[Eurytus]

I must admit that I find it surprising that people are very accepting of the lack of characterisation and will say things about how it allows you to fill in your own details and is the better for it.....

....and yet Tolkien describes scenery in mind-boggling detail. In my view it makes the work unbalanced and indicates that Tolkien is more interested in the world that he had created than those that inhabited it.

In my view a person is always more interesting than a mountain and therefore deserves more attention.
But maybe that's just me.