beckyweykamp

I almost gave this book a 5, and I may yet go back and alter the start count before completing this review. It's definitely worth at least a "4.5". I first read this book when loaned a copy by a high school friend. Yes, I had read "The Hobbit" and the three volumes of "The Lord of The Rings" before picking up this slim, but powerful volume. As soon as I read it, I ordered two (yes, two) copies of the book from a long-since gone bookstore. Since that day, I try to maintain ownership of two copies of this book and have had to purchase several more. Why two? Quite simply, one to have as a loaner and one to have to re-read when the mood strikes me. If you paid attention to the "had to purchase several more" phrase, you'd either think me a terribly forgetful person that loses things, a compulsive cleaner that tosses things prematurely, or a well-meaning book lender that doesn't often get a certain book back - bingo! Yup, "Bored of The Rings" is like a sock in a dryer. Sometimes it seems to slip into an alternate universe and then I am down to one or occasionally none. (Yes, I have loaned out the last copy more than once.) I am considered by most to be an intelligent, smart and educated fellow, so why do I have this seeming "blind spot" to the probability of this books return? Simply because it is the parody to define all parodies, IMHO. No one would consider it "high brow literature", but it manages in about 200 paperback pages to lampoon, twist, puncture, and (if you will) defile a lengthy, intricate, and amazing tale (in six books, as defined by the author) in a way that seems so natural, so precise, so funny as to have no equal, let alone superior! I grant that humor is highly subjective, but there are certain universal concepts that funny men throughout the ages have used to get people to laugh. We have names for these tools and constructions: pathos, irony, sarcasm, hyperbole, plays-on-words (aka "puns"), jokes. We classify jokes: knock-knock, elephant, etc. We analyze verbal, written and visual comedy. Our greatest playwright wrote Comedies as well as Tragedies; both survive today as high school reading assignments and actively performed plays by our leading lights of the stage. "Bored of The Rings" uses many of these time-tested methods plus knowledge of the original tale to create a weapon of mass amusement. It has very shallow as well as mid-range and deep jokes. It assails one with its silliness and its cleverness all at once. I will never meet Henry N. Beard and I don't know if I have ever read anything else by him, but this book still brings a smile to my face just thinking about how to describe it. Don't mistake my praise for blindness. This book is not fair. This book attacks ethnic and social groups (some mythological, some more "realistic"). It blends a kind of written slapstick with the more thinking humor of witty people, but it can offend and offers no apologies. So, not everyone will embrace it or offer a kind review, but that should not stop you from trying it. It's difficult for me to say so much about how I enjoy this work without giving you examples of what I find so funny. Even today, years later, I recall certain things that I will say to friends or associates. But to present them here would be a double injustice: first to the work itself, as often a line or two may be independently funny, but in context it is hilarious; and second to you, as "spoilers" are often cherry-picked from the best of anything and thus lessen your enjoyment when you finally decide to brave the waters. (Yes, mixed metaphors are probably in the book, too.) But let me this approach: If you have read any of my previous "reviews", you'll note that I recently read a parody of Frank Herbert's "Dune". "Doon" was less than I expected and hoped for and yet I thought it was a pretty good lampoon of the classic. Nice puns, good "translation" of essential story elements and characters, etc. but it just didn't "click" in the way I wanted. As I read it I realized that I was comparing it to "Bored of The Rings". And, as I wrote that review I acknowledged that in doing so, I probably liked it less than it deserved and would someday read it again to see if it grew on me. And now a week or two after that I realize that it is the (seemingly) effortless way that Mr. Beard created his savage parody of "The Lord of The Rings" that I was judging "Doon" by. I doubt that I will ever consider another lampoon as completely funny and as well-constructed. Certainly it truncates off the end of the original, as most such books will, but it has this coherency, this clarity of wit that makes the book hold together so well in both the reading and the recollection of it. To fully appreciate it, one must have read the original. Liking the original is probably also a prerequisite since it is in the details of the parody that some of the best humor awaits you. Having watch the epic trilogy ("LOTR") of Mr. Jackson might not be enough. The visual clues created by the movies are similar to, but different from the books and of course you don't have the original language to compare against the biting prose of "BOTR". That's my take on how best to prepare yourself for this slim, tour-de-force. Now it's up to you to read it. Hope you do! (Yes, I updated it to a "5.0".)

2022-10-29 03:40