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Summary: The greatest fantasy ever written
Review: What can I say that hasn't been said? No one will ever be able to surpass Tolkien. I hope the movie doesn't suck, though I'm prepared for it to be lame in comparison no matter what... no way could it do the book justice, or compare with imagination.
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Summary: You'll see reality in another way
Review: The work Tolkien has done with this book should make us see how a human can create a world where every language in it has its own grammar, where all characters which appear have their onw linage and where everything in it can be accurately explained by reading other books of the same. Landscapes and places are treated with such an elegance and perfection that you can really feel the humidity, the darkness or the morning wind touching your face. He has done of a week and small creature the heroe of an epic fantasy novel and has avoided using the usual strong and intelligent one. It's certainly the masterpiece of a literature master. What I admire of this book is everything, maybe because I firstly read others of Tolkien such as the hobbit (indispensable if you want to fully understand the LotR)and the Silmarillion. It's not appropiate for an under fifteen boy to read it as he would find it boring. I would recomend it to those who are keen on fantasy and that would pay for living in another world where strange creatures and places existed.
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Summary: Brilliant
Review: Yes, it«s as good as people say. Masterpiece, no need to type more
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Summary: PLEASE HELP
Review: PLEASE, if anybody's heard the Mind's Eye CD edition, could he please tell me what it's like. I mean, is it a dramatization or is the book read by one person only? I didn't manage to find a description of this particular item and I don't know whether to buy it or not... Mail me even if you read this years after I posted it. I'll be here waiting.
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Summary: The Work of J.R.R. Tolkien: Not Simply a Collection of Books
Review: J.R.R. Tolkien's work is not simply a series of books. It is not merely a story. It is a mythology. Tolkien created a world all his own. Not like some other authors have a "world" for their stories to take place in, but a full and total world, complete with history and languages. His work is not so much a story as it is a glimpse, as through a window, into a different universe. Tolkien begins, in The Silmarillion, with the creation of the world itself. He tells the tale of the original powers of the Earth, and how evil entered the world. He covers the history of the Elves, the Dwarves, and yes, even the Humans, from their first awakenings. He continues this history through three ages of the world and the epic of The Lord of the Rings. In all, over four thousand years of history are covered in amazing detail. Not simply mentioned. Not simply outlined on a few pages of notes. No, Tolkien is far better then that. His is a complete history, not simply a background to a story. He starts with the creation of the world, and ends, in effect, with the start of real-life recorded history. Tolkien's work expands to fill the sum-total span of human comprehension. With that in mind, you can begin to appreciate why you cannot read Tolkien's work just once and expect to enjoy it. Like our own world, you need to study it, to examine it, to live in it for awhile, before you truly start to feel just how rich and textured it is. After two or three reads, you will begin to see the pieces fit together into one, large, complex *thing* that can only be called a world. You need to realize that fact to enjoy these books. Tolkien does not let you off easy. You have to work to take it all in, just as you have to study history to understand the human race. If you are unwilling to make that commitment, do not bother reading it. You will be bored to tears. If you make the effort, however, the reward is that of dreams themselves. Too many people miss the point of Tolkien's work. It is not about character development, or suspense and plots, or even telling a good story. I feel it has all of those, but it is not about them. It is about world-building -- and Tolkien is the master.
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Summary: THE BEST
Review: these are the greatest books written in the history of the written language. every person on the face of the earth should read this book at least three times. FRODO LIVES!!!
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Summary: Is there a better thing?
Review: This book is one of the best i have read. It stands clearly above the Hollcroft Covenant and Pet Cemetary I loved it, you loved it so READ IT AGAIN!!!
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Summary: One for the Ages . . .
