Started: October 23, 2021
Finished: November 5, 2021
(This review is written using my new format for book reviews.)
My History With This Book
As a child, I was a huge fan of the 1977 Rankin/Bass animated version of this movie (W), which was shown on the Disney Channel in the 1980s, and which I taped onto VHS and then watched and re-watched to the point of memorization. That movie had a big influence on my conception of fantasy, and also influenced the stories I was writing in 4th and 5th grade.
Also, when I was in 5th grade, my school did a the stage-play version of The Hobbit (W) for its annual school play. I wasn't in that play (it was the 8th graders only), but I saw it as a member of the audience.
I tried reading The Hobbit when I was in 4th grade, but didn't make it past the first chapter. I found that the book had all of the same dialogue as the animated movie, but moved at a much slower pace and had a lot more boring details. (The introduction of the Gandalf and the Dwarves happens very quickly in the movie, but takes several pages in the book.) Feeling like I wasn't getting anything valuable out of the book other than the boring stuff, I stopped reading.
I picked it up again in early 2001, when I decided to finally read The Lord of the Rings, and I knew I should start with The Hobbit first. I did actually read it all the way through that time, but I don't remember enjoying it. I remember feeling like it was a bit of a slog, because I already knew the story from the movie. (That's not the fault of the original book, but it was my reading experience nonetheless.)
In the years since, of course, I saw Peter Jackson's Hobbit movies, and have reviewed them on this blog:
Why I'm Reading It Now
This is a re-read. I did complete this once before 20 years ago. But 20 years ago, I also gave up on The Lord of the Rings.
I've felt guilty ever since about never completing The Lord of the Rings.
Also, in the years since 2001, I've spent a lot of time on the Internet and on Wikipedia, and I now have a greater appreciation for how Tolkien fits into the development of the modern fantasy genre.
Back in 2001, I knew that The Lord of the Rings was a famous fantasy series, of course, but I thought it was just one of many fantasy series. I didn't fully appreciate how much this was the series that shaped all the subsequent fantasy series.
I also didn't appreciate in 2001 Tolkien's expertise in Anglo-Saxon, and how his writing was drawing on all those ancient styles and legends. But now, thanks to the Internet and Wikipedia, I'm much better educated on this, and I feel like I have a much better appreciation for what tone he's aiming at in these books. So for several years now, I've been meaning to give Tolkien another try. And I've decided to start again with The Hobbit.
The Plot
Everyone already knows this story, right?
The Reading Experience
I said above that I found this book a bit of a slog back in 2001, but I thoroughly enjoyed the re-read. What accounts for the difference? I'm not sure. I probably am in a completely different frame of mind than I was 20 years ago. Perhaps I'm a more patient reader. Also, now that I have a better idea of the world building and atmosphere that Tolkien is famous for, I allowed myself to get immersed in the style and feel of this book.
I tried as best as I could to put the various movies out of my head, and just concentrate on the world of this book as Tolkien created it. It was, of course, a losing battle. With the songs especially, I couldn't help hearing them with the tune from the Rankin Bass Movie I grew up with.
...but I did my best. And enjoyed the experience.
I also tried to envision Middle-Earth as it was described by Tolkien, and not just fall back on my memories of the visuals from the movie. Although sometimes I found Tolkien's descriptions of landscapes a bit hard to visualize (particularly descriptions of rivers and the mountains), but for the most part I enjoyed this mystical, thoroughly ancient world that Tolkien had created.
Extended Quotation
“I have often wondered about my father’s and my grandfather’s escape. I see now they must have had a private Side-door which only they knew about. But apparently they made a map, and I should like to know how Gandalf got hold of it, and why it did not come down to me, the rightful heir.”
“I did not ‘get hold of it,’ I was given it,” said the wizard. “Your grandfather Thror was killed, you remember, in the mines of Moria by Azog the Goblin.”
“Curse his name, yes,” said Thorin.
“And Thrain your father went away on the twenty-first of April, a hundred years ago last Thursday, and has never been seen by you since–”
“True, true,” said Thorin.
“Well, your father gave me this to give to you; and if I have chosen my own time and way for handing it over, you can hardly blame me, considering the trouble I had to find you. Your father could not remember his own name when he gave me the paper, and he never told me yours; so on the whole I think I ought to be praised and thanked! Here it is,” said he handing the map to Thorin.
“I don’t understand,” said Thorin, and Bilbo felt he would have liked to say the same. The explanation did not seem to explain.
“Your grandfather,” said the wizard slowly and grimly, “gave the map to his son for safety before he went to the mines of Moria. Your father went away to try his luck with the map after your grandfather was killed; and lots of adventures of a most unpleasant sort he had, but he never got near the Mountain. How he got there I don’t know, but I found him a prisoner in the dungeons of the Necromancer.”
