I was talking to a friend about comedic / farcical literature the other day, and Catch-22 by Joseph Heller came up. That made me remember - I first read this book when I was about 15 years old. Or rather I read about 80% of it, didn’t quite finish it that time. I forced myself through it because I had heard it was subversive and intelligent and challenging, and I got nothing out of it. I didn’t see the humor, I didn’t get any political commentary, it was just a series of absurd things happening to absurd characters with no rhyme or reason.
I reread that book two years ago and damn near pissed myself laughing on every other page, but then the ending rolled around and it hit so hard. That sudden switch from absurdist comedy to heavy, bleak, depressing, and then he gives you just this glimmer of hope at the end anyway. I found it absolutely brilliant, and yet I kept thinking back to how none of this connected with me when I first read it.
Do you have books like that? Books that just plain went over your head, that you didn’t have the maturity to appreciate, that were too difficult in style or subject matter, and that you’ve come to appreciate years later?
Tolkein wasn’t a novelist and never intended to be one. He was an Oxford Don who loved mythology/folklore and linguistics and it shows. He wanted to create a body of folklore for English people. I think the pipilarity of the books shows he was pretty successful. But the man did not know how to write a “ripping yarn”. His pacing and out of control expositioning ruin the flow of the story. The filmmakers did an absolutely brilliant job of “fixing” that to make the movie enjoyable without destroying the story and characters. But seeing the movies first is sure to make the books seem even duller, especially to a younger person.