Book Review: The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Series: Standalone, Middle-Earth Universe
Genre: Fantasy, High Fantasy, Classic Fantasy
Pages: 322 pages (75th Anniversary edition)
Published: September 21st, 1937
The Hobbit probably would’ve been more enjoyable if I were reading it at least 15 years ago.
I have an odd relationship with The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings due to my feelings of the movie adaptations. For Lord of the Rings, I haven’t been able to finish Fellowship of the Ring because I loved the movies so much and I ended up finding the book incredibly boring; I will try again next year. As for The Hobbit, I was reluctant to read the book because I disliked the movie adaptation. After finally reading this for the first time, I can safely say that I still dislike the movies, and I felt more or less indifferent about the book.
This will be a short review; I have nothing new to offer. The Hobbit is a book targeted for kids and, in my opinion, it certainly read like one. As I said, I most likely would’ve enjoyed this book so much more if I were younger and weren’t acquainted with other modern high-fantasy yet. Reading this for the first time, it felt like there was a complete lack of tension throughout the entire book. I also immensely disliked the storytelling voice implemented into the narration; it’s so distracting to my immersion and rather than reading it felt to me like Tolkien was telling the story to me. I prefer seeing events unfolds from the character’s perspective. That being said, I will also admit that I wasn’t bored with it because the accessible prose made the book very easy to read.
The Hobbit is a classic and I can totally understand why it became one. I will definitely consider reading this to my kids one day. I have no idea whether the decrease in enjoyment of the book was caused because of me watching the movies first or not, it might be. But overall, I just felt more or less indifferent about The Hobbit, which I guess is arguably even worse than disliking it. Honestly speaking, around 30% through the book, I ended up reading through it just for the sake of completing my bingo challenge rather than because I was having a good time with it. Thankfully, this was a short read.
You can order the book from: Book Depository (Free shipping)