The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

BBC’s Big Read #25

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The Hobbit was a bucket list read for me. My dad read parts aloud during my childhood, but this was my first time reading it to completion. I read my physical edition while listening along to Rob Inglis’s narration. I plan on doing the same with The Lord of the Rings.

If I had only been reading the physical copy, or if I had only been listening to the audiobook, I think I would have taken forever to finish it—if I had managed to finish at all. It was a wonderful novel, but I found it incredibly difficult to get through. The only way I can think to explain it is this:

In the 1987 film adaptation of The Princess Bride (another bucket list read I haven’t gotten to yet), there’s a scene where the grandson asks in disgust whether or not his grandfather is trying to trick him into listening to a “kissing book.”* While reading The Hobbit, the little girl inside me wanted to say to Tolkien, “Hold up. This is exciting and all, but where are the princesses? Will there be kissing any time soon?”

It’s not that I’m desperate for a sprinkle of romance in all my fantasy reads, but nothing existed outside the presence of these dudes and their singular journey to the Lonely Mountain. No motivations or significant character backgrounds. No plans for the future. Any information irrelevant to the immediate story (i.e., what Gandalf went off to do) was only presented as one-off, throw-away lines.

I can also see why Tauriel was invented for Peter Jackson’s film adaptations (although the three-movie thing will always be an inexcusable cash grab). I didn’t have a problem with all the male characters, but having at least one female character would have been nice. As it was, the masculine side of my fantasy-loving nature thought The Hobbit was superbly entertaining, whereas the feminine side thought it was as dull as ditchwater.


* Here’s a link to the “kissing book” scene if anyone is interested.

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𝓟.𝓢. This review was crossposted from Goodreads because it contains actual thoughts rather than a typically facetious single-sentence remark. View all my book ratings and pointless takes on Goodreads or The StoryGraph.