“Whatever were you doing there?” asked Thorin with a shudder, and all the dwarves shivered.
“Never you mind. I was finding things out, as usual; and a nasty dangerous business it was. Even I, Gandalf, only just escaped. I tried to save your father, but it was too late. He was witless and wandering, and had forgotten almost everything except the map and the key.”
“We have long ago paid the goblins of Moria,” said Thorin; “we must give a thought to the Necromancer.”
“Don’t be absurd! He is an enemy far beyond the powers of all the dwarves put together, if they could all be collected again from the four corners of the world. The one thing your father wished was for his son to read the map and use the key. The dragon and the Mountain are more than big enough tasks for you!” (End Quote: chapter 1, p.30-31)
I like passages like this, because they hint that the story in The Hobbit is taking place against a backdrop of a much richer and deeper story.
Odds and Ends
* Even as a kid (watching the movie), I thought that Gandalf's powers were undefined in a way that could potentially be a plot hole. (Why doesn't Gandalf just magic his way out of all their difficulties? What exactly are the limits on his power anyway?) Also, even as a kid, I thought that Gandalf suddenly disappearing in the middle of the book seemed very contrived. It's obvious why Tolkien needed to get rid of Gandalf. (You can't have a compelling story if there's a wizard who can just solve all of the problems.) But the way it's done in the story just feels so contrived. Gandalf just tells everyone that he has to go away because he has "other businesses". If it had been set up earlier in the book, maybe it would have felt less contrived.
I know its fashionable to deride the Peter Jackson trilogy, but this strikes me as one plot point that was better handled in Peter Jackson's version. In Peter Jackson's version, we see very clearly why Gandalf had to leave and what he was doing. In the books, Gandalf does mention his fight against the Necromancer at the end, but it feels very tacked on.
* Speaking of things that feel a bit tacked on--The Battle of the Five armies at the end of this book is told in such a hurried way. The Goblin army comes out of nowhere (this is another plot element that isn't adequately set-up in advanced.) And that whole section with the final battle has a very rushed pacing--a much different style than the rest of the book. And also Tolkien kills off the two youngest dwarfs at the end, Fili and Kili, but their deaths are mentioned just as an afterthought. Like, "Oh, and also Fili and Kili are dead now."
* From Chapter 5 (p.81)
After some time he felt for his pipe. It was not broken, and that was something. Then he felt for his pouch, and there was some tobacco in it, and that was something more. Then he felt for matches and he could not find any at all, and that shattered his hopes completely. Just as well for him, as he agreed when he came to his senses. Goodness knows what the striking of matches and the smell of tobacco would have brought on him out of dark holes in that horrible place. Still at the moment he felt very crushed.
...I understand that tobacco addiction was considered normal in 1937 (when this book was published), but what's the point of putting this in a book for children? What are children supposed to get out of passages when Bilbo gets comfort from his tobacco addiction?
(This is one of several passages referencing tobacco).
* From Chapter 18 (p.335)
Then dismay fell on the Goblins and they fled in all directions. But weariness left their enemies with the coming of new hope, and they pursued them closely, and prevented most of them from escaping where they could. They drove many of them into the Running River, and such as fled south or west they hunted into the marshes about the Forest River; and there the greater part of the last fugitives perished, while those that came hardly to the Wood-elves’ realm were there slain, or drawn in to die deep in the trackless dark of Mirkwood. Songs have said that three parts of the goblin warriors of the North perished on that day, and the mountains had peace for many a year.
It's taken for granted throughout the whole book that killing a goblin is always good, but this passage about pursuing into the forest and swamp until they've all been slain reminds me a bit of the Old Testament injunction to hunt down and kill all Amalekites.
Is this problematic morals, or is this okay because irredeemably evil monsters are just part of the fantasy genre? I'm on the fence.
Connections With Other Books I've Read
* The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald from 1872. Reportedly this was one of Tolkien's influences when he wrote The Hobbit.
* As you know, this book involves a magic ring that can make the wearer invisible. (And, as you know, this same magic ring will become even more important in the sequels.) For another book about a magic ring which makes people invisible, see The Enchanted Castle by Edith Nesbit, published in 1907. Since The Enchanted Castle predates The Hobbit, I had wondered if Tolkien was stealing the idea from Edith Nesbit. But a quick search on Google shows that the idea of a magic ring predates Edith Nesbit, and Tolkien was probably influenced more by Norse Mythology and Wagner's - Ring Cycle.
9 out of 10 stars. (Like a lot of classic books, this one has been somewhat spoiled by over-exposure, and overfamiliarity hinders the reading experience nowadays. But I think it definitely would be a 9 out of 10 if you could read this book in a vacuum.)
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