“It's the job that's never started as takes longest to finish.”
~ Samwise Gamgee
What better place to start than the epic fantasy that has captured the hearts of so many? Indeed, the books look rather intimidating (they're over 1000 pages put together) but I can promise that it's worth the effort.
Now, I was sent the trilogy for my tenth birthday from my grandparents. At first, more to prove that I could more than anything else, I decided to plunge into the depths of Middle-Earth. I expected to like it, at the tender age of ten I think there were only a couple of books that I had disliked - but I did not expect to fall so much in love with them (and I don't expect many people really thought I'd understand what was going on).
I'm sure by now nearly everyone who is reading this has at least seen the films, and will be thinking to themselves: "I know what happens now. What's the point of reading them?"
My answer is this:
Firstly - as with nearly every book to film translation, things got changed and missed out. IMPORTANT things got missed out.
Secondly - The Lord of the Rings MADE fantasy the literary genre that it is today. You cannot pick up any fantasy novel without seeing how LOTR has inspired it (I am not one of those Tolkeinites who is determined to dismiss all fantasy novels as "unoriginal". I have read plenty of fantasy and I can vouch for the fact that there is still such a thing as an original fantasy), and I think that knowing how fantasy was born is integral to our understanding of fantasy as a genre.
Anyway, I'm rambling.
I want to start first with my overwhelming respect for the imagination that Tolkein had. Not only did he make up an entirely new world...not only did he make up entirely new languages (going so far as to have different forms of Elvish depending on geography) but he also made up an incredible storyline. Not bad going at all.
It is so easy to get lost in his narrative. When I read it the first time, my mum had to nearly drag me to the dinner table (anyone who knows me will know how much I love my food, so will be amazed that I found this book so unputdownable as to risk missing meals), and even to this day I will usually have to eat my meals really late because I've lost track of time. And that is one of the beauties to LOTR that stuns me every time: with every rereading (it is no exaggeration for me to inform you that I have read them at least 10 times), there is something new to be found. Some new significance which alters your reading of the story. On the first reading I read it on a very superficial level: I wanted Frodo to destory the One Ring and get back to the Shire safely. But a few subsequent readings later (helped by the fact that I finally got around to reading the appendixes) I realised that actually...it's about so much more. It is about Aragorn and the redemption of mankind. His quest to correct what his lineage did wrong. When you read it from this perspective, it becomes way more interesting (and the films make a bit more sense. My boyfriend, who has not read LOTR [I intend to cure this one day] was baffled by the emergence of Aragorn as King of Gondor at first, until he sat and watched the films with my constant commentary [I can't help it. I'm very passionate], because for most of the films Aragorn is just a ranger who has mad fighting skills, then suddenly pops up as King).
Moving on. The language is so beautifully crafted, I can actually see his landscapes, hear his character's speak. There are not many authors who can boast such power.
One of the criticisms of LOTR is that Tolkein's characters are either good or bad there are no shades of grey. I disagree with this, thinking of Boromir and Smeagol/Gollum as I do so. Boromir is ultimately a good man, who wants to do right by his father and his country. However, he falls to the temptation of the Ring and attempts to wrest it from Frodo, highlighting how man is susceptible to weakness. His redemption comes at the price of his life, as in extreme remorse and in realisation of what he has done, he attempts to save Merry and Pippin from the Uruk-hai onslaught, losing his life in his attempt. Smeagol/Gollum is quite literally a battle between good and bad. Smeagol tries to excorsise his evil by helping Frodo and Sam on their quest, but the evil proves too strong, showing how the more we expose ourselves to evil the harder it is to turn back.
Yes, LOTR has some Christian undertones. But when you think of the context surrounding when it was written (throughout WWII and after), it's very understandable. In some ways, LOTR is a social commentary - a desire to turn away from overindustrialisation (Mordor is apparently based on Tolkein's experiences in Industrialised Birmingham) and a return to a naturalistic communal way of life (enjoyed by the Hobbits in the Shire).
All in all, this has been my favourite book ever since I read it at ten years old. Read it: it's hardgoing, but it's so unbelievably rewarding.
“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”
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