Why is it so difficult?

[Folwren]

Well, I always hated history in school because the history books were so blamed boring. I love history in itself...but when the history books about history are boring...

The Sil., when I first picked it up, was difficult for me because it was in that historical form type writing at first. It's not like a regular novel or book of fiction. However, when I finally picked it up and read all of it, even though it took me a long time to read, I found that it was and incredible book.

It's not like the LotR or the Hobbit, that you can just sit and read it for hours and hours at a time. It takes more thought and there's a much bigger load in it than just a tale of a few characters being told. It's the whole world's story that's being told. The characters come and go...you grow attached to one man and in ten pages, he's gone.

History is not boring. It's just...you can't read it the same as a piece of regular fiction.

-- Folwren

[mormegil]

I love the Silm but I believe some have difficutly because while it is all connected it's not a very cohesive story line. Unlike most books the start and finish is with one character or group of individuals and their quest or story. The Silm is based on the objects not the people.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

It took me a few tries to read the Silm. Each time was difficult for a different reason. First attempt: gave up due to the idea that "Oh Freaking What The? It's like reading a direct rip off of the Bible. And in the beginning there was... Gah!"

Second try I got through Eru and collapsed at the lists of people's children. I didn't want to take notes to keep track of characters. I was supposed to be reading for the fun of it.

Third try I couldn't stomach trying to keep everybody that was running around Belariand in the correct order and location.

Fourth try I managed it, but it was tough.

Now I view it as an unfinished work that vaguely annoys me to try and read as a whole. Basically, if I want to know something, I google it or ask Formendacil. It's, quite frankly, easier.

[narfforc]

The amount of times I have heard people say: I liked LotR, but couldn't get into The Silmarillion. I now tell them that once reading LotR again go straight to the back of The Sil and read Of The Rings of Power and The Third Age. Therein they meet familiar Characters and Places, and also new ones, you can almost read the chapters backwards, like researching your family history. Everyone who has read LotR should have an inkling of what The Downfall of Numenor is about. I think there are three different parts of The Sil, they are:

1. The Beginning: Nearly impossible to take in at first, an alien story.

2. The Middle: The Edges of your mind and memory are touched by the faintest beginnings of recognition.

3. The End: Hey I know that name, I've heard this somewhere before.

I really quite like the old book now.......HOOOOOOOM

[Lalwendë]

Nice idea narfforc!

The 'shock' some people get is from passing from something with such a great plot and narrative right into the Sil that's written in a very different style. Plus as narfforc says, unfamiliar characters!

A tip: photocopy the maps and family trees, use 'em as book marks and then you've a handy reference to refer to when you get confused with all these new names and places that Tolkien throws out at a rate of 100 per page (or it feels like that anyway).

I think that once The Children of Hurin is published there will be a 'bridge' between LotR and the Sil, in terms of a story that takes the unsuspecting reader across that big gap of style.

[Lhunardawen]

This coming from one who had just recently tried to re-read the Silm completely...and failed...

Too many names. At first it was easy, when you could distinguish Olwë and Elwë from Finwë and Ingwë and you were about done, but when Tolkien started expounding on almost everyone's life stories (naturally inevitable) and kept adding new names to the mix it started to get kind of confusing. Especially when those pesky Mortals joined in the fun...

Also, there's something about the different literary style that's not too...captivating. Granted, LotR also tends to be on the boring side, but at least the conversations were a bit closer to home. And not everyone has English as a first language.

Reading Silm, though, was an excellent warm-up to crawling through Leviticus and Numbers and 1 Chronicles.

[Rikae]

I started reading the Silm right after I finished LOTR, at age eight. I was torn between being awestruck by the timespan and magnitude of the events being covered, and bored because the stories simply weren't told in the detailed manner of the LOTR - the style issue you mentioned. It made it very difficult for names to become characters and places I could visualize. I have the same problem with history: I enjoy it when it depicts the details of people's experience, but when it's condensed to the point of a list of names and generalizations, it does get tedious.
As for my Silm reading project, I lost the book halfway through. It's high time I bought another and finished it - it may not seem so difficult anymore!

[TheOrcWithNoName]

Originally Posted by narfforc

The amount of times I have heard people say: I liked LotR, but couldn't get into The Silmarillion. I now tell them that once reading LotR again go straight to the back of The Sil and read Of The Rings of Power and The Third Age. Therein they meet familiar Characters and Places, and also new ones, you can almost read the chapters backwards, like researching your family history. Everyone who has read LotR should have an inkling of what The Downfall of Numenor is about. I think there are three different parts of The Sil, they are:

1. The Beginning: Nearly impossible to take in at first, an alien story.

2. The Middle: The Edges of your mind and memory are touched by the faintest beginnings of recognition.

3. The End: Hey I know that name, I've heard this somewhere before.

I really quite like the old book now.......HOOOOOOOM

My first attempt on The Silm (sounds' like I'm trying to conquer Everest here, and in some respects the analogy is true), was about 30 years ago when I was a teenager with lots of spare time on my hands.

I had just completed & enjoyed both The Hobbit & Lord Of The Rings, so felt in the mood to carry on with Tolkien's adventure and purchase The Silm, rather naively expecting it to be a standard novel either following on from LOTR or some kind of backfil between the two tomes. How very very wrong I was!

I think by about page 30 I just gave up. Clearly this was no story in the typical or logical sense, but just a collection of random ideas, sketches & disorganised ramblings, was my initial critique of the book. And I believe it sat on my bookshelf gathering dust for another 15 years or so before I attempted the same task again.

But even second time around I found it to be quite inaccessible, confusing and generally quite frustrating with even trying to complete a couple of pages! So again I gave up the ghost and moved on.

I consider myself to be of average intelligence and enjoy books of all kinds; I even completed Stephen Hawkins' "A Brief History Of Time" twice and loved every moment. However, The Silm, is just out there on its own as a book I have failed to complete. But then after reading some of the opinions on here, I guess my expectations were set too high and that perhaps this book should not be read in the usual front2back way; but is a book to be dipped in back & forth. It is not a story in the true sense just a collection of historical events portrayed in various time lines and from different points of view.

I feel encouraged to read LOTR again very soon, but on completion I will then continue with The Silm, but this time taking the advice of Narfforc and read the chapters concerning The Third Age and The Rings of Power to begin with, and then more or less read the book backwards, which will hopefully accommplish my ambition if conquering The Silmarillion once and for all.