My rating:
add to my books
Loading...
Jumper: Griffin's Story (Jumper #1)
by
Steven Gould
What if you could jump? Go anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye? What would you do? Where would you go?
What if you were only five years old?
Griffin O'Connor jumped for the first time in front of a busload of tourists in Oxford; there was no hope of keeping his ability a secret. He was hunted from that day, on the run with his family...more
What if you were only five years old?
Griffin O'Connor jumped for the first time in front of a busload of tourists in Oxford; there was no hope of keeping his ability a secret. He was hunted from that day, on the run with his family...more
Mass Market Paperback, 286 pages
Published
February 5th 2008
by Tor Books
(first published August 1st 1992)
There is a good chance some of your friends read this book. Sign in to see!
sign in »
Friend Reviews
To see what your friends thought of this book,
please sign up.
This book is currently not featured on any Listopia lists.
Add this book to your favorite list »
Community Reviews
(showing
1-30
of
5,253)
I have it on good authority that this book was made into the worst movie ever (hi Rachel!), but this is a quiet and strangely affecting little story. Far from being a tale about Hayden Christensen stomping around like a petulant jerk and fighting the Paladins (screenwriters, are you even trying anymore?), it's a story of a young man coming to terms with the alcoholism, abandonment and abuse that characterized his childhood.
The jumping, or instantaneous teleportation, is a nice examp...more
The jumping, or instantaneous teleportation, is a nice examp...more
view all 54 comments
First things first: if you're planning to see the recently-released Jumper movie, for the love of God don't read the book first.
That's not a slight against the book at all; if anything, it's a slight against the film. Because it sucks. Steven Gould's original novel however, is very very good.
Jumper is a sci-fi novel, sort of. It revolves around David Rice, a teenager who suddenly discovers his latent ability to teleport while being beaten by his abusive father. He decides...more
That's not a slight against the book at all; if anything, it's a slight against the film. Because it sucks. Steven Gould's original novel however, is very very good.
Jumper is a sci-fi novel, sort of. It revolves around David Rice, a teenager who suddenly discovers his latent ability to teleport while being beaten by his abusive father. He decides...more
This book is definitely a favorite. Jumper is a tale of David Rice, who realizes his special ability to "jump" from one place to another, and his trials of life. It begins with his first jump, after escaping a drunkard dad, and describes his journey through New York as a 17 year old with nothing but the money he came with.
As the story progresses, more conflicts arise, from a relationship to advoiding the grasp of the government, and then it all brings about changes to Da...more
As the story progresses, more conflicts arise, from a relationship to advoiding the grasp of the government, and then it all brings about changes to Da...more
Griffin is a jumper, he can teleport from one place to another. It's a handy trick, but also a dangerous one. Griffin's family is in hiding from a mysterious cohort of bad guys intent on killing him.
I picked this book up based off a recommendation on one of the YA book boards. The recommendation should have come with preface - this is NOT a stand-alone book. You see, way back in the 80's Steven Gould published a book called Jumper: A Novel. It was followed several years later by a se...more
I picked this book up based off a recommendation on one of the YA book boards. The recommendation should have come with preface - this is NOT a stand-alone book. You see, way back in the 80's Steven Gould published a book called Jumper: A Novel. It was followed several years later by a se...more
I really enjoyed the first two Jumper books by Stephen Gould and so I was a little nervous about the upcoming movie adaptation (as was Gould himself last year). I mean, a bad movie doesn't actually hurt the books, of course, but you don't want something you like dissed by a terrible adaptation. So it was interesting to discover that Gould had gone in an new "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" direction with the latest Jumper book.
The movie, as might be expected, changes some...more
The movie, as might be expected, changes some...more
I really wish I wouldn't have read anything bout this book previously to reading it myself. I know I put up a wall and avoided reading it like the plague. But since Impulse was announced I'm back to being obsessed with the universe and I'll allow a little play in the Jumper universe.
