It’s been a rough few months with a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, tests and consultations, all leaving me in need of some comfort reading. Unfortunately the moment I settle down with a print copy of a book, I’m out cold. So I’ve been turning more and more to audiobooks. Luckily, late last month I picked up the first volume of the Lord of the Rings trilogy narrated by Andy Serkis. I wasn’t sure what to expect. I’d listened to the Rob Inglis version a while ago and I did enjoy it but wasn’t overly enthused. It’s a good, serviceable reading of the books, and is handy when you want some hands-free reading time while you work at other things.

Don’t even get me started on the songs which seem to go on forever without actually going anywhere at all. The only one in the entire trilogy that ever touched a chord with me was the Song of the Entwives, which made me cry the first time I read it. I’m not sure if I’m in the minority or majority in this opinion because while I’ve seen people complaining bitterly about the songs, I also know people who adore them. So to that I say “Okay, whatever. It’s not why I read Tolkien, but knock yourself out.” I read Tolkien because the story is so rich, so comforting, that I can forgive all the weaknesses and stumbles for the sake of the world it takes me to. I can apply its lessons to any of life’s difficulties and disasters, and feel as if nothing is insurmountable. The pain will change us, but we will discover our strength and that of our friends, and will find help where we might never have expected it. It’s a story which gives me heart.

So… Andy Serkis. Wow. I have a huge amount of respect for him and his work as an actor, but his work as a narrator is so good that if he doesn’t win some kind of award for it there is no justice in the world. And I don’t say that lightly because narrators are usually the last thing I notice about an audiobook, unless they’re terrible. (I have a great deal of affection for Michael Pollen’s narration but he’s reading his own work so I’d expect it to be infused with a good deal of feeling and insight. And I’ve been impressed several times by the narration of Bronson Pinchot.)

Serkis is not only a chameleon, sliding almost effortlessly between character voices, but he shows a deep understanding of the text which he conveys to the listener/reader. I can’t even count the number of times I’ve been listening and found that a passage that had made almost no impression on me either in my own reading or in the Inglis narration , suddenly came so vividly alive that I found myself thinking that it must be some addition to the text that I’d never encountered before. The example I encountered today was of the Pukel Men, both in the flesh and in stone. I had virtually no memory of ever reading about them before, and yet because of Serkis’ narration I doubt I’ll ever forget them again. Serkis has such a thorough understanding of the text that it allows him to turn a one-man narration into a dramatization so good, so spot-on that it’s probably the closest a Tolkien fanatic will ever get to having the trilogy filmed word-for-word. As he spoke, this film played in my head, and it was remarkable.

His textual comprehension lends so much weight to parts of the book which had often seemed like throw-aways, or even appalling silliness, that suddenly even Tom Bombadil, a character who at best seems like comic relief, gains weight and importance. (I was grateful to learn that Peter Jackson had excised the whole Bombadil and Goldberry episode from his filmed trilogy because I was certain that to include him would be to ensure that there wouldn’t be a dry seat in the house.) I was puzzling over that as I listened because I’m not used to Bombadil provoking anything but laughs or yawns from me, and I realized that what I was hearing was Serkis extending the rhythm of Bombadil’s rhymes into all his speech. Even when he isn’t spouting his goofy poems, Serkis’ Bombadil speaks in a rhythm that is impossible to ignore. It pulls the listener into the story and holds them there, underscoring Bombadil’s place as a true power in Middle Earth. Even when he speaks in prose, he weaves a spell.

That same ear for rhythm and speech patterns extends to many (though not all) of the characters he is portraying. You can hear Ian McKellen in his Gandalf, Sean Astin in his Samwise, Dom Monaghan and Billy Boyd as he reads Merry and Pippin. You don’t have to be told who is speaking, you know. You not only hear Sean Bean as Boromir, but you hear echoes of him in Faramir and Denethor, as Serkis makes Bean’s accent the accent of Gondor. Different voices, but same accent make the characters so much more believable and so much richer. There’s nothing random about his portrayals. They have been deeply considered.

Even if you’re not an audiobook person, I really urge you to listen to this particular set of recordings. They’re a delight and clearly a work of great affection on the part of Andy Serkis. They really are some of the best narration I have ever heard.