The Hobbit: Book Review

With the upcoming Hobbit movie coming out, I decided to reread The Hobbit in preparation for the film. I hadn't read the book since high school and remembered very little of it as it had been over 10 years since my last read.

Description: The Hobbit follows Bilbo Baggins in his youth (60 years). Bilbo is living comfortably in his hobbit hole in Hobbiton when he is approached by Gandalf the wizard and 12 dwarves to be the burglar addition in a great adventure. The dwarves seek to regain a treasure stolen from their fathers by the great dragon Smaug. Bilbo embraces his Tookish side and goes on the adventure with the dwarves and discovers a side to himself the he never knew that he had.

Review: I had forgotten how much I love Tolkien's writing. His writing has a playfulness, a beauty, and a depth that you just don't see in most authors. His descriptions of Middle Earth are lush and his development of characters is always enjoyable. I don't know how he takes a cast of 14 and makes each of them lovable, but he is just masterful at it.

The Hobbit is not that long a book, but Bilbo seems to go on 12 different adventures in the book and it spans a whole year. How does Tolkien do it? How does he fit so much into so few pages? Now that I have reread the book, I know how they are going to split it into three movies. There is so much in this little book, there is no way they could fit it into one movie.

Normally, I don't like a book unless there is some sort of love story in the book, but Tolkien is the exception. He writes about comradery and friendship in a way that I don't miss the romance of the books. I'm not even sure if the book had a female in it at all, and I just didn't miss it.

I loved this book, it reminded me of why I love fantasy books and I can't wait for the movie. I'm going to an advanced screening of the movie the day before it comes out and I will review it in comparison to the book when it comes out.

Rating: 5 stars (can I give Tolkien anything less?)