For starters it really is a good back story. (side note, a friend and I just watched the movie again - still terrible - even this book which is in the same vein is loads better. Hopefully they'll do bette...more
For starters it really is a good back story. (side note, a friend and I just watched the movie again - still terrible - even this book which is in the same vein is loads better. Hopefully they'll do bette...more
I read this as a young teen and was impressed by both the grittiness and the realism of the main character's world. A movie came out recently that was based on this book, but I was almost offended by the movie version because it did such a crap job of capturing that "everyday life of an extraordinary person" feeling that the book did so well.
The main character is a teen who discovers he has teleportation powers and starts using them to make a life for himself. What's ni...more
The main character is a teen who discovers he has teleportation powers and starts using them to make a life for himself. What's ni...more
I had heard that this book is better than the movie, but after seeing the movie--which was awful!--I just couldn't bring myself to read this. Especially with its incredibly lame cover. (I've seen at least four different covers for this book and all of them suck.) However, I finally did read this book and it turns out that it's actually quite good! The main character is a seventeen-year-old who discovers he can teleport. He doesn't know why, he doesn't know how, he just knows he can. He uses...more
One of my favorite books of all time. It's a study of a kid getting the ability to teleport, and for all he knows, he is the only person with powers on earth. This book fully explores all the potential good and bad that comes with this power. You follow a character as his life is changed and he finds his place in the world. I cannot praise this book enough, and unfortunately they are ruining it into a movie.
This is a well written, interesting book that will definitly give you lots to think about. What if you could jump(teleport) anywhere that you'd been before just by thinking about it? Where would you go? What would you do? The possibilities are endless and that was the main reason I liked this book, it got me thinking.
Published in the early 90's Jumper is now slightly dated but this doesn't deter from a good story, you just have to try and remember a time before cell phones, computer...more
Published in the early 90's Jumper is now slightly dated but this doesn't deter from a good story, you just have to try and remember a time before cell phones, computer...more
I went and saw this movie and was really underwhelmed. It had a good idea behind it but it seemed like it was too smooshed, like there was too much back story and explanation they hadn't been able to adequately fit into the movie. So I got the book. My dad and sister thought I was crazy since the movie was so mediocre, but I really wanted to see what the story was REALLY supposed to say. Boy was I surprised.
This book is NOTHING Like the movie! If you liked the movie, don't read ...more
This book is NOTHING Like the movie! If you liked the movie, don't read ...more
This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For
rated it
·
review of another edition
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
science-fiction
I saw the movie (which I otherwise hadn't been particularly interested in seeing) on an airplane last summer and although I only found the movie to be fair (at best), I was intrigued enough to find the book the movie was (very loosely) based on.
The book is much better than the movie (which fairly quickly diverges in plot from the original source material) and I was slightly surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. Written in 1992, there are parts of it which are quite interesting to ...more
The book is much better than the movie (which fairly quickly diverges in plot from the original source material) and I was slightly surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did. Written in 1992, there are parts of it which are quite interesting to ...more
Fun book. I was tempted to turn my back on this since it altered the world of Jumper & Reflex to match the movie, but figured - rightly - that SJG would make it a fun story no matter what. Which he did.
There's a little been of a feel of been-there from Jumper, what with Griffin in this story also making his own little secret getaway spot, but it elaborates on it somewhat. Some interesting tidbits and elaborations are in there that I can only assume people pointed out to SJG after Jum...more
There's a little been of a feel of been-there from Jumper, what with Griffin in this story also making his own little secret getaway spot, but it elaborates on it somewhat. Some interesting tidbits and elaborations are in there that I can only assume people pointed out to SJG after Jum...more
This is a young adult book classified as sci-fi. The protaganist has the ability to teleport. The movie coming out will dwell on the high action sequences from the book. What makes this book unique, however, is that the character's teleportation is used to resolve a lot of his anger and rage. He has an abusive alcoholic father and an mother who deserted him. He is a deeply troubled teen who learns to resolve his problems. This book was on the top banned books when it was first published. ...more
I love Love LOVE this book! I first read it when it FIRST came out in 1992 and I've read it at least 4-5 times since then.
