Have you ever heard or read about some book a glowing review and when you read it yourself you can not see what is the enchantment that others see and talk about? Well I have. One of them has been The Good Soldier Švejk (my brother loved it, knew most of it by heart, and constantly quoted it and giggled). For me the Bored of the Rings is the same.
I should have liked it, I know the original, I am from the same generation … but … I was not as high or drunk as the authors where when they wrote it. Do not get me wrong, it’s a good book, for the right reader, but I’m not that reader.

This funny, rude parody of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings tells the story of Frito the boggie and his friends, Goodgulf, Arrowroot, Legolam, Gimlet and the rest as they head off to destroy a magic ring in the pits of Fordor.

Honestly, the best thing about this book is that they managed not to overdo it. The entire Tolkien trilogy is covered in less than 200 pages and, somehow, no vital aspects of the story are left out. The first book is parodied in a lot more detail than #2 and #3, but that’s really for the best because, although it’s funny, Bored of the Rings would have dragged if it had been much longer.

The humour in this book isn’t subtle in any way. It is silly, rude and childish, often falling back on the simplest forms of wit (Uncle Dildo being a prime example), and yet it is somehow very clever. There are quite a lot of cultural references that are out of date (e.g. Goodgulf is apparently a reference to a brand of gasoline), but enough of it has withstood the test of time and will be amusing to most generations.

The funniest parts were almost definitely the character names and their altered personalities. Arrowroot, son of Arrowshirt, a useless dolt instead of the handsome, heroic Aragorn and Tim Benzedrino (Tom Bombadill) as a drugged-out hippie were my favourites.

I’d never read a parody before this, and I can see both side of why people do or don’t like them. On the one hand, I don’t feel like I’ve gained anything having read this book. But on the other hand, it did make me laugh.

I received a copy of the 50th anniversary edition of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

My thanks to Orion Publishing/Gollancz for an eARC via NetGalley of the 50th anniversary edition of Harvard Lampoon’s ‘Bored of the Rings’ in exchange for an honest review.

In the late 1960s J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Lord of the Rings’ was enthusiastically embraced by the emerging counterculture. I remember vividly having a paperback copy of ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’ thrust into my hand by a graduating friend in 1968 who said “you must read this, it will change your life”. It did.

In 1969 The Harvard Lampoon published this parody written by Henry N. Beard and Douglas C. Kenney. They were very clear in their prologue:

“This book is predominantly concerned with making money and from its pages a reader may learn much about the character and the literary integrity of the authors. Of boggies, however, he will discover next to nothing”.

I am not sure what year I first read ‘Bored of the Rings’ though recall it was a gift from my younger brother and that we read bits of it aloud to one another falling about with laughter.

‘Bored of the Rings’ isn’t subtle or sophisticated in its humour. It is full of puns and is often silly and childish. Still decades before Sir Terry Pratchett created characters such as Cohen the Barbarian and started poking fun at fantasy tropes, this was a forerunner to the comedy fantasy genre.

It may be showing its age in terms of some of its cultural references but I still love it for its silliness and for the authors’ clear respect and affection for the original work. Reading the ARC yesterday I was alarming my cats with my constant giggles.

So it might not be everyone’s cup of tea but I am so pleased to have it available in this anniversary edition.

This is quite funny at the beginning: you laugh and enjoy the satire.
After a bit it gets harder to be amused and it starts to be a bit boring.
I think it didn't age well and it's not my cup of tea.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

I'm going to keep this short because I couldn't even get through the fist 20%. Just not for me. None of the jokes were landing, and for me, the title summed it up. I was just bored.