Lord of the rings movies vs. books

[Tungro]

I find it annoying that barley anything happens for the first 150 pages and so much could have been happening. To many loose ends too.

[The Skarzs]

You're too impatient. It's setting the scene, building the world. There's a charm to it that makes it so unique.

[Tungro]

Bah humbug

[Sebias of Redwall]

I thought the LOTR books were very good, but I had watched the movies first so I always kinda leaned more toward them. It would be close though.

As for The Hobbit, I actually liked the movies a lot better than the book. I've read the book once and thought it was good, but... I don't know. I like the LOTR books better. Just my personal opinion.

[Cornflower MM]

The writing of the LOTR books is horrible. Tolkien was a good storyteller, but a trash writer. The two are not the same. The movies are pretty good, they chopped out a lot of the unnecessary bits.

I do really enjoy The Hobbit book, but I couldn't make it through the first movie.

[The Skarzs]

How dare you.

[Tungro]

The writing of the LOTR books is horrible. Tolkien was a good storyteller, but a trash writer. The two are not the same. The movies are pretty good, they chopped out a lot of the unnecessary bits.

I do really enjoy The Hobbit book, but I couldn't make it through the first movie.

I pretty much agree

[Delthion]

The writing of the LOTR books is horrible. Tolkien was a good storyteller, but a trash writer. The two are not the same. The movies are pretty good, they chopped out a lot of the unnecessary bits.

I do really enjoy The Hobbit book, but I couldn't make it through the first movie.

I'm sorry, but that's just wrong. It's not even subjective as to whether or not Tolkien is a great writer, he's objectively good. It's fine if you don't like it, but saying it's bad is just wrong!

[Jetthebinturong]

There is no "objectively good" when it comes to writing.

[Captain Tammo]

I tried doing The Fellowship of the Ring and, save for the story arc with Tom Bombadil, I kind of struggled getting through the story. I'm all for a rousing adventure but this one just wasn't my cup of tea for some reason. That said...

Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow,
Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow,
None has ever caught him yet, for Tom, he is the master.
Hi songs are stronger songs, and his feet are faster.

I can never help but hum the song to myself!

[Jetthebinturong]

Same, except I sing the:

"Green was his girdle and his breeches all of leather
In his tall hat he wore a swan wing feather
He lived up underhill where the Withywindle
Ran from a grassy knell down into the dingle."

Bit. And I don't know any of the lyrics after that.

I also sing The Man in the Moon Stayed Up too Late sometimes.

[Wylder Treejumper]

Such poor appreciation of prose is left to us in these days of impatience and discourtesy. There aren't many now who ever get through a single book by Hugo or Tolstoy. Tolkien was writing in a different tradition than modern fantasy authors- whose prose tends to vary from 'decent' to 'simple' to 'mind-numbingly awful.'

[Jetthebinturong]

There is value in being direct. Tolkien wrote in the tradition of epic myth, and that is certainly impressive and worthy of praise. But it adds a layer of distance between the story and the reader, making it more difficult to immerse yourself in. When I read Tolkien's prose, I feel like I'm being told what to feel, and no story should do that (his poetry, on the other hand, is amazing). There are plenty of authors working today whose prose is beautiful, but still intimate and immersive.

[Wylder Treejumper]

Mm, there are different types of writing and prose, and I personally have very different experiences with Tolkien than what you have described (which is unsurprising). His writing is not meant to be intimate in this case, it is meant to be expansive- to cover the whole of the human experience and to convey in metaphor that which, oftentimes, cannot be satisfactorily expressed in other ways. I have often, upon reading Tolkien, been surprised at the feeling that I have that- despite the fact that the story being told is expressly fantastic and unreal- there is in it the sense of something absolutely real, something almost transcendent.


That is only my experience, but no one can reasonably argue that Tolkien's work is not poetic, with excellent word choice and unity as well as singularity of tone that distinguish it throughout, if you want to get more technical. A very different style than, say, Brian Jacques, but not lesser because it is less simple.


And in any case, if you wish to say anything about Tolkien's writing, you must take into account the Silmarillion and the Hobbit as much as the Lord of the Rings, and those three works are monumentally different in style and tone (which is another indication of Tolkien's skill).

[DanielofRedwall]

People tend to forget the Lord of the Rings book (yes, book: it is one book in three instalments) was really one component of a much grander story Tolkien created. If you're just reading for the story, the more tedious detail would be off-putting. If you're there to get a better understanding of the wider Middle-Earth lore, it's all important detail. I lie somewhere in-between: I have read LOTR, The Hobbit and the Silmarillion, but haven't gone further and don't intend to. But that sort of explains why they aren't written in the action-packed style as, say, Redwall- it is storytelling, but it's actually telling a much wider story than what is contained in the books themselves. You can almost compare the writing style to the Bible in some respects- it is more interested in developing genealogy and history, and a lot of the action moments that take up most of the movies are neatly summarised in a few pages (or even paragraphs). Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now.

I am currently re-reading the books, and I can still say I prefer them mostly because of the deviations from the books in the movies (especially with Faramir). I also read the books before watching the movies, so I formed this opinion from the start. This is 10000x true for the Hobbit movies, which I honestly can barely stand to watch these days.