OH! After a month and 12 days I have finally finished Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien. It was the longest time I’ve ever spent on a book. Probably brought about by the fact that it was a big and heavy book, my reading was confined to only one place. I couldn’t bring the book with me anywhere unless I want to have a sore arm at the end of the day.
Anyway, I think the book is brilliant…with a few setbacks, which I admit is due to my brains inability to grasp rich, robust and complicated scenarios. I guess half my brain still yearns for visual illustrations or its just tired at the end of the day to fully imagine the world that is being described in front of me. When the book talks about Elf, the picture of Orlando Bloom suddenly appears in my mind (which is quite annoying since whenever this happens, I just melt away in my own thoughts..hehe). I really love his character in the movie, not to mention and over emphasize on his good looks. OKAY! Back to the book… see how distracted I was??
I consider the book in the likes of the old mythology where it describes when the world was made and there’s this one creator called Iluvatar who had made Gods who would prepare the world (apparently Earth but on a different name--- Arda) for his children the Elves who are immortal and Men who are mortals. The villain (as all stories have) was a God named Morgoth who rebelled and has desires to be the most powerful of all the Gods. When the Elves arrived, the Silmarillion was created for them. This apparently was the only source of light then. The sun and the moon were only meek replacement of this light when it got stollen. Yes, this light was stolen by Morgoth and was the source of all battles between Gods, Elves and Men. In the end, the Silmarillion was lost and never recovered; they were buried in the depths of the earth. Morgoth was seized and imprisoned but was later replaced by Sauron. Most Elves and Men fought side by side. Men having created last has resented being mortal and have envied the Elves for their immortality. It is also evident that Men were more materialistic having the desires to acquire wealth rather than wisdom that the elves have valued more precious. Thus, they have lived apart. Some men with lust in their heart would head Saurons calling. So men are divided for some of them are weak in mind and strong in greed. But they are also strong in will and body (even only short lived).
A few warnings before reading this book. Read when your mind is fresh to envision all the images that are described. Keep up with names because they are always changing. Keep the map open for they will aid in visualization. Most of my frustrations were not finding the place mentioned in the Map and there are a few of them.
That was it! I have to put closure before I start on another book. I am aware that I still have to be fully exposed to such stories in order to fully appreciate its beauty. So, I will definitely read more stories in the line of JRR Tolkiens version of mythology.
Anyway, I think the book is brilliant…with a few setbacks, which I admit is due to my brains inability to grasp rich, robust and complicated scenarios. I guess half my brain still yearns for visual illustrations or its just tired at the end of the day to fully imagine the world that is being described in front of me. When the book talks about Elf, the picture of Orlando Bloom suddenly appears in my mind (which is quite annoying since whenever this happens, I just melt away in my own thoughts..hehe). I really love his character in the movie, not to mention and over emphasize on his good looks. OKAY! Back to the book… see how distracted I was??
I consider the book in the likes of the old mythology where it describes when the world was made and there’s this one creator called Iluvatar who had made Gods who would prepare the world (apparently Earth but on a different name--- Arda) for his children the Elves who are immortal and Men who are mortals. The villain (as all stories have) was a God named Morgoth who rebelled and has desires to be the most powerful of all the Gods. When the Elves arrived, the Silmarillion was created for them. This apparently was the only source of light then. The sun and the moon were only meek replacement of this light when it got stollen. Yes, this light was stolen by Morgoth and was the source of all battles between Gods, Elves and Men. In the end, the Silmarillion was lost and never recovered; they were buried in the depths of the earth. Morgoth was seized and imprisoned but was later replaced by Sauron. Most Elves and Men fought side by side. Men having created last has resented being mortal and have envied the Elves for their immortality. It is also evident that Men were more materialistic having the desires to acquire wealth rather than wisdom that the elves have valued more precious. Thus, they have lived apart. Some men with lust in their heart would head Saurons calling. So men are divided for some of them are weak in mind and strong in greed. But they are also strong in will and body (even only short lived).
A few warnings before reading this book. Read when your mind is fresh to envision all the images that are described. Keep up with names because they are always changing. Keep the map open for they will aid in visualization. Most of my frustrations were not finding the place mentioned in the Map and there are a few of them.
That was it! I have to put closure before I start on another book. I am aware that I still have to be fully exposed to such stories in order to fully appreciate its beauty. So, I will definitely read more stories in the line of JRR Tolkiens version of mythology.
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