Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Jurassic Park (Novel)



The first thing most people say when I recommend they read Jurassic Park, is: "Why? I've already seen the movie(s), why should I read the book." I'LL TELL YOU WHY!

The key difference between the novel and movie is that they are completely different. The only similarities between the two are the character names, that there's dinosaurs, and most of it takes place on an island. All of the characters have, nearly, completely different personalities (the only exception being Malcolm, who is more argumentative and even more intelligent) and the children, Tim and Lex, swap roles: Lex is the younger, extremely annoying one and Tim is the older, very not annoying sibling. Hammond is portrayed as egotistical; a man who only cares about the ends, not the means, the details, or even who did the work, rather then a kindly old grandfather, he absolutely hates children. Dr. Grant and Ellie have a much more obviously close relationship and Gennaro, the pussy lawyer? He's a badass.

But enough bout the characters, how about the story? The one major thing I absolutely love about the Jurassic Park novel is that Michael Crichton is a master of tension. Aside from his characters, who feel as realistic as a person standing next to you, you sincerely feel for the ones you like and you absolutely hate the ones you don't like. The story differs, like the characters, greatly from the movie adaption(s). I keep throwing in parenthesis 's'es in, because the three Jurassic Park movies actually all borrowed some information from the book. A great example being the opening scene with the rich family and their daughter on the beach: this appears, albeit differently, in the novel and is actually a major point in the story, not a loose rationality for Hammond to call Malcolm.

One of the great things about Michael Crichton is that the man was a genius: he graduated Harvard with an M.D. and undertook a post-doctoral fellowship at Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies. His extensive knowledge of biology can be seen in Jurassic Park, where he puts it to good use in various situations of which, I will not spoil. This insight, combined with his easy-to-read, yet unmistakably intelligent writing style, makes Jurassic Park not just an entertaining read, but an enthralling, atmospheric piece that will leave you satisfied.

To this date, I've read the novel four times.

As a side note, I hope you enjoy the occasional different type of review/recommendation. I don't want to limit the blog to just music or just movies, I'd like to open your minds to everything the creative world has to offer.

18 comments:

  1. Yeah, the book is way different than the movie. I read it a few years back for school and it was pretty damn good.

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  2. I'm sure that the novel is far better.

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  3. I remember reading this, way WAY better than the movies.

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  4. I think novel's are usually better, movies are too focused on the visual then story!

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  5. Not going to lie, I never knew this started as a novel, Usually the original is better

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  6. but its a shame, that i already watch the movie...so i think reading the book would not be so interesting..

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  7. Might pick this up from your recommendation actually, sounds like a good read!

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  8. need to give this a read at some point

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  9. Ehh, I couldn't take it seriously.

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  10. "the key difference is, that they are completly different" lol

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  11. damn, you made me want to actually read it
    just watched the movies till now :(

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  12. Hmm, I never thought about reading the book, but after reading your post, I think Ill try it!

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  13. Damn. I already have like a billion other books to read. ARGH!

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  14. I remember picking up the novel, thinking it would suck compared to the movies, I WAS SO WRONG

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  15. I really like your background, looks very haunted

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  16. oh I haven´t read the book. Now I´m curious to see if it better like the fellow bloggers say.

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