So, when they announced there'd be a movie, I was exstatic! Then they started publicizing changes. Changes? Why!? It's PERFECT just the way it is. Regardless, I went to see it the premier weekend, on Feb 16, 2008. Grrrr I left steamed! I saw a very few movies in theatres in 2008 -- Jumper made me mad, The Mist had me frothing at the mouth and I predicted th...more
So, when they announced there'd be a movie, I was exstatic! Then they started publicizing changes. Changes? Why!? It's PERFECT just the way it is. Regardless, I went to see it the premier weekend, on Feb 16, 2008. Grrrr I left steamed! I saw a very few movies in theatres in 2008 -- Jumper made me mad, The Mist had me frothing at the mouth and I predicted th...more
I love the idea of this book, but I do not love the book itself. There seemed to be so much potential, but so much of this book was crap. I loved how Davey jumped places and other nifty things that happened, but man there was so many emo issues. I can't tell you how many times this kid friggen cried during this book. It was overwhelming. He would cry at the tiniest thing, it was annoying. I think I'm a crybaby sometimes but I am NOTHING compared to this character. Also, the plot went in some wei...more
My wife recommended this to me as one of her sf favorites when we were dating and it really captured my fancy. (She's nearly batting 1000 in her recommendations.) It's been marketed in both adult and young adult editions--I read a mass market paperback and except that the protagonist being 17 at the start, it never felt like a YA book. If you enjoy the superpower debate over flight vs invisibility, the book gives you an alternative to mull over and fill your daydreams.
There have been ...more
There have been ...more
Jumper by Stephen Gould isn’t the kind of book I’d normally recommend. It’s unabashedly a “boy” book, with stark prose stylings that are crisp in their efficiency but not particularly artful and a focus, in its long second half, on militaristic events that would normally leave me cold.
But Jumper is also much more than that—at its deepest, it’s a story of grief, of overcoming and processing abuse. And it addresses its young audience respectfully, never demurring from difficult emotiona...more
But Jumper is also much more than that—at its deepest, it’s a story of grief, of overcoming and processing abuse. And it addresses its young audience respectfully, never demurring from difficult emotiona...more
I had heard about this one through some daytime show of all places. Since it had Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson of Star Wars fame, I figured I would check it out. As always (or at least most of the time), I started with the book upon which it is based.
David Rice is not your typical teenager. Besides being the victim of a drunken, abusive father, David learns he can teleport--which comes in handy as he avoids the seedy side of life. David uses this skill to leave his father for goo...more
David Rice is not your typical teenager. Besides being the victim of a drunken, abusive father, David learns he can teleport--which comes in handy as he avoids the seedy side of life. David uses this skill to leave his father for goo...more
Davey finds that he can instantly transport himself from one place to another. He calls it “jumping” and uses it to escape his abusive home and begin again in New York. The book follows Davey’s adventures as he deals with his past, gets a girlfriend, and jumps from place to place. He looks for other “jumpers” too, but that’s more of a minor plotline.
The characters were all very believable and while there was never a real explanation of why Davey could jump, the plot was fascinating e...more
The characters were all very believable and while there was never a real explanation of why Davey could jump, the plot was fascinating e...more
The classic science-fiction novel, Jumper, by Steven Gould, depicts the life of one man, David Rice. From his birth, David had been blessed with special powers. These powers, however, aren't just special they are extraordinary, giving him the power to jump dimensions and travel from one end of the globe to the other in less than one millisecond. As we are first introduced to the protagonist, David Rice, he comes of as an extraordinary child. He was extraordinary in a negative sense. He grew up ...more
3.5/5; 4 stars; B+
I really debated how to rate this book. I was tempted to go to 3 stars because I didn't like it as much as I hoped, but on the other hand, I suspect it was because the author did such a good job of developing this wounded, sympathetic protagonist who I wanted to just SHAKE, repeatedly so I went with 4 stars.
