A Book A Week - Week 1: The Hobbit

This week's book:
   The Hobbit  by J.R.R. Tolkien

Grade:  A-

It's been a long while since I read this book last.  Like almost 30 years.  The first time I read The Hobbit was in fourth grade, when I was relegated to the library during reading class.  Evidently I was so far ahead of my peers the educators thought it best to leave me to my own devices and send me to the library instead of allowing me to disrupt class.  Good call on their part, I can be extremely disruptive when I'm bored.  On to the novel.

You know... I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would, and it wasn't as good as I remember it being.  But then again I'm much older than I was when I used the Dewey Decimal system to learn my way around the library stacks.  I don't know if it's a newly-critical eye, or tastes changed by decades of experience, or pointless cynicism, but The Hobbit was not as good as I hoped it would be.

This is a kid's book, it's very clear to me now.  The pacing, language, and plot are for kids.  Which means, alas, it's not really for me as an adult.  That's a shame because I love the book, it's what drew me into sci-fi and fantasy in the first place, it's what gave me a point of view and the first glimmerings of an independent identity.  It was something I had that very few others did, and when we found that shared interest we were instant friends.

I have to say, if The Hobbit were queried to agents or publishers today it would probably not make the cut.  The narrative is too jumbled, the action too spotty.  It reads like it didn't go through a second draft.  It's the moth-eaten cardigan of British kid lit, too lumpy in spots and threadbare in others, yet still comfy and warm and familiar.

I'm giving it an A- because I really do love the book, though I think if I were being honest I should have given it a lower grade based on execution and pacing.  But it's The Hobbit, for God's sake, it started a genre, it deserves some respect.

Next week:
    Neuromancer   by William Gibson