Children of Hurin by JRR Tolkein

CONTAINS SPOILERS!

At the risk of having rotten tomatoes thrown at me, I am going to admit: I find Tolkien tedious. I have read the Hobbit and LOTR trilogy several times now, and you know, I didn't find them all that engaging. I DO think the world Tolkien created is absolutely fascinating, but his writing style leaves so very much to be desired and they are such depressing books

And so it was with Children of Hurin. This was the book groups selection for December.

First - I dislike the use of 3 names (or more) for one person. I'd have to go back and count, but I think Turin had about 10 by the end of the tale. I don't see why character's had to go around re-naming everyone and thing.
Second - I dislike the use of 3 names for one place (see same note as above).
Third - Since I can't pronounce any of the names or places, I have a very difficult time remembering what is what. Most annoying. The names all become "mush" (seriously - I think Ahnon...mush).
Forth - I had a difficult time placing where in Middle Earth all this was taking place. I only read part of the intro, perhaps they elaborated more there.

This book was depressing: Hurin was stupid. Turin was stupid. Nienor was stupid. Morewen was stupid. The ELVES were stupid. Elves to Turin, "Don't do that. It's a bad idea. You are aggravating your curse and becoming arrogant." Turin, "I'm going to do it anyway." Elves to Nienor and Morewen, "Don't go. It's a bad idea. There is a large nasty dragon. Just wait here and we'll go." Morewen to Elves, "I'm going to do it anyway." Repeat several times with Men, Dwarves and a Dragon. Honestly? I was rooting for the dragon to just put everyone out of their misery.

I'm all for a book where main characters die - it adds a sense of realism for me - but this book was just too much. I couldn't even feel sorry for the characters as they died, they were so very two dimensional and had no redeaming qualities that said "Hero".

Lastly, I couldn't help but think this was comparable to the Odyssey (Illiad? I get them confused) but set in Middle-Earth. Main character travels far from home with a grievous curse upon his head. Women are left behind to wait. Then the long journey back to find everything is changed. And it all ends very badly.

If you are an avid Tolkien fan, this might be worth reading just because it IS Tolkien. However, I was an avid Tolkien fan and I was underwhelmed. It will be interesting to see what the book group has to say.