I enjoyed Jumper as a fast moving, complex (kind of confusing) urban fantasy. The book is not really a classical urban fantasy in the sense of su...more
I really debated how to rate this book. I was tempted to go to 3 stars because I didn't like it as much as I hoped, but on the other hand, I suspect it was because the author did such a good job of developing this wounded, sympathetic protagonist who I wanted to just SHAKE, repeatedly so I went with 4 stars.
I enjoyed Jumper as a fast moving, complex (kind of confusing) urban fantasy. The book is not really a classical urban fantasy in the sense of su...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
[This review also appears on FingerFlow.com, a site for review and discussion of creative works.]
Davy lives with his alcoholic, stingy, abusive father. On one occasion, Davy accidentally "jumps" (teleports) away just as his father is about to beat him with a belt buckle. Seizing the opportunity, Davy runs away from home but finds himself accosted by a quartet of truck drivers. Luckily, he teleports away again. Realizing he has a strange and unbelievable talent, Davy decides...more
Davy lives with his alcoholic, stingy, abusive father. On one occasion, Davy accidentally "jumps" (teleports) away just as his father is about to beat him with a belt buckle. Seizing the opportunity, Davy runs away from home but finds himself accosted by a quartet of truck drivers. Luckily, he teleports away again. Realizing he has a strange and unbelievable talent, Davy decides...more
A really terrific book...until it turned into another one entirely. Review to come.
Our protagonist, a "teleport" with family issues, is gifted at the art of revenge, a troubled teen who could very well hire out his payback services at premium rates. I'd love to see that in a sequel, clever vengeance being but one of many elements that compose this tale. Davy Rice narrates us through a lot of angst and romance with the voice of the boy next door, convincing throughout and never falling into stereotype, blind to his deep-set issues even as we and the people around him ...more
The movie Jumper was atrocious. I called it Mace Windu versus Darth Vader. It was full of good ideas that never got the proper treatment and fell completely flat. I decided to read the book in order to see those ideas treated right.
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that none of the ideas that I was so excited about in the movie were even in the book. There are no Paladins trying to hunt down teleporters, in fact there are no teleporters other than the main character, Davy Rice.
...more
Imagine my surprise when I discovered that none of the ideas that I was so excited about in the movie were even in the book. There are no Paladins trying to hunt down teleporters, in fact there are no teleporters other than the main character, Davy Rice.
...more
I must have read this the summer after it was released, because I vividly remember reading it on a certain beach vacation with my family. Since that was 1993, I don't recall more than the basic plotline - a boy who spontaneously learns to teleport to escape being abused by his father - and the fact that I really enjoyed the book.
Since I'm currently reading the sequel, I wanted to add at least this much of a review to the original.
Reviewed 03/09/2010
Since I'm currently reading the sequel, I wanted to add at least this much of a review to the original.
Reviewed 03/09/2010
Jumper is a fantastic story about a boy coming to grips with abuse. Gould has a procedural, dry style, but still manages to wring emotion out of the growth of Davy, the jumper of the title, from adolescence into adulthood. You get to see the character of this man laid bare, to understand what's happened to him and what that turns him into. It's a beautiful thing.
This boook is more of a parralell universe to the original book series. The mechanics of jumping are different, and the first sseries mad eit abundantly clear that Davy was the only/first jumper to exist in his story.
In the original story Davy created a sort of Quantum door between two places and then pulled reality around him. test were done on dave in reflex and is was shown that he released no radiation while jumping. Davy couldn't take anything with him on a jump that he couldn't ...more
In the original story Davy created a sort of Quantum door between two places and then pulled reality around him. test were done on dave in reflex and is was shown that he released no radiation while jumping. Davy couldn't take anything with him on a jump that he couldn't ...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Better Than Movie | 18 | 59 | Jan 21, 2012 04:38pm |
Readers Also Enjoyed
Steven Charles Gould is an American science fiction author. His novels tend to have protagonists fighting to rid government of corrupt antagonists. The struggle against corruption is the focus, rather than the technology.
More about Steven Gould...
Share This Book
1 trivia question
More quizzes & trivia...
