I started reading Bored of the Rings a long time ago, and got to page 2 before giving up on it. Juvenile lame desperate comedy by a talentless giggling teenager. I’m sure I would’ve loved it at age 13, but at 23 it was sad and disappointing.
Color me not amused. It just didn’t appeal to my sense of humor, and I get what the OP is saying about such lengthy parodies feeling almost like disrespect.
I’m glad to see so many others connected to BOTR the way I did!
Whenever I re-read FOTR and encounter Bombadil again, I can’t help but imagine him wearing an amulet imprinted with the elf-rune Kelvinator.
And re-reading BOTR takes me back to my 14 year old self, a needed escape at times.
The book led me into my NatLamp years, and got me following SNL obsessively for their first 5 or so seasons, too.
I don’t know from great satire, but I know what I like.
Count me in the camp of “Loved LOTR, loved BOTR.”
I agree that a parody can be based on loving the original work, or based on scorning the original work. Either can be successful. I think BOTR is in the former camp.
Personally, BOTR has made me appreciate LOTR all the more. Whether I’m re-reading the book or re-watching the movies, it’s like I’m enjoying it on two different levels at the same time.
“This is indeed a queer river,” said Bromosel, as the water lapped at his thighs.
Spike Jones did the eye joke 20 years before BotR. I should reread it to see if I find it any funnier today than before. I certainly got all the jokes, including the Mass. jokes since I went to the good university in Cambridge.
I thought High School Yearbook was pretty good. They also did one, “Not the Bible” which was great. But parody is hard to keep up at very long lengths, even if your book is about 10% of the source material. However, my boredness with Bored may come from my not being a giant Tolkien fan.
I was always sort of disappointed and pissed off that the sex scene from the excerpt in the front cover isn’t actually in the book.
The Sunday Newspaper Parody was just as good – and some of the characters were in both. My favorite was a pretty subtle subplot involving Larry Kroger and Tammy Croup.
In the HS Yearbook, Larry clearly had an unreciprocated crush on Tammy Crump. In the newspaper, a front page article shows Larry attempts suicide. Later, there’s a small article about Tammy Croup, who’s a Hollywood star and who says, “I may have been happier if i stayed here. There was a boy — Larry Kroger – and I may have been better off with him.” The interview was on a TV program that aired just before Larry attempted suicide.
Yeah, I have to admit I am always really puzzled by discussions of this book. Exactly like Miller, I see people list the stuff that’s supposed to be the really good jokes and I’m just left wondering, “how is that funny?”
It reads to me like something some precocious 15 year olds (boys of course) came up with, who had no sense of when not to commit something to paper. And hey maybe those kids may go on to great things (maybe?), but they’ll always cringe a little when reminded that they wrote this once. They’ll excuse themselves with a “we were kids…”
ETA: I mean seriously–a metaphorical reference to eyes turns out to be literal? That’s the joke?? Am I in a Bugs Bunny cartoon?
BotR was sophomoric and stupid, but sometimes I like sophomoric and stupid. I appreciated both Bored and Lord after I had read both.
“Loving all like friend and brother,
And hardly ever eat each other.”
Am I in the club?
Regards,
Shodan
Enjoyed 'em both. From the Caucus of Orlon:
None of that even made me crack a smile! Instead it was just annoying! So yes, I guess I am with Miller and with Frylock.
I’m on this bandwagon. It has never made me laugh.
My reaction exactly. It is, indeed, annoying, and nothing more!
ETA: In fact though the humor is of a different type, my feeling on reading it is very much the same as my feeling on having The Annoying Orange playing in the background while my kids are laughing uproariously over it.
“Anything edible we’ve got dibs on
Hope we all die with our bibs on
Ever gay, we’ll never grow up
Come and sing and play and throw up”
–done from memory, NOT googled.
[sub]what a waste of perfectly good memory neurons[/sub]
“Ah, yes, verily, in truth,” said Goodgulf quickly. “That is to say, yes and no. Or perhaps just plain no.”
I’ve used this bit of subtlety to agreeably disagree with many silly arguments.
It is vaguely reassuring to me that someone can hold a responsible position, and have a head just as chock full of trivia as I have.
Regards,
Shodan
PS - “The same thing happened twice last month,
Oh heaven help the working elf!”
That quote triggered a sudden recitation of the whole poem, to no one in particular.
“An elven maid there was of old,
a stenographer by day…”
I could go on but will let curious others look it up.
I can do pretty well from memory, but when copies of the book’s entire text are online, why settle for memory?
Here’s Goodgulf’s encounter with the Ballhog:
Another favorite of mine is when they’re trying to get into Doria, and before they’re attacked by a Thesaraus (“Maim!” roared the monster. “Mutilate, mangle, crush. See HARM.”), Goodgulf is trying to figure out what magic word opens the door. Then: Suddenly the Wizard sprang to his feet. “The knob,” he cried.
Can’t forget “I sit on the floor and pick my nose…”
“And think of many things
of deviant dwarves in rubber hose
and elves who drub their drings”