Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Book thoughts- Jurassic Park and Lost World

I'm calling this book thoughts rather than a review for Jurassic Park and Lost World both by Michael Crichton.



Many of us now in our 30s have fond memories of Jurassic Park the movie.  As a kid, how could you not love the idea of dinosaurs being recreated.  It probably was my first introduction to genetics and DNA.  Science at this point in school was the basics like weather, gravity, etc.  To say the least, I was wowed.

I did not read the books then.  I am not sure what held me back-- maybe not wanting to ruin a movie or I felt it would be too much the same. Whatever the case, I just recently read Jurassic Park and Lost World for the first time ever.

I am even more awed now.  How do I explain the thrill I got out of Jurassic Park, I barely can...  What I can say is that I truly am glad I waited on reading these until I understand fully the science (even if it is pseudo-science, or is it?).  I did have issues trudging though some of the Chaos Theory though.

Lost World started out slowly.  It felt like an afterthought at times.  The children involved in the second book seemed more unlikely, but added a nice depth to the story.  I liked the strong female character of Sarah and was surprised how minor of a character Ellie actually was in the first novel.

It is very interesting to me how the two novels were stretched over three movies.  Scenes from the first book showed up across all three movies, even  the second movie which was based on the second novel. Compys.

I understand why Lost World movie was incredibly different from the novel.  The novel was a slower building story line with more planning and dialogue, not a theatrically thriller.  Of all the movies, the Lost World is my least favorite.  I thought Jurassic Park III regained the mystique that was in the first movie.

I am beyond excited over the new movie Jurassic World!  I plan to go opening night!