The title may seem ridiculous but the fact is many people struggle with reading Lord of the Rings in full, they often give up. I think, for newcomers or people who have tried to read it and failed, it may be of benefit to take a new approach. I find that I appreciated it a lot more once I understood exactly what Lord of the Rings is.
Despite fathering modern fantasy as we know it, Lord of the Rings was not intended to be a fantasy story in the same way. What Tolkien was writing is closer to folkloric inspired mythology. Tolkien intended to give England specifically a mythology that it doesn’t have, especially when compared to other countries like Greece for example.
The book exists within its own fictional frame. To put it simply, the story you read when reading Lord of the Rings is The Red Book of Westmarch, Bilbo’s and Frodo’s accounts of their adventures, curated by Tolkien. If you look at the recent Stephen Fry retelling of the Greek myths, that’s similar to what we have here, Tolkien is being the historian to The Red Book of Westmarch.
This means that if you go into the Lord of the Rings expecting a modern fantasy novel, it’s going to be disappointing. There aren’t many fast, furious action scenes or as much character development, as real life doesn’t follow that pattern and hasn’t been edited to fit into the mould that modern fantasy readers want. Lord of the Rings is far closer to Beowulf or The Odyssey than it is to Brandon Sanderson or G.R.R Martin.
If you’re reading A Long Expected Party, and thinking: “Get on with it, when will the action start?” you’re going about it the wrong way. Tolkien spent his life writing and rewriting The Lord of the Rings, there is no accidental word, sentence or paragraph. Everything is intentional and has a purpose.
Go into it like you’re reading about Zeus, Perseus or Odysseus instead. My most recent ‘re-read’ of Lord of the Rings was through the fantastic audiobooks read by Robert Inglis, and just sitting back and letting the story wash over me, enjoying the language and the vivid description. I would whole-heartedly recommend this as a place to start.
There is one thing I would say however and that is to skim through The Council of Elrond on the first pass. This chapter is famous for turning readers away due to it’s very long explanation of the world’s history up until this point. While it adds tremendous depth and weight to the quest of the Fellowship of the Ring, it isn’t vital that every reader digest it all and get confused by the many names straight away. It will still be there on your second or third reading and you can enjoy it then when or if you have an interest in the wider history.
I am convinced that if people approached it differently as outlined above then it will ‘unlock’ for them instead of having the reader fighting against it expecting a modern high fantasy novel.
On a personal note I have found so much in the book that helps me in terms of dealing with anxiety/mental health issues. I don’t have room here to dive into that whole topic but most basically it taught me that if you endure through difficult times, you leave room for opportunity to reveal itself, and that there is value and meaning in the struggle.
CodexCaster's Contribution 