Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
In no conceivable way is LOTR "YA", any more than the Anglo-Saxon epics which Tolkien studied as his "day job" and was, in a sense, attempting to copy in LOTR, are children's stories. LOTR is written by a scholar, for an adult audience, dealing with adult themes.
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Bingo
I tested as having a 12th grade reading level in 5th grade. I read LOTR for the first time in 6th grade. I was good up through, I'd say, half of Fellowship - after that, it was a very tough read. I don't think I really, fully "got" it until a couple of years later when I read it in High School. Even now I find it's a pretty high-level read. It strains my brain a little bit, kind of like Gene Wolfe strains my brain a lot. Honestly, the Frodo/Sam branch is an easier read by far than the Aragorn/Gimli/Legolas branch. Frodo/Sam is more of a straightforward adventure tale.
YA books are normally books written with a lesser vocabulary, more straightforward - not a lot of symbolism and such. Simpler stories. Tolkien might have hated allegory (I'm sort of with him on that) but he used lots of symbolism and lots of tough vocabulary.
You can argue the Hobbit is a kids' book. But not LOTR. Arguing LOTR is YA is like arguing that Beowulf or the Aeneid is YA.