Author: John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
Themes: Humanity
Quotes: "Others of the House of Hador bear themselves otherwise, and Tuor among them. For they use courtesy, and they listen to good counsel, holding the Lords of the West in awe. But you, it seems, will take council with your own wisdom..."
Reading/Listening Time: 7 hours, 51 minutes
Review:
This one is a little bit cheating, because I had read this one back in 2009, but I decided to listen to it in 2017 because I found out Christopher Lee performed for the audiobook.
For this review I want to focus on the particular things that stood out to me on this second reading. If you're only familiar with Tolkien's work through "The Lord of The Rings", or even "The Hobbit", this book may take you by surprise. It's written in a similar narrative style to LOTR, but it's a tragedy rather than a heroic tale. (If LOTR is about persevering through adversity with hope, this book is about persevering through adversity when there is no hope.)
We as the readers watch everything that could possibly go wrong, go wrong for our protagonists. Yes, it is a bit of a downer, and I can understand why it might not resonate with most people the way Mr Tolkien's more traditionally heroic offerings do.
However, for me this story is extraordinarily meaningful in the way it explores human nature: thematically, it's willing to go places "The Lord of the Rings" isn't willing to go and because of that it can say things that LOTR couldn't.
(I also think it adds a lot to the whole mythology and background of Middle Earth as a fantasy setting without reading like a D&D guidebook.)
What stood out to me most on my second reading was how the main character's journey was kind of an affirmation of the human identity. In the story, Turin and Nienor have a choice: They can stay with the elves and be safe, or they can venture out into the world and face life on their own terms.
If you're a fan of Tolkien, this story shows us a significant turning point in Middle Earth history. Humans are still a pretty new race in the world and a lot of them like to see themselves as a shorter-lived, weaker versions of what Elves are. Through the course of the story we ultimately see the two kindred races diverge into culturally distinct, separate societies with very different interests and outlooks on life.
Just as a WARNING rest of this post is going to have significant PLOT SPOILERS
What kicks it off is this monumental change is this horrific military defeat: There's this big-bad guy, decides to go to war against an Elvish city (yes, elves had cities back then). The Elves call for help, and their human neighbors take up the call. One of these guys is named Hurin, he's a chief and he leaves behind his pregnant wife and two children. They're the focus of the story because, of course, Hurin's army (along with everyone else...elf and human...who goes to fight) gets decimated.
Oddly enough, Hurin is captured alive. Even though he won, the big-bad guy is so epically pissed at Hurin for helping the elves and making his job harder, that he decides to keep him alive and perform a uniquely cruel form of psychological torture:
The big-bad guy is going to curse Hurin's family, and have Hurin watch how the rest of their lives play out with absolutely no chance of escaping or helping them an any way.
From here the perspective shifts to Hurin's family, but we know Hurin is watching the story unfold alongside us (the reader).
Back at Hurin's village, another chieftain comes into his village and ransacks everything, and abuses his family. Hurin's three-year-old daughter dies of illness, and his son is sent off to live with Elves so the new guy in charge won't kill him. Then the new baby is born, and she looks ridiculously like the father she'll never meet.
Hurin's son is somewhat protected from misfortune while he is with the elves, but presumably Hurin is still watching him being raised by well meaning but emotionally distant elves. Turin does make one elvish friend, but she kind of lives on the fringe of society.
Right away, we notice a big disconnect in the way the Elves and the Humans have handled this loss:
- The elves suffer a major defeat. The bad guy won, so they decide to stop fighting and live in secret.
- As a society humans can't really do that, so they have to live under a new regime.
Hurin's son (Turin) starts to grow up and he starts getting ticked that the elves aren't planning on fighting the big-bad guy who ruined their lives. We start to see how the races different ways of dealing with loss can cause conflict:
- Turin believes that you should try to make a difference in the world. That your life should ultimately mean something; that he (Turin) should try to make a difference-even if he ultimately fails.
- The Elves think this is stupid; they'd much rather enjoy immortality than glory.
Ultimately these two approaches to life aren't compatible. Even after he's come to respect their point of view a bit, he decides that he can't follow their mores. Even after he leaves and whole bunch of horrible stuff starts happening to him, he isn't really tempted to go back.
On my first reading, I kinda thought the point of the story was that Turin should have tried to live more like an elf. (This really fits because Professor Tolkien was really Pro-Elf, like, in LOTR he'll just stop the whole narrative to fanboy about how awesome they are...). There's no doubt in this story that if Turin had stayed safely in obscurity he would have avoided a lot of the horrible stuff that happened to him later on.
On my second reading, I think I have a different impression of what this story is trying to do. Tolkien may be a Elf-fanboy, but this story is trying to demonstrate more than it's trying preach. It's not about elves, it's about how humans are NOT...and shouldn't be...like elves:
Turin has not one but TWO female elves who fall in love with him, but he can't reciprocate those feelings romantically because he's looking for something that they don't have. At one point there's this evil dragon who manipulates Turin into choose between helping his elvish friends or his human family, it's presented as a gut-wrenching choice but ultimately he chooses his family. Both of these choices are ultimately used against Turin as part of the curse, but on this reading I can't think of them as inherently wrong decisions in context of the larger narrative in Middle Earth.
For both Turin and his sister Nienor, the elvish sanctuary is a nice place to visit but a horrible place to call home. A static paradise is not a paradise for humans because humans are made for change: to fight or fail, to challenge and redefine the perimeters of their world.
So whether or not living life their own terms was "worth it" for Turin and Nienor personally, their attempts to do so become cemented into the collective human (and hobbit) identity.
In later ages of Tolkien Legendarium, we see the elves continue to disengage and withdraw into their comfort zone. (Which I guess is perfectly appropriate when you'll live forever and
Rating: 4/5 Stars
End notes:
Thank you to anyone who's been reading these and sharing my journey. Again, it's kind of a solitary exercise (as much as I try to make it more social on goodreads).
I just carry these things inside me, and it's nice to write these little reviews/commentaries like going to visit a friend (and also...like saying goodbye a bit).
Since my Grandma Peggy died, I've had a really hard time with reading. I was ravenous, and now it's kinda painful because it was G.P who really got me into and encouraged my love of reading. (even though, strangely, we didn't read many of the same things! She loved romances and mysteries! I'm more into classics.)
- My goal in 2018 is 10 bilingual books.
- A few other fantasy books that I would definitely recommend:
-Sabriel by Garth Nix
-Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
-Jim Henson's Labyrinth by A.C.H Smith
and
-The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
- Also if you have a favorite book in the fantasy genre I'd love to hear about it, feel free to leave a comment :)
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