Thread: The Lord of the Rings

sorry to not post this all at once, my comp was screweing up..

buddhapants: try your hardest not to make a mountain out of a mole hill.... obviously tolkien isnt god.. and every word was not where he meant it to be.. im sure if he had the chance he would change something..

i dont think he was trying to show flaws of modern life by setting a slow place.. he just wanted to show the epic size of his creation middle earth.. which i feel brought down the story...

the lord of the rings sux

I could never take seriously the literary criticism of a person who uses the word(?) "sux" to describe a book.

its how i speak, and so its how i type.. this isnt the most formal of forums out there.. and dont choose the easy way to belittle my opinion because you don't agree with my opinion

I'm not belittling your opinion, I just wouldn't expect a person who says "sux" to be able to fully appreciate LOTR, in the first place, and would therefore not take your literary critiques very seriously. Had you not said "sux," I may have commented on the other ridiculous things you said, but since you did say it, I decided not to bother. You may run along now. Shoo. Shoo.

Flawed though it may be, LOTR gave us one of literature's most sympathetic villans. Sauron's story is a long and sad story, which is why the victories in Return of the King are shaded a bit with tragedy.

This, my most cherished element of the books, was lost in the movie translation.

Ah! Lord Of The Rings... I wanted to read that book since forever, but I just didn't! I don't know why, everybody says that it's the perfect book and it's wonderful to read, but somehow I'm cursed (or the book for that matter).. I went two weeks ago the the bookshop to get it, they said that it will be available in a month (??), tried to download it as a pdf. but that didn't go well either.... After 2 weeks I'm going to head for that same stupid bookshop and try to buy it, but the earth will probably open or judgment day won't find any better timing...

Still I'm sure the books are going to be wonderful (that is if I laid my hands on them).

Originally Posted by Hakeem

Ah! Lord Of The Rings...everybody says that it's the perfect book and it's wonderful to read

The people who have read it to the end are going to say it's wonderful - why else would they bother? - and then there are those who realised by the first book that it's just dull tripe with pointless happenings and didn't bother to read it to the end because there was little benefit to be had.

and then there are those who realised by the first book that it's just dull tripe with pointless happenings and didn't bother to read it to the end because there was little benefit to be had.

Whether you finish it or not really depends on what you hope to get out of it. I think a lot of people were expecting the same breezy escapism found in The Hobbit. I can understand why they would abandong LOTR. But if you're interested at all in refining your own writing, I recommend reading it to study technique. You'll find Tolkein does a lot of things well, and you'll find he does a lot of things poorly. But you'll learn from it, even if all you take away is a lesson in what not to do.

I make it a point to pick through popular books even if I don't like them. They're popular for a reason, and the autopsy helps me understand why. Of course, in some cases this is excrutiating and takes a long time. I'm still trying to get through Atlas Shrugged.

I agree with you wise reading lord of the rings does give insight into what to do and what not to do(and i agree about the film missing out the tragedy of the victory- it was an important part for me).

stewart i read the trilogy til the end and i can say i didn't like them. I felt the books were drawn out and too flowery. The only reason i read them til the end is becaused of the praises it received.

The first book focussed too much on frodo, which i guess tolkien had to do since he was the hero and it bored me even more than the other books.

I read it to the end (just so I could say I could) and yep, found it boring.

Originally Posted by josephwise

Whether you finish it or not really depends on what you hope to get out of it.

Like all fiction, I'm looking for an entertaining read. The Fellowship Of The Rings was a sloppy novel, as I see it, for stuff like Tom Bombadil and all the unnecessary world building that got in the way of the overall story. Tolkien may have spent so much time as a linguist and creating all these fancy languages using the etymological roots of others, but he could have spent some more time with English.

if you're interested at all in refining your own writing, I recommend reading it to study technique.

If you are interested in learning the art of writing, then tawdry fantasy novels may be a stepping stone (for reference, mind) but, I find, the best writers - the ones to really learn from - are those with protean tendencies for whom the words matter. Unless you are just in it to try to make a buck or two rather than giving a damn about the craft.

I make it a point to pick through popular books even if I don't like them.

Most certainly. It can be entertaining - of the car crash variety - wondering how on earth some of the schlock out there got published and then it brings you to the conclusion that people actually buy this stuff!

speaking of Tom Bombadil (he was mentioned a post or two ago), does anyone have any new theories of who Tom Bombadil was? Tolkein doesn't mention Bombadil in any of his history of middle earth books. I've heard several theories, such as Bombadil was a Maia or was the King of the Wringwraiths, but I am stilling looking for more theories.

does anyone have any new theories of who Tom Bombadil was?

I believe the intention was for him to remain a mystery. He is something that even the histories do not fully know, thus he is not related to or a member of any of the classifications listed otherwise in Tolkien's work. He is something that has not been mentioned by any name other than his own.

In short, he is a literary device.

I read LOTR completely. 3 times. I found it interesting in how the characters each helped save Middle Earth. Even when return of the King ended I wanted Sam to have an adventure himself. Even Merry and Pippin traveled and visited the friends they made. I also read The Hobbit and loved it. I managed to read Silmarillion. Got a bit of background form it, but felt more like a history book from high school.

Personally, I felt that Lord of the Rings was a great story written in an overly flowery style. The writing style makes for incredibly interesting battle/action scenes, however anything else seems dull and lifeless.