Dave's book review for The Hobbit

This is (at least) my fifth time reading The Hobbit and third time reading it aloud as a bedtime story to my kiddos. And I’m almost positive my parents read it to me when I was a kid myself.

I won’t wax long in this review other than to say that the last quarter of this book has always been challenging for reading to the kids because it takes a tangent. For most of the story, we’re with the familiar party of Bilbo and the dwarves. Then, all of a sudden, the perspective shifts to Smaug’s attack on lake town and Bard’s arrow shot that takes down the dragon.

If that weren’t enough, birds take the news of the dragon’s demise to various third parties. Now there’s five armies on the march to the Lonely Mountain!

When I was younger, I never understood exactly what was happening with the five armies because I really just wanted to find out what was happening with Bilbo.

Later, when reading it to my kids, I was more concerned with doing all the voices right (and they just wanted to know what was happening with Bilbo).

But this time I was determined to keep track of events…​ And I did it! At last, I can say that I totally understand what happens from beginning to end in The Hobbit. So for the next month or so, feel free to quiz me. :-)

Anyway, it’s always a wonderful read despite all the confusion in the final battles. It totally doesn’t matter if you follow every little thread of the plot. The ending puts it back on the familiar ground where it starts and wraps it up nicely