A Hobbit Sized Book
A Book Review by Dominick Maino
A Hobbit Sized Book
A Book Review by Dominick Maino
Marshall D, J.R.R. Tolkien: The Father of Modern Fantasy. Pocket Portraits (2025). Adams Media Simon & Schuster. 240 pages, with index. $15.00 6”X4”
This may be everything you ever wanted to know about JRR Tolkien in an almost but not quite pocket sized text. It delivers its information in bite sized snippets of his life. You’ll learn about his early life, his rise in academia, the love of his life, the sacrifices he made for his faith and much more.
Of the hundreds of drawings and other images that often accompanied Tolkien’s tales, none were in this book. None.
If you were hoping for a biography (like I was) that told Tolkien’s story in a moving way, this was not that book. If you were looking for a page or two about this and that, that would also make you a king of Tolkien trivia, well, read this book now.
Note that Tolkien: The Father of Modern Fantasy tends to gloss over what is human within him. All those aspects within a book that may have brought Tolkien to life in the telling are for the most part gone. You do learn bits here and there of his personal and academic life. If you wanted a comprehensive, critical, or scholarly assessment of Tolkien, his works and his life, you will be disappointed.
I also have issues with some phrases being used over an over again with the most frequently used being “…more about this later…” After you say this three times I know that there will be other aspects of Tolkien’s life that will require “more” at a later date. This becomes boringly repetitive.
I also disliked the size of this book. It may be perfect for a Hobbit to hold and for it to fit into its pockets, but as far as for humans it is awful. The book is to big and too little at the same time. Holding it in your hand was a distraction. The thickness of the book is that of a novel with about 250 pages, but if this were the usual size of a book, it’d really be about 125 pages tops.
The physical aspects of the book detracted from the snippet commentary presented. It may be just right for you if you have Hobbit pockets, but if not, find another book perhaps.
Have you read this? "J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography, by Humphrey Carpenter, is the first and authorized biography of the author, first published in 1977, detailing his life from childhood to his academic career and the creation of Middle-earth. Carpenter, who had unrestricted access to Tolkien's papers, covers his early life, his experiences in World War I, his academic career at Oxford, and the development of his famous works like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, highlighting his friends". I also recommend two Tolkien novelettes, which have no connection with LOTR: Farmer Giles of Ham, and Smith of Wooten Major.