gimli: “Maybe… yet all such comfort is cold. Memory is not what the heart desires. That is only a mirror, be it clear as Kheled-zaram.”
486: Fangorn: “Of course, it is likely enough, my friends. Likely enough that we are going to our doom: the last march of the Ents. But if we stayed home and did nothing, doom would find us anyway, sooner or later. That thought has been growing in our hearts; and that is why we are marching now. It is not a hasty resolve. Now at least the last march of the Ents may be worth a song: we may help other peoples before we pass away.”
550: “You should be glad, Theoden King,” said Gandalf. “… You are not without allies, even if you know them not.” / “I should be sad,” said Theoden. “For however the fortune of war will go, may it not so end that much that was fair and wonderful shall pass for ever out of Middle Earth?” / “It may,” said Gandalf. “The evil… cannot be wholly cured, nor made as if it had not been. But to such days we are doomed. Let us now go on with the journey we have begun!”
1029: “I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years, after all you have done.” / “So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: someone has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.”
The rejection of Faramir by Denethor is heartbreaking. Faramir will never be good enough to earn his father's love, no matter what he does. From pages 812-815 of my copy:
“Do you wish then,” said Faramir, “that our places had been exchanged?” / “Yes, I wish that indeed,” said Denethor. “For Boromir was loyal to me and no wizard’s pupil. He would have remembered his father’s need.”
“It is not strong,” said Faramir. “I have sent the company of Ithilien to strengthen [Osgiliath], as I have said.” / “Not enough, I deem,” said Denethor.
"I will not yield the River and the Pelennor unfought – not if there is a captain here who has still the courage to do his lord’s will.” / Then all was silent. But at length Faramir said: “I do not oppose your will, sire. Since you are robbed of Boromir, I will go and do what I can in his stead – if you command it.” / “I do so,” said Denethor. / “Then farewell!” said Faramir. “But if I should return, think better of me!” / “That depends on the manner of your return."
Strongly agree with this review here. There are serious race and gender issues with this work. The linked review discusses the racism of the Uruk-hai/orcs and stratification of races better than I ever could. I also just wanted to mention/add that the "Eastern" men are described as having "slanted eyes" and a proclivity towards evil. Yikes.
--> I don't have the right words for it, but I thought I'd mention too: Maybe it's just an artifact of a different time, but the subservience and contrast of Sam and Frodo--the heavy use of "Master" language, the frequent reminders of Sam's "brown hobbit hands" as contrasted with Frodo's paleness, Sam's much quicker temper and Frodo's "temperate wisdom"--struck me the wrong way. As much as I love the relationship that they have, it was hard to get past. I had to think of it as more of a "knight and squire" type relationship to get through those passages, but even still the constant power imbalance and almost doting "Sam, you fool," language was rough.
--> Eowyn's depression was never covered in the movies, and I think it was a good choice. Eowyn's depression and death-seeking behavior as a consequence of her gender non-conformance in a highly gender-stratified world made sense to me and called to my heart. I saw the films when I was young and, as a gnc queer girl, Eowyn always made me feel seen. The resulting depression as it's shown in the book felt like a natural consequence, and I was glad to see it. But JRRT "resolving" the issue by having Eowyn give up her desires to be recognized as valiant and valuable and instead marry a man who at first "pitied her" for her depression was... upsetting, to say the least. I understand what he was going for (Eowyn having coveted Aragorn, etc.), but it felt very much like a narrative being told to wives who came home from WWII after being war nurses and mechanics, who were forced to re-frame their lives back around men (and the 1950s era of regressive feminist identity that followed).
Favorite Poems/Songs
77-78: Walking song of the Elves:
Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!
Home is behind, the world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We’ll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!
278: Bilbo’s Fireside Poem:
I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that there were,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall ever see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood in every spring
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
908: In The Tower of Cirith Ungol:
In western lands beneath the Sun
the flowers may rise in Spring,
the trees may bud, the waters run,
the merry finches sing.
Or there maybe ‘tis cloudless night
and swaying beeches bear
the Elven-stars as jewels white
amid their branching hair.
Though here at journey’s end I lie
in darkness buried deep,
beyond all towers strong and high,
beyond all mountains steep,
above all shadows rides the Sun
and Stars for ever dwell:
I will not say the Day is done,
nor bid the Stars farewell.