This is why I can't bear Tolkien; first of all, he can't tell a story for shit, and second of all, well, I didn't feel for the characters, anyway. Except Bilbo Baggins. No one else, though.
When I say it, I am frequently smacked down. He was writing history not a novel and, for the most part, it reads like it (tedious, dry, and prone to tangential explorations of minutia only the most ardent Tolkien disciple could care about). I will admit, like the fellow above, that I did feel a little for Merry and Pippin, but otherwise the characters were just names in a very long book (or trilogy of books).
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timeasmymeasure
Thank you.
Date: 2003-02-09 07:56 am (UTC)When I say it, I am frequently smacked down. He was writing history not a novel and, for the most part, it reads like it (tedious, dry, and prone to tangential explorations of minutia only the most ardent Tolkien disciple could care about). I will admit, like the fellow above, that I did feel a little for Merry and Pippin, but otherwise the characters were just names in a very long book (or trilogy of books).