The Hobbit J.R.R.

Tolkien
(Picture)

Paul van Laar 22-05-2013 G4E (2012-13)

Review The New York Times

1 | The Hobbit

The review is enclosed in the appendices (at the end of this book report) Author: Anne T. Eaton Title: A Delightfully Imaginative Journey Source: The New York Times

Summary: The hobbit is an original and delightfully imaginative book for children. It comes from Oxford University, and was written for Tolkiens four children, and then found a larger audience. To an adult this book might recall the thought of history combined with legend and tradition, but for a younger reader The Hobbit might just be an epic adventure, full of insecurity and a sense of humour that is overwhelming. Tolkien has managed to describe the distinguishing characteristics of the several races (dwarves, elves, goblins and trolls). The Hobbit is the first of its kind to describe a complete guide to how the dragon must be killed. The songs that are sung in this book are real poetry, and the drawings, made by Tolkien himself, are a perfect accompaniment to the book. The Hobbit is a book that will be taken into the hearts of all those who love a beautifully told, adventurous tale.

Comment: The hobbit is a very original book, so I agree on this review. I think the writer has given a good view of how the book is written. The review shows that Tolkien has a great gift to describe all the characters in his own way, a way that gives us a good view of theirs characteristics, and the diversity of the mentality of the different races. The Hobbit is a very complete story, Tolkien has left no loose ends, and describes everything very comprehensive, which results in the effect that the reader makes his own imaginative world, and is absorbed in the story.

Fragments of the book

2 | The Hobbit

FRAGMENT 1: (scanned page) In this fragment Tolkien shows his eccentric ability to describe things in a way that the reader gets a view on how it would look. But Tolkien never describes too much, so it doesnt get boring, also this results that the reader can also use its own imagination and not everything is made up for him. In this first fragment Tolkien has written a nice introduction of Hobbits to the reader, and it makes the reader eager to know more about these curious little people. This first paragraph immediately left a good impression on me, it showed that this is a fresh book and Tolkien wasnt afraid to put some humour in it. FRAGMENT 2: (scanned page) In this second fragment you can see the change that Bilbo has made. While at first he was an afraid little hobbit, now he feels that he has to do something. His character is changing bit by bit when he is on this adventure with the thirteen dwarves. However the action of Bilbo is unsuccessful, this is an introduction to more actions of him that will happen in the course of this story. In some sentences you can distract that this is the first time that Bilbo has been in such a dangerous situation Yes, lots said Bilbo, before he remembered not to give his friends away. I think Tolkien has done this very well, because later on you will see that Bilbo consider something before he does it.

FRAGMENT 3: (scanned page) The third fragment that I chose is a well-known fragment of this book. This is the part where Bilbo meets Gollum, and where they get caught in a game of riddles. As a reader this is a part that is nice to read, because of those riddles there is a great variety in the type of events that happen in the Hobbit. When I read these riddles, I stopped reading and thought to myself if I knew the answer. This is a very interactive way of reading, and I think Tolkien has done this very well. FRAGMENT 4: (scanned page) After all the bad things the reader has learned from Smaug (the dragon), this is the first real appearance he makes in this book. This fragment is the moment when Bilbo meets the dragon for the first time. As a reader I assumed that as soon as Smaug discovered that there was a trespasser in his cave, he would be furious; Tolkien gave me that impression because he suggested only bad things about Smaug, but unexpectedly the dragon replies very calm. This moment is in 3 | The Hobbit

contrast to all the things that the reader has read until now, and thats why this fragment is so special.

4 | The Hobbit