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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to dislike the book The Hobbit?

71 replies

Davespecifico · 04/01/2018 18:07

I finished reading it with DD recently. I found it so so dull. It reminded me of a more literary Dora the Explorer adventure. Am I a philistine?

OP posts:
Dottie39 · 04/01/2018 18:43

I read this as a teen in one night. Absolutely could not put it down!

Original poster
Davespecifico · 04/01/2018 20:10

I was that bored by it, I actually can't remember what happened despite getting right to the end. DD found it boring too but was much better at keeping up with plot and who was who.

OP posts:
Pengggwn · 04/01/2018 20:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

catsarenice · 04/01/2018 20:40

I remember reading it when I was 12. I couldn't put it down and spent a night reading it under the covers with a key ring torch.

Zaphodsotherhead · 04/01/2018 20:44

Most “classics” are written in a style that makes them much more of an effort to read than contemporary works.

Glum - I don't think it's a 'style' as such, more old-fashioned vocabulary and sentence structure. If you're more familiar with contemporary fiction then you will find older books hard going.

I'm in the 'loved LOTR, hated The Hobbit' camp.

Original poster
Davespecifico · 04/01/2018 21:06

Btw. I'm not particularly wedded to more modern writing, just found The Hobbit a bit turgid for my taste.

OP posts:
TheEmojiFormerlyKnownAsPrince · 04/01/2018 21:09

I hate it too. At the beginning it sounds like it’s going to be really good, like it’s going to be interesting.

But it’s not🙄And l hate the lack of female characters.

DrDreReturns · 04/01/2018 21:16

I like it. Hated the LOTR though.

claraschu · 04/01/2018 21:24

I remember finding The Hobbit a bit fake, somehow. It felt slightly twee or condescending to teenage me. I also loathed LOTR.

I loved HP however, which didn't seem particularly like fantasy, just a school story, really. It was kind of badly written, but in a fun way, and not pretentious or condescending.

To me, Jane Austen is just a completely different world- the most wonderful writing, and the greatest insight.

UrgentScurryfunge · 04/01/2018 21:42

The Hobbit is my nemisis. I have a lovely copy that I've been failing to finish for about 24 years! I've tried again recently and started about 80 pages into it where I last abandoned it about 7 years ago Grin I thought I'd cut out the tedious crap about meeting the dwarves and it takes longer to set off on the journey than it takes my kids to put on their socks and shoes.

After valiently battling my way through another dry 30 pages, I'm ready to romp my way through something else.

I love fantasy. It's my main genre that I can re-read again and again. I've even read all of The Lord of the Rings. Admittedly I read through the lengthy appendices about fucking Hobbit family trees purely because I was traveling and had no access to anything else in English for a couple of days (then the fates rewarded me with discovering Good Omens Halo)

The Hobbit frustrates me because I want to finish it because it's such a key text of its genre, but I just find it too dry again and again, and I feel like I should be able to complete it because I've survived it's lengthier sibling.

Maybe I should just aim for 30 pages a year Grin
Any other book would have gone to a charity shop years ago!

TrickyD · 04/01/2018 21:52

Didn't get on with Hobbit and hate all the "Rings" books and their films.

altiara · 04/01/2018 22:11

Liked the Hobbit, didn’t like LOTR. Well to be fair I only read fellowship and stopped halfway through the second book as it was dull. I enjoyed the film of the 2nd book as it mixed up the two halves of the book. But not enough to get onto the final film!

MissClareRemembers · 04/01/2018 22:11

I enjoyed The Hobbit. As someone said upthread, it has a cosy yet adventurous feel to it. I’ve tried TLOTR but can’t get on with it.

I’ve never read a Harry Potter. But that’s more about me going against the tide and refusing to be told what I should be reading! I hated the massive marketing campaign surrounding Harry Potter.

RemainOptimistic · 04/01/2018 22:15

Yanbu it's boring as fuck. Yes I did read the whole book aged about 10. I've read more interesting cereal packets.

Not as boring as the lord of the rings itself though. Jesus wept. I've read the first few pages and got no further. My eyes kept trying to melt out of my head it was so unbearably boring.

Turgid is exactly the word.

CointreauVersial · 04/01/2018 22:17

I loved The Hobbit when I first read it as a child - I knew nothing about it beforehand, but found it so different, so absorbing and imaginative.

I read LOTR also as a teenager, and that also totally transported me (although there are some turgid passages, for sure). As soon as I finished the trilogy I started reading it again. It's much more sophisticated than The Hobbit (which in retrospect is very much a children's book).

But no-one is expected to love every classic novel. I never got on with Little Women!

Butterandsugar · 04/01/2018 22:18

I love it (and LOTR and Harry Potter). In terms of style, I love the depth of detail and how full the characters are. It's one of those books that I can curl up with on a rainy day with something tasty.

Does reading a good book make anyone else hungry or is that just me? Cake

ArcheryAnnie · 04/01/2018 22:38

I loved The Hobbit as a child, but the one I re-read as an adult is LOTR

Someone mentioned Harry Potter - I think the first book is deadly-dull "here is the wizarding world" set-decoration, but the books get better as they go on.

squoosh · 04/01/2018 22:43

We can't love 'em all.

Fantasy isn't my thing so I found The Hobbit pretty heavy going. It's undoubtedly a classic in its genre but that doesn't mean it will have universal appeal.

All Along the Watchtower is a classic song, but that doesn't mean everyone loves it.

EvilDoctorHogmanayDuck · 04/01/2018 22:45

YABU! But then I was at Tolkien's birthday dinner last night, so I might be a bit biased... Xmas Grin

greenlanes · 04/01/2018 22:49

I also listened to the BBC version as a child, but never read. But this year watched all 3 Hobbit films. Perfect way to see the story!

squoosh · 04/01/2018 22:54

I've said this loads of time but I think it was very self indulgent (and possibly greedy) of Peter Jackson to turn The Hobbit into a flabby trilogy. So unnecessary.

RidingWindhorses · 04/01/2018 23:12

Can't stand it or Lord of the Rings. I thought they were childish when I was 12, I haven't changed my mind. Their popularity mystifies me.

TheClaws · 04/01/2018 23:54

I adore The Hobbit. It is a perfect little book, with wonderful characterisation and thematic structure. I didn’t like LOTR quite so much - they are bloated on many levels. The films, now - I loved the LOTR series, but not the Hobbit ones. The Hobbit could have been done well in a single film, IMO.

I also love Jane Austen. Whoever it was upthread said Northanger Abbey is their favourite - same here!

drivingmisspotty · 05/01/2018 00:01

I liked The Hobbit. But the best thing about it was that it was the last bedtime story my mum ever read to me. My sister and I weren't having regular bedtime stories by that point but there were a few longer books that my mum suggested she read us. We got to get into bed with her too while she read. Happy times and I appreciate it even more looking back and realising she probably had a million other things to do.

Hopefully it is time well spent for you too OP although I do wish you a more engaging read next!

deadringer · 05/01/2018 00:42

Gawd I hated the hobbit. it was years ago when I last tried to read it, my memory of it is lots of people calling to bilbo baggins' front door, with a detailed description of each person and what they were wearing. Eventually I decided if one more person knocked on his bloody door I was giving up. They did and I did.