Yes, folks, you heard me right- I'm currently reading JRR Tokien's Hobbit for the second time. When I saw that the movie is coming out next December, I knew I had to get started right away if I wanted to finish the book by the time the film is released.
You see, I'm not a big fan of LOTR.
I liked the movies- they were exciting, beautifully shot, and fun to watch. The story of the Ring of Power is interesting, and fantasy can be used to explore the real world through a simplified lens. Middle Earth is a lot like Planet Earth, in that there is good and evil, but the boundary between the two is easier to identify than it is here. Imaginary worlds are often conveniently lacking in grey area. There are unbelievably perfect heroes, like Viggo Mortensen, and evil-to-the-core villains, like that wizard who was in the new (read: terrible) Star Wars films.
But the books were never able to bring this world to life for me, which is why I couldn't get through the trilogy. I was, however, able to read the Hobbit -- it just took a couple of years. Maybe this is because there are fewer weird names to remember in one book than in three, and the story is one with which everyone is familiar -- an unlikely hero has to deal with dragon troubles.
So far, the book hasn't been too boring. I've made it safely to Chapter II, and plan to continue reading tonight. However, I'm having a small problem: I had forgotten how many stupid songs Tolkien puts in his stories.
And in the Hobbit, skipping over them is not a good idea. I will share a few passages that illustrate the importance of reading the songs.
From 12 boring pages into the first chapter:
" 'I suppose you will all stay to supper?' he said in his politest unpressing tones.
'Of course!' said Thorin. 'And after. We shan't get through the business till late, and we must have some music first. Now to clear up!'
Thereupon the twelve dwarves...jumped to their feet, and made tall piles of all the things. Off they went...the dwarves only started to sing:
[Long, seemingly pointless song]
And of course, they did none of these dreadful things..."
Now, if you skipped the song, as I did, you would wonder what "dreadful things" the dwarves had been singing about. Disemboweling Bilbo's cat? Setting the neighbor's house ablaze? Singing another song?
(It turns out that they were singing about breaking plates and making a mess in the kitchen.)
A few pages later, Tolkien comes right out and tells you that you'd better not keep skipping his stupid songs. When Bilbo asks for a little more background info about the dragon's lair he's supposed to rob, Thorin the dwarf responds by saying:
"Haven't you got a map? and didn't you hear our song?"
Yes, apparently dwarf-lore is vital to one's understanding of the story, and it is explained only through songs. However, I have developed a strategy that will help other would-be Tolkien readers who can't stand poetry: usually, if you read the last two and a half verses you will get all the information you need.
In the case of the dwarf-lore that you need to know to understand why Smaug the dragon is such a frustration for Thorin 'n' Friends, the last two and a half verses of the previously mentioned song teach you everything you need to know:
"...Then dragon's ire more fierce than fire
Laid low their towers and houses frail.
The mountain smoked beneath the moon;
The dwarves, they heard the tramp of doom.
They fled their hall to dying fall
Beneath his feet, beneath the moon.
Far over the misty mountains grim
To dungeons deep and caverns dim
We must away ere break of day,
To win our harps and gold from him!"
See? Using my new Tolkien Song Strategy, we can correctly assume that a dragon did a very bad thing to the dwarves and took their treasure, and that the dwarves want it back. This way, you only have to read two paragraphs instead of two pages of this crap, and if you skim the important parts, it's even quicker:
"...dragon...fire...laid low...towers...dwarves...fled their hall...dying...we must...win our harps and gold from him!"
You're welcome.
I loved reading the Hobbit, but I can't remember the songs though. I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting older, or if schools filled my brain so much that I'm losing memory like a hard drive. Maybe a mix of both.
ReplyDeleteYour frustration reminds me of reading Stephen King novels when he breaks the story to give some background on a character or some history on the creepy town. Used to frustrate the living daylights out of me. So I'd skip it, read enough to find out how the cliff hanger ends, and who made it out alive, and then go back. I also read the last page mid way through. Sometimes the suspense was unbearable, which I guess is why he's the master.
The rest of the trilogy will have to go on my post doc reading list.
I tried - several times - never got past the 4th chapter.
ReplyDeleteI tried reading the first LOTR book when I was 12. I think I made it halfway through the first chapter. I've never even thought of opening another LOTR book since. It was quite daunting regardless of the fact that at that age my reading comprehension was at an adult level. I'd think about it now but there's already so much on my plate to read. I'm probably set for all of 2012.
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