Scan barcode
A review by isabellarobinson7
Mr Bliss by J.R.R. Tolkien
3.5
Rating: 3.5 stars
Mr Bliss is about a man named Mr Bliss and he has lots of funny hats and a new bright yellow car, both inside and out (he specified). Mr Bliss loves his new car so much, and he decides to take it for a ride. This makes all his neighbours angry and hijinks ensue.
Doing a bit of research on this story, it seems that Mr Bliss is based on Tolkien's own experience getting his own motorcar. He got a car pretty soon after they became available, but by all accounts he was an absolutely TERRIBLE driver. I love this quote from Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Tolkien (a book I fully intend to read... at some point) which perfectly encapsulates both who Tolkien was as a person, and what kind of story you are in for with Mr Bliss:
Mr Bliss is about a man named Mr Bliss and he has lots of funny hats and a new bright yellow car, both inside and out (he specified). Mr Bliss loves his new car so much, and he decides to take it for a ride. This makes all his neighbours angry and hijinks ensue.
Doing a bit of research on this story, it seems that Mr Bliss is based on Tolkien's own experience getting his own motorcar. He got a car pretty soon after they became available, but by all accounts he was an absolutely TERRIBLE driver. I love this quote from Humphrey Carpenter's biography of Tolkien (a book I fully intend to read... at some point) which perfectly encapsulates both who Tolkien was as a person, and what kind of story you are in for with Mr Bliss:
There was the unforgettable occasion in 1932 when Tolkien bought his first car, a Morris Cowley that was nicknamed ‘Jo’ after the first two letters of its registration. After learning to drive he took the entire family by car to visit his brother Hilary at his Evesham fruit farm. At various times during the journey ‘Jo’ sustained two punctures and knocked down part of a dry-stone wall near Chipping Norton, with the result that Edith refused to travel in the car again until some months later – not entirely without justification, for Tolkien’s driving was daring rather than skilful. When accelerating headlong across a busy main road in Oxford in order to get into a side-street, he would ignore all other vehicles and cry ‘Charge ‘em and they scatter!’ – and scatter they did.
Tolkien just seems like the coolest man. It would be an honour to have my toe squashed by him as he zooms passed. Probably wouldn't think so in the moment, but sometime after I bet I would appreciate it. (Also, highly recommend the audio with the physical/ebook, because Derek Jacobi does a wonderful performance and Tolkien's illustrations as always are imperfect but precious none the less.)