I started rereading The Lord of the Rings (LOTR) by J.R.R. Tolkien back in February (!) and read it with the usual characteristic slow reading and frequent (often weeks- or months-long) breaks I do/take with very long, thick books, even ones I like and want to read (look how long it took me to reread JS&MN). I had downloaded the ebook from Nook during their shocking free ebooks drop last year; it is 1,371 pages long! I finally finished this book on May 13; it took me 85 days to read. Part of it (this time) is that the endnotes system Nook ebooks have is very tedious and annoying; I usually have to enlarge the text every time I want to tap on a superscript number or symbol, and half the time it just takes me to an endnote that's just like "*page 146". Which A) is not helpful, and B) I know that if I click on that secondary hyperlink, I won't be able to get back to my place in the book. Ugh. I confess I skimmed the appendices, only really reading what interested me, and skipped the indexes. There are family trees, and past histories that didn't make it into the text of the story. JRRT 1000% has to have been autistic.
The first time I read the series I was in college, before I had this blog or probably tracked my reading. I read this mass-market paperback trilogy set that did not have foot- or endnotes (that I can remember), and I only discovered after I'd finished the whole LOTR story that there was a lot of useful information about the characters and places and whatnot in the appendices and indexes in the back/end of The Return of the King. I actually gave away that LOTR set; I had no intention of ever rereading the book/s, until I downloaded the ebook. Shelf space is at a premium in my house, and every public library has the books anyway. Maybe I'll reread this in another 15 years.
I realize I haven't given a summary, so here it is: a young hobbit learns that a family heirloom is really a magical ring of immense, evil power, and that it must be destroyed before its maker, an immortal evil entity, can use it to take over and destroy the world. The quest to destroy the One Ring is joined or allied by many other people from different fantasy races (including humans), and it all culminates in war. It's a wonderful story, so magical and fantastical yet so, so, SO grounded (JRRT basically created the world, history, and languages of the books before writing the stories, so at times it feels like you're reading a book of history rather than fantasy fiction). The writing/language is so beautiful, and there's a solemnity you don't really get anymore from fantasy stories. Sincerity is also endangered, I feel; there's a tendency to wink at or mock everything nowadays, and this story takes itself and its values as seriously as the grave. I really do understand why it is so beloved and enduring, although I still think it's still too unnecessarily long. The Hobbit has been one of my favorite books since I was seven or eight years old (!), but it took me until college (!!) to be able to actually finish LOTR (there's just so much fucking walking, and SO many characters to keep track of). I do better at reading sprints than I do reading marathons. Everyone who likes fantasy at all needs to read LOTR at least once; its influence on the genre is still felt to this day, although most of it is thrice (or more) removed; influenced by those influenced by those influenced by LOTR, etc.
It has its issues, of course; there are so few named female characters, and even fewer who are actually important (basically just Eowen and Galadriel. My memory of the films was stronger than my memory of the books, so I was surprised to see that Arwen is hardly even mentioned at all). I feel like all the time JRRT spent talking about Numenor (which doesn't even come into the story and isn't particularly important to it) could have been spent developing some more female characters. There is, interestingly enough, plenty to see with shippers' eyes; I was shocked and delighted to read JRRT himself comparing Sam's defense of Frodo during Shelob's attack to any small animal defending its mate (!!!) against a much-larger predator's attack. Gandalf's interactions with Saruman and Denethor can be viewed through a "toxic old man yaoi" lens, if desired, and of course there's Legolas and Gimli. No yuri due to the aforementioned lack of speaking, named female characters who interact. I don't have the time or energy to get into the hierarchical class structure or racism/xenophobia; better minds than mine have already written about them. This was written during the 1930s (and before?) and it shows. Still, recommended. Just know what you're getting into.
Some of the best LOTR quotes and excerpts
Score: ★★★★ out of 5 stars
Read in: February 18-May 13
From: B&N Nook
Genres/classification: fantasy, high fantasy, epic fantasy, classic fantasy, classics, swords-and-sorcery
Representation: not really. Sam is described as having 'brown hands' which suggests brown skin, plus he's working class and very important to the story
Tropes: ordinary person thrust into a starring role in something much bigger and important than themselves, fire-forged friends, hereditary enemies become friends, a woman dresses up as a man to fight in the battle, prophecy bypass/no man of woman born, the rightful king returns and set everything to rights, immortal person giving up their immortality to be with a mortal/human (Arwen and Aragorn in the appendices)Trigger warnings: murder, gore, violence, kidnapping, death and dead bodies, racism and xenophobia (the human villains are all men of color that are described racistly while the human heroes are all white men, plus having evil/good fantasy races), sexism, classism, Grima Wormtongue creeping on Eowyn (no actual actions but def. creepy vibes)