Review: Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale and our ablest canonizer of the great books, has omitted Mr. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" from his (exhaustive) canon/list of the great books. The omission is a mistake from an almost-unfailingly perceptive reader. "The Lord of the Rings" belongs in the canon. One need only read the comments on this page to see that it is in the canon already. It is a great book for many reasons, but canonical and lasting for an emotion evoked almost on every page: a rare and plaintive sadness. It is an uncanny sadness that Mr. Tolkien has expressed among a monumental adventure story, touching the limits of lament for things past, lost beauty, and grandeur that has failed. Why we should feel sadness for the passing of an imaginary world is odd. At the passing, the author dwells lovingly on lengthy goodbyes to his beloved characters, as they themselves are saddened at their many partings. The author is not subtle. He builds up sadness upon sadness even amid the greatest celebrations, and has his characters pine for glories that were. We finally reach a zenith of this strange sadness when Mr. Tolkien has his drowsy Bilbo the Hobbit (who started it all) utter the reprise of a poem given earlier in the book, but now slightly changed, that is so simple and moving that it can bring tears. "The Road goes ever on and on ----- Out from the door where it began. ----- Now far ahead the Road has gone, ----- Let others follow it who can! ----- Let them a journey new begin, ----- But I at last with weary feet ----- Will turn towards the lighted inn, ----- My evening-rest and sleep to meet." The book's sadness is not limited to the ending; many characters are sad at heart from the very beginning. The hero is unusually stoic throughout, carrying a great and growing melancholy; the Elven lords never cease mourning their Eden that is passing away; the Ents are bereft of the wives they have lost and have been so for ages past; the list goes on. Perhaps the saddest character of all (who also reaches the highest joy of any) is the King who has returned. His lost years in the wilderness, away from the love of his life, is akin to the sadness in Jane Austen's "Persuasion". It is a love lost and thwarted through the years and then refound. But upon refinding each other, hero and heroine are painfully aware of the Time they have lost. They remember a shining moment only as a longing. This is not to say that there is not also great joy and excitement. The book gives the reader much satisfaction. Perhaps that is a clue to the nature of its canonical greatness: satisfying sadness. Mr. Tolkien went to heroic lengths to show us characters aware of what they were losing and had already lost. Why this fixation on the destructiveness of Time? One is left at the last page with a shattering loss -- a bereftness. We are inconsolable that these characters could leave nothing of themselves to us; they depart from us forever. Mr. Tolkien's wonderful characters lacked the Art to preserve their world from Time. But yet they live; we are fortunate that Mr. Tolkien had that Art. "The Lord of the Rings" is beyond Time's reach (and beyond misunderstanding critics' neglect) and cannot be destroyed, which is the essence of the canonical.
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Summary: The Best Novel/Series Ever Created (that I've read)
Review: I've enjoyed Lord of the Rings like no other work of prose, in not just the 20th century, but any century. I've read Steinbeck, Hemingway, Joyce, Faulkner, Heller, Orwell, and none have given me the pleasure of Lord of the Rings. It is as influential as any book that has ever been written, has superlative writing, outstanding pace, etc. It can work on multiple levels: great character development, gripping plot, deep symbolism; while most books (Ulysses, 1984) have just one or two of those three elements, Lord of the Rings have all. You can plop down on the couch and read them for fun, or you can conduct extensive studies dealing with mythological symbols and religious meanings. A 9-10 year old can read The Hobbit and love it, and a 50 year-old college PhD. can analyze it to no end. These books have the univeral appeal necissary to stand the test of time. Will people still read The Great Gatsby in a hundred years? Who knows. They WILL be reading Lord of the Rings. I can't recommend these books enough. Please, buy them, borrow them, check them out, or use any other means possible. Just read them. You'll never regret it. It's what introduced me to one of the greatest and most rewarding hobbies a man can ever have: literature.
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Summary: My favorite book.
Review: I've read the "LORD OF THE RINGS" more times than I would like to admit. Tolkien created a special place, and timeless. To sum it all up, I think it helps some people say goodbye to parts of their lives that are coming to a close, and ultimatly goodbye to their lives, with grace.
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