Book Review: Jurassic Park

I know it’s an oldie but I never read Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton back in the day.  Even when you google it, you get the movies first and then a bunch of questions about the movies. I had to scroll halfway down the page to get to the first listing for the book.

Basic Summary (Courtesy of Amazon):

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.

Until something goes wrong. . . .

In Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton taps all his mesmerizing talent and scientific brilliance to create his most electrifying technothriller.

 

My thoughts:

Okay so everyone knows this story. I didn’t even need the summary I am sure. Although it is interesting from a marketing point of view. That dangler…it once worked so well. LOL

The kiddo found the audio version on the shelf at one of our local libraries and begged me to get it. I warned him it wouldn’t be like the movies, although having never read it myself I could only guess on that. He wanted it anyway. Sure.

12 discs is a lot of dino attacks but the book is far more in depth than the movies. There is much more about people’s motivation and back story. The kiddo loved to point out all the things in the book that didn’t happen in movie one. And then argue about which of the other movies something like that happened in.

I was much more intrigued by the way Hollywood softened some aspects of the book and bloodied up others. For example,  in the movies, Hammond is the kind, benevolent old man who adores his grand children, really all children, and just wants an amazing experience for them, and if that makes him lots of money, well what’s wrong with that. In the book, he is a nasty lunatic. Flat out.

They flip the ages and genders of the children.

The dino attacks in the movies are way more gruesome. In the book, the images are painted in broad strokes with just a few, ickaroo moments and a lot of tension. I liked the balance. Liked it well enough I might start reading more Crichton.