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A review by lizshayne
The Fall of Gondolin by J.R.R. Tolkien
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
I wish I could write like Tolkien. Wish both in the sense that I think he is EXTRAORDINARY in his use of language and in the sense that, even if I could pull it off, I don't know if anyone would read it. The elevated style and the pull of the language just grabs me and listening to it is a joy.
Tolkien writes myths. He doesn't update myths to make them less mythlike and fill them out with more rounded characters - a thing I also love - he writes actual myths with archetypes and high language and grand deeds. They do the things that myths do and I need to spend more time thinking about what it is that myths DO to us as experiences. Tolkien is evoking a very specific experience (he's probably call it either eucatastrophe or the possibility of evangelium) in the way he stays in the mythic and only slides momentarily into the specific. The paragraphs where Earendil is on stage as a child are good examples. He turns up and is a kid in moments of grand foreknowledge.
Look, honestly, I just want to be able to start every tweet with "and it came to pass".
I love this world so much. Part of me is deeply excited for more media in it and the rest of my is waiting to be extremely disappointed.
Also, I just love the fact that the narrators are a father and son team and that the son takes JRRT's part because it's the ageless narrative voice while the captures the elderly Christopher Tolkien.
Tolkien writes myths. He doesn't update myths to make them less mythlike and fill them out with more rounded characters - a thing I also love - he writes actual myths with archetypes and high language and grand deeds. They do the things that myths do and I need to spend more time thinking about what it is that myths DO to us as experiences. Tolkien is evoking a very specific experience (he's probably call it either eucatastrophe or the possibility of evangelium) in the way he stays in the mythic and only slides momentarily into the specific. The paragraphs where Earendil is on stage as a child are good examples. He turns up and is a kid in moments of grand foreknowledge.
Look, honestly, I just want to be able to start every tweet with "and it came to pass".
I love this world so much. Part of me is deeply excited for more media in it and the rest of my is waiting to be extremely disappointed.
Also, I just love the fact that the narrators are a father and son team and that the son takes JRRT's part because it's the ageless narrative voice while the captures the elderly Christopher Tolkien.