The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien

I read these novels a long, long time ago. It was a favorite series of a guy I dated and, as he didn't read fiction that much, I figured it was worth a look. I remember enjoying the book, though I found the first installment incredibly dull before they reached Rivendell. It was only because I had seen the first film in the trilogy that I continued at all. This outing has proved to be everything I hoped it would be. I had hoped that, after reading The Three Musketeers as an adult, I would find The Lord of the Rings much more enjoyable and nuanced. I was not disappointed.

This time around, I took the time to read the introductions and prologue. What amazes me is the attention to detail that went into the creation of Middle Earth. Entire languages, migration patterns, architectural evolutions were thought out. Granted, Tolkien was a Medieval Scholar (particularly Beowulf), and you can see that echoed everywhere in the novel. So I am sure a lot of his background information for the different races of Middle Earth were based upon the real life history of Europe. Still, to put that much thought into one's characters is inspiring.

One thing I found most interesting was that they were written in the late thirties and early forties; I had assumed they were much older than that. He writes in his introduction that his intention was never to create an allegory and that to find any, i.e. traces of Hitler or the Nazis in Sauron and his armies, is based on what the reader brings to the text and not what the author has written. I wonder what Tolkien thought of C.S. Lewis, as he states very clearly in his introduction that he doesn't appreciate allegory at all.

I've been comparing the book to the movies this time around and find that while the exclusion of Tom Bombadil makes sense in the interest of time, it is very disappointing to the book lovers. The passage of time in the book is very different from the movie as well. Certainly, since Tolkien has infinite pages to write about an event this makes sense. There is a sense of urgency created in the movie which isn't felt in the book until much later in the story.

All in all, a beautifully written novel with fantastic characters. I will be heading on to Two Towers soon. Though I may have to take a slight detour for this interesting title I've recently heard about on NPR, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.