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adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Violence
adventurous
dark
informative
inspiring
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Jurassic Park is one of my all time favorite movies, always has been and always will be. But for some reason it took until now to pick up the book.
Most of the major points are there, but Spielberg clearly took a lot of liberties to create his masterpiece, really making it his own. And it’s good he did. He created a tense but hopeful creature feature, and the book provided many long and technical arguments about both the morality and science of genetics and testing. Honestly, it could have made for a boring and chatty movie.
Not to say the book doesn’t have more than its share of tension or scary moments, just to address the debate that has been raging online this week about how JP1 is a poor adaptation after the release of JW:R. I think it’s a medium adaptation and an all time movie and that’s ok.
This book itself still ran me through a range of emotions from tension and fear to hope. And I couldn’t put it down. It’s one I can’t wait to revisit with my kids some day and one I may even revisit myself at some point. The characters are incredibly human, the pace is perfect, and the scale is wonderful for a story so contained.
Can’t wait to read JP2.
Most of the major points are there, but Spielberg clearly took a lot of liberties to create his masterpiece, really making it his own. And it’s good he did. He created a tense but hopeful creature feature, and the book provided many long and technical arguments about both the morality and science of genetics and testing. Honestly, it could have made for a boring and chatty movie.
Not to say the book doesn’t have more than its share of tension or scary moments, just to address the debate that has been raging online this week about how JP1 is a poor adaptation after the release of JW:R. I think it’s a medium adaptation and an all time movie and that’s ok.
This book itself still ran me through a range of emotions from tension and fear to hope. And I couldn’t put it down. It’s one I can’t wait to revisit with my kids some day and one I may even revisit myself at some point. The characters are incredibly human, the pace is perfect, and the scale is wonderful for a story so contained.
Can’t wait to read JP2.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Blood
Moderate: Child death, Death, Gore, Medical trauma
Minor: Confinement, Violence, Vomit
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This was the perfect book to read this summer: fast-paced, exciting, tense, and overall very fun. Crazy to me that books like this exist and people still think it’s a good idea to indulge scientific hubris 💀
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Vomit, Medical content
Minor: Alcoholism, Misogyny, Sexism, Excrement, Alcohol
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
They say to never meet your heroes, and that usually extends to reading the classic sci-fi novels that your favorite movies are based on. But I think Jurassic Park is one of the few that's safe.
This book is quite good, an excellent popular techno-thriller. The prose is rarely standout, but it is eminently understandable and extremely easy to follow, marching along at a steady clip, so it just felt very nice to read. The dialogue, with the exception of one character's nigh-incomprehensible yapping, smoothly rolls off the page. Every character's personality is well-established, though none undergo any real arc.
My biggest positive surprise was Donald Gennaro. In the movie he's the slimy lawyer who went the way of Elvis Presley as soon as Rexy showed up (a role originally belonging to the PR director Ed Regis, who is stubbornly referred to as Ed Regis at all times), but in the book he's probably the most complex character, being complicit in Jurassic Park's creation despite fearing its risks but ultimately showing great personal bravery during its collapse. He's the one character I can say suffered in translation to screen.
However, that's not to say nothing annoyed me. Particularly Ian Malcolm's long-winded monologues - and I've read enough to know an author never gives a character that much unchallenged page time unless they want you to agree with them. The "medieval peasants only worked twenty hours a week" thing comes up, which is one of my most despised historical misconceptions; peasants maybe worked so little for their lords, but they spent the rest of that time doing household chores and making all their food and clothes from scratch, as well as trying not to die from all the diseases that modern science has made us forget were constantly killing people until about 200 years ago. There is a good message of caution in this novel. It was delivered very well in the first half, but then weighed down by yammering well beyond its welcome. Movie Malcolm is much more likable.
The movie's also better on the gender front. Dr. Sattler gets a lot less to do in the book, here she's mostly around to look hot and make one pertinent observation about the park's poor safety standards. And the sexist assumptions and remarks that other characters make about her are met with mild finger-wagging. Movie Lex is easily the biggest upgrade out of all the characters; book Lex is useless.
Is it better than the movie? I don't know about that. The movie is one of the best of all time, and I would not say the book shares that honor as a novel. But it is quite good. If you're a JP fan or just a sci-fi fan, I'd recommend it.
This book is quite good, an excellent popular techno-thriller. The prose is rarely standout, but it is eminently understandable and extremely easy to follow, marching along at a steady clip, so it just felt very nice to read. The dialogue, with the exception of one character's nigh-incomprehensible yapping, smoothly rolls off the page. Every character's personality is well-established, though none undergo any real arc.
My biggest positive surprise was Donald Gennaro. In the movie he's the slimy lawyer who went the way of Elvis Presley as soon as Rexy showed up (a role originally belonging to the PR director Ed Regis, who is stubbornly referred to as Ed Regis at all times), but in the book he's probably the most complex character, being complicit in Jurassic Park's creation despite fearing its risks but ultimately showing great personal bravery during its collapse. He's the one character I can say suffered in translation to screen.
However, that's not to say nothing annoyed me. Particularly Ian Malcolm's long-winded monologues - and I've read enough to know an author never gives a character that much unchallenged page time unless they want you to agree with them. The "medieval peasants only worked twenty hours a week" thing comes up, which is one of