So at the end of November, after having watched all three movies over the course of three days (thank-you Thanksgiving movie marathon channel!) I decided that if I was ever going to be able to get through the books, it would be best to do it when the characters and general plot outline were fresh in my mind from the movies.
Last weekend, I finally got to the end of the trilogy, having been reading the three books sporadically over the last two and a half months. While I greatly enjoyed the books (more of that below), I need to begin this post by expressing my extreme outrage towards the publishers of said trilogy.
Internet, I present you with Exhibit A:
If you guessed that the photo above is of the very last page of the 1,350 page trilogy, then you would be correct. Moreover, you would be correct if you guessed that the strategically placed smudge is located in the very last sentence of the very last page of the 1,350 page trilogy. Finally, you would also be correct if you guessed that this smudge made it impossible to know what were the final words of the best character at the end of the 1,350 page trilogy.
Internet, am I wrong to be outraged by this? Am I wrong to feel that, in exchange for having invested two and a half months of my time, the publishers owe me, at the very least, the confidence that at the end of such an investment, I can count on being able to read the final words of the book? That I need not spend hours after the fact wondering about the elusive message of the great J.R.R. Tolkien?
Anyway, once I had recovered from my aneurysm, I was able to actually reflect on the books themselves, and decided that I actually enjoyed the movie more than the books. This is quite unusual for me, because most of the time books are able to conjure a much more detailed and deep reality in which I can lose myself and my consciousness over the course of the reading. While I did enjoy the books, I found them to be overly complicated and long-winded, with some parts that seemed to be included merely for the sake of making the book longer.
The movie however, seemed to do a good job of streamlining the most important elements of the plot, without losing the underlying spirit and purpose of the book. Moreover, and I find this to be a rare accomplishment for movie-adaptations, I feel like the characters were much more fully developed and realized on screen than on the page (the only exception to this being the characters of Merry and Pippin).
While there were definitely some parts or characters that I wish had played a larger role in the film, or any role at all in the case of Tom Bombadil, I think Peter Jackson made all the right decisions in deciding how to pare down one of literature's most notoriously rambling and densely-packed books.
Now, if someone could just tell me the last words of book three, I would be much obliged.
"At last they rode over the downs and took the East Road, and then Merry and Pippin rode on to Buckland; and already they were singing again as they went. But Sam turned to Bywater, and so came back up the Hill, as day was ending once more. And he went on, and there was yellow light, and fire within; and the evening meal was ready, and he was expected. And Rose drew him in, and set him in his chair, and put little Elanor upon his lap.
ReplyDeleteHe drew a deep breath. 'Well, I'm back,' he said.""