Jurassic Park (Jurassic Park, #1) in Overdue Podcast

Jun 14, 2022 Matt Goncalves rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: adapted-to-film-or-series

A fun science fiction novel. I found some parts were better than others. The plot seemed to be bogged down with a lot of tertiary details by characters that weren't crucial to the story. There was also a lot of monologues by certain characters and the action scenes felt stunted to where I was confused of the location and where characters were supposed to be. I think this book had great ideas and good tension,and most of all: it makes dinosaurs cool. But it's a bit messy with the characters, some ...more

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Jan 09, 2019 Chandler rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 5-star, hall-of-fame, 301-499pgs, classics, sci-fi, adult-fiction, books-for-boys

This was an excellent novel, and a great choice for one of the 100 books on PBS’ Great American Read. This is one that I know I’ll consider a classic, not just because of the fact that it was turned into one of the best films of all time, but also because it is a good book in it’s own right, and is a great example of classic science fiction.

This is because this book does what any good science fiction novel should do: take ordinary people and put them into extraordinary scientifically interestin This was an excellent novel, and a great choice for one of the 100 books on PBS’ Great American Read. This is one that I know I’ll consider a classic, not just because of the fact that it was turned into one of the best films of all time, but also because it is a good book in it’s own right, and is a great example of classic science fiction.

This is because this book does what any good science fiction novel should do: take ordinary people and put them into extraordinary scientifically interesting situations. In this case, we have ordinary people dealing with dinosaurs in real life. A rich old eccentric name John Hammond is trying to open an island park for the general public that contains not just cheap thrills, but real life dinosaurs. However, his investors are nervous that it won’t be a secure and fun attraction, so to belay their worries, Hammond invites two paleontologists, a lawyer, a mathematician, and his two grandchildren to see that the park is safe, and to experience the rides first hand. While there, Hammond and the science team explain how they got the dinosaur DNA from flies that bit them and then were petrified in tree sap millions of years ago. Eventually, they go onto the T-rex exhibit, when the power goes out, taking out not only the lights, but also the security systems keeping the dinos in check. It turns out this was not just an accident. A computer lab technician named Dennis Nerdy engineered this to happen so that he could steal some dino embryos for millions of dollars. Unfortunately, on his way to the ship that will deliver the embryos to the mainland and his contact, Dennis gets lost, and eaten, so now the rest of the group has to figure out how to turn the power back on in time before they get eaten. General mayhem ensues, with dinosaurs and people alike getting eaten left and right. Eventually, after a lot of thrills and close calls they manage to get the power back on and send for help. As they leave, everyone not dead all agree that this was a terrible experience and it was a horrible idea in the first place.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that you should watch the film before reading the book. I know, I know, “Blasphemy” you say, but here me out. The book is so similar to the film, that you really don’t lose much by watching it first. Also, this featured groundbreaking CGI, so it should make for a film-lovers bucket list in any case. As for reading the book, you really get more background into the people and the park that make for more interesting characters than the relatively simple ones in the film. This, along with many extra scenes added in gives an almost treasure hunt vibe, as you hunt for scenes that were in the film, and those that were taken out. These little tidbits make for a fun experience. And it is just a fun read overall.

There are a few differences to the book though. One would be that Dr. Grant liked kids in the book. While this isn’t a major change, it does make his interactions with the kids all the more believable overall. One of the biggest changes was the granddaughter Lexi. In the film, she was a teenager, and the older between her and Tim but in the book, she was younger than her brother, and far more annoying. In the book her dialogue consisted of “I’m hungry. I’m tired. I wanna go home. This is boring.” and so forth. This was a change for the better in the film, and is honestly the weakest part of the book for me. Every time she said something I just wanted to look at her and say “shut up!”. Perhaps that is a sign I’m not great with young kids.

In any case, this book was an excellent read. Yes, it was similar to the film, but I think that this is the case of the book adding elements to an already great story, rather than the film cutting out everything that made the book great, like some other adaptations I could mention. I am going to give this a five out of five. Even if you have seen the film, you should read this, as it is an excellent example of science fiction that should be remembered just as much as it’s motion picture counterpart.
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