LOTR: what did you NOT like in the books?

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

"You're the reader! You imagine them!"

I don't need or want THAT much room for the imagination! In any case, Tolkien seems to be one of those very, very few authors who does not give you an idea as to how his characters look

[Kath]

A leeeeetle more character description would have been nice. Until the films came out the vague idea I had in my head of what a hobbit looked like was some kind of overgrown guinea pig.

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

Do you mean you feel pity for him and wish he had had someone to hold back his killer, as Gandalf had discussed with Frodo about Gollem? Or . . . mawkish emotion for a dude you thought was cool for challenging the hegemony?

More of the latter. Yes, it's cool to be a fallen wizard, but did you have to fall so low?

Originally Posted by Galadriel

I don't need or want THAT much room for the imagination! In any case, Tolkien seems to be one of those very, very few authors who does not give you an idea as to how his characters look

There's always Stephenie Meyer...

[Galadriel]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

There's always Stephenie Meyer...

Ste-who?

[Aganzir]

Who knows, maybe we like Tolkien's characters so much because they're empty shells onto which we can project ourselves...

[Bêthberry]

The Downs has changed.

I have to bring to your attention this thread, wherein apparently it was a faux pas to suggest that mebbe, just mebbe, Tolkien's prose style at points caused a bit of discomfort for some readers. Namely, me.

Dumbing down the Books

Aside: Please do note that I'm not complaining 'bouts folks who disagreed with me, as that's a legitimate part of discussion, and I've often disagreed with Squatter, Estelyn, Aiwendil, et al , but noting the tenor of some of the disagreements. Thankfully, no one put a fatwā out on me.

It's possible, just possible, that some of the comment here about the extent and range of characterisation actually fits into my discomfort with some of the latter phrases that characters speak.

[Morthoron]

Amiable sort that I am, I would never seek to be disagreeable, Beth. However, since you dredged up a relic which I have not yet to perused, I will say that the sentence

Borne upon the wind they heard the howling of wolves.

is particularly evocative and wonderful in construction. The sentence metre is reminiscent of the alliterative verse found in Beowulf.

Just saying.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Kath

A leeeeetle more character description would have been nice. Until the films came out the vague idea I had in my head of what a hobbit looked like was some kind of overgrown guinea pig.

Hobbits were easy for me. They looked like my dad. In fact, in the film they looked like my dad, so it's a win all round.