This book was published in 1990, when I was a wee girl of 9. I did not read it the year it came out, but I did read it when I was in sixth grade (so maybe 11?). I’m not sure how I picked it up, because I don’t think my parents read it. I remember thinking “this would be a great movie” (I also thought that about another Michael Crichton banger that became a movie – Sphere). Anyway, I feel like that was the only time in my life where I predicted the future, because the movie came out two years after I read the book. My childhood friend and I were (and still are) obsessed with the movie. The theme song alone can brighten a dreary day for me. Anyway, a few weeks ago I was getting a super boring medical test where I had to basically lay still for two hours, and they offered movies while you got scanned. I chose Jurassic Park, which made me want to read the book again. All is fine with my testing by the way, I’m getting my gallbladder out on Monday! MORE TIME FOR READING!!!
If you’ve ever seen the movie (who hasn’t by now???), then you know the gist of the story. Man makes dinosaur, man starts a park, people get eaten, all is well. Obviously, I’m grossly oversimplifying it, but it is the basic story. To paraphrase Ellie Sadler (in the movie), “man creates dinosaur, dinosaur eats man, woman inherits the earth”. It’s a great quote. Dr. Sadler isn’t quite as badass in the book as she is in the movie, which made me sad upon my reread.
Dr. Grant is still great, but instead of being kinda scared of kids (movie), he loves them and he is a superhero for the two kids in the book. Lex is insanely annoying to the point where I was shouting at her to shut up while I was listening to the book. I’m so glad they made her a little older in the movie and way less annoying. Ian Malcom is more annoying in the book though, and Mr. Hammond is way more evil in the book.
There’s a lot more story in the book, obviously because of time constraints, and a bunch of it is good. The ending was a little weird, but that’s fine. I liked the little stories of the dinosaurs breaking out of the island and showing up in real life. I don’t remember that being in the first movie. Even though I read the book first, I was very young, and I’ve seen the movie so many times, so I was picturing the movie through most of the scenes. If you love Jurassic Park, this is worth a read, or at least a listen. I actually credit it as one of the first substantial books I read when I was younger, which influenced the avid reader I am today. Long live the dinos.
