First Quarter Outside Reading Book Review


The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. Ballantine Books, 1965. Genre: Fantasy


Summary:
This book is about a hobbit named Bilbo Baggins who meets a wizard named Gandalf one day at his home. Bilbo invites Gandalf for tea at his home the next day, he accepts the invite. Bilbo is surprised by a group of twelve dwarves who arrive at his house. Bilbo gives them because he wanted to be polite. After the last dwarf arrives Gandalf shows up. Bilbo soon finds out that he has been selected to go on a mission. The mission involves walking a long distance to steal gold from a dragon named Smaug. A long time ago Smaug had captured a dwarf kingdom that one of the dwarf’s fathers ruled. Bilbo’s job is to steel the treasure from the dragon. They walk through the forest and over the misty mountains to find the dragon and encounter many obstacles in the way. They have to beet goblins, trolls, and spiders. Bilbo finds a magical ring that makes you invisible when you put it on. He found it in Gollum’s lair. They have to walk for many days to find the dragon that has the treasure.

Quote:
“There are very few works of genius in recent literature. This is one”
-Michael Straight, the New Republic.

Writing Style:
He writes with a lot of description, sometimes too much. Many of the characters sing songs that are typed in italics. The author every now and again adds some humor in the story, which is kind of like a surprise party. You don’t expect a book with description and seriousness to have many jokes. The book is written in third person. The author is pretty much telling the story as if he watched happen. Much like the Harry Potter books, there is a lot going on and it keeps your interest.

Book Quote:
Far over the misty mountains cold
To dungeons deep and caverns old
We must away, ere break of day,
To find our long-forgotten gold.

This is an example of how J. R. R. Tolkien uses song in his story. This song is being sung by the dwarves the night before they plan to set off on their trip to the misty mountains. He uses song many times throughout the Hobbit, to help give a sense of what’s going on.

Wrap up:
Tolkien has a lot of cool things and concepts in his book. When things were happening this was a great book, but when he describes the color of each rock on their journey, he made me want to stop reading. The story is a giant road trip, and half of the story is just unneeded or repetitive events. It almost seems as though he rambles on about one thing for five or six pages. Apart from the walking around, this was a great book. I would definitely recommend it to people who enjoy books of adventure.