Should I read The Silmarillion?

[mikeymikec]

I have the feeling the answer is no, but I'm still curious about it.

I've read LOTR and The Hobbit multiple times as a teen. I enjoyed the Bakshi version of LOTR (despite its flaws, which are numerous), then along came Peter Jackson's trilogy which I dislike fairly intensely for reasons such as its hollywoodification of the story. It turned me off reading LOTR again for a while and by the time I considered reading it again, I had read other stuff which also served to highlight weaknesses of Tolkien's writing style (e.g. the characters are largely cardboard cut-outs with little development). There are still things I love about Tolkien's style such as the feeling of history I remember, but I also remember pacing issues in the story. Overall, I haven't had the enthusiasm to read LOTR again.

I haven't watched the Hobbit movies, they were a Peter Jackson job again (kinda, I know), and I've heard nothing encouraging about them.

I watched Rings of Power. It gets a lot of flack, most notably what people consider to be pacing issues, yet to me fits in perfectly with Tolkien's style and IMO it also hits the right tone with regard to Tolkien's feeling of history. I liked the first season quite a bit, another feeling I got when watching it was like having experienced years of bad Star Wars movies, along comes 'Rogue One' as a breath of fresh air. People also critique RoP for not being true to the books, but I'm wondering where this criticism comes from: Peter Jackson trilogy lovers? LOL. People who criticise its pacing yet survived reading The Silmarillion? My impression of The Silmarillion from opinions of peers/the Internet is that it's pretty dry reading even in comparison to LOTR.

 

[sdifox]

I didn't enjoy it at all.

 

[lxskllr]

I have it somewhere. I could never really get going with it.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

You might honestly enjoy reading a wiki instead, it'll probably be laid out better than the silmarillion and you'll get the information in a more direct manner.

 

[repoman0]

I remember enjoying it, but it’s been a while. It’s not that long of a read either way so the risk is low if you don’t like it.

 

[mikeymikec]

I remember enjoying it, but it’s been a while. It’s not that long of a read either way so the risk is low if you don’t like it.

Hmm, true. It's shorter than FOTR.

Having said that, I tried to read Moby Dick once and failed. It's not a long book but my god what a slog.

 

[repoman0]

Hmm, true. It's shorter than FOTR.

Having said that, I tried to read Moby Dick once and failed. It's not a long book but my god what a slog.

My dad has read thousands of books and has said that Moby Dick is the one book ever that he couldn’t finish. So I guess you’re not alone there. I’ll skip it lol

 

[mikeymikec]

My dad has read thousands of books and has said that Moby Dick is the one book ever that he couldn’t finish. So I guess you’re not alone there. I’ll skip it lol

I once encountered a published book called something like 'Moby Dick without the boring bits' which in hindsight I really should have bought. The start of the book is nicely engaging; if it had continued like that I would have had no problems finishing, but then for reasons best known to the author it's like a textbook about whale anatomy was chopped up into thick blocks and dropped into random parts of the novel (ie. chapters of textbook rather than the occasional bite-size nugget of information). I even took to skim-reading and still couldn't get through it, but that scene in Star Trek - First Contact still makes me want to try again

 

[IronWing]

I enjoyed The Silmarillion. Go to the library or used bookstore and read the Ainulindale. It's the first few pages. If you can get through that, then you're golden for the rest of the book.


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[waffleironhead]

The thing about the silmarillion is there are many stories thru it. Some good, some great, some kinda dry.
Most people give up on the beginning where its laying out the mythology of the world. If you can make it past that you will be fine.

 

[Stiff Clamp]

Well if you need character development, Silmarillion is just that - packaged as a separate text from the main volume. It fleshes out characters and backstory of LoTR.

It's like 3 or 4 stories in the one volume, IIRC, each developing a certain character from LoTR.

I was gifted a fancy copy of the Silmarillion for Christmas, and I'm eager to read it again. My main problem is the author flipping between various races' names for the same character.

 

[dainthomas]

Each story in there is kinda independent, so you can just read them separately. I'll just jump in and read some of my favorites occassionally, Beren and Luthien or Turin Turimbar usually. Both of those are really good on their own. Also re-read Akallabeth before Rings of Power came out (it's only like 30 pages).

If you're into audio books, a new version was recently released with Andy Serkis reading, which was excellent.