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A review by drvibrissae
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
4.0
A book set in the decade you were born
It shouldn't surprise anyone that this was an entertaining and engaging read. The movie was a great adaptation and so there were some beats and tension that probably would hit harder or differently if I didn't know what was going on ahead of time. This is my first Crichton book, and I suspect I'll pick up the sequel eventually.
Some random impressions:
1. Almost everyone is less likable in the book except Dr. Grant who is considerably more likeable, and the women have almost no lines.
2. Apparently there are a bunch of local workers and caretakers on the island who get like a paragraph total? Feels weird when you are suddenly reminded there are other people just, I don't know, hanging out? It's never mentioned if they are warned or how they are told to respond to these unfolding crises
3. It's funny how I was fine suspending disbelief and hand-waving away or ignoring everything I know about genetics and DNA sequencing, but got weirdly hung up on a line about birds and dinos both having nucleated red cells, so that's why they think dinos are more like birds that reptiles (fun fact: reptiles ALSO have nucleated red blood cells). Me getting caught up on small details while ignoring huge leaps or outright nonsense is not unique to this book, I just had to mention it.
4. I mean he sets up like seven or 8 loose threads about dinos on this island, the mainland and the other sites so of course there was going to be a sequel.
5. Crichton seems to have a bugaboo about science that is voiced through a long rant by Ian Malcolm in the closing chapters, but most of the complaints seem to be more ascribable to unfettered capitalism...and the character even has to align science with inherited wealth to make the leap, it's like he almost go there but not quite? It was off-putting.
It shouldn't surprise anyone that this was an entertaining and engaging read. The movie was a great adaptation and so there were some beats and tension that probably would hit harder or differently if I didn't know what was going on ahead of time. This is my first Crichton book, and I suspect I'll pick up the sequel eventually.
Some random impressions:
1. Almost everyone is less likable in the book except Dr. Grant who is considerably more likeable, and the women have almost no lines.
2. Apparently there are a bunch of local workers and caretakers on the island who get like a paragraph total? Feels weird when you are suddenly reminded there are other people just, I don't know, hanging out? It's never mentioned if they are warned or how they are told to respond to these unfolding crises
3. It's funny how I was fine suspending disbelief and hand-waving away or ignoring everything I know about genetics and DNA sequencing, but got weirdly hung up on a line about birds and dinos both having nucleated red cells, so that's why they think dinos are more like birds that reptiles (fun fact: reptiles ALSO have nucleated red blood cells). Me getting caught up on small details while ignoring huge leaps or outright nonsense is not unique to this book, I just had to mention it.
4. I mean he sets up like seven or 8 loose threads about dinos on this island, the mainland and the other sites so of course there was going to be a sequel.
5. Crichton seems to have a bugaboo about science that is voiced through a long rant by Ian Malcolm in the closing chapters, but most of the complaints seem to be more ascribable to unfettered capitalism...and the character even has to align science with inherited wealth to make the leap, it's like he almost go there but not quite? It was off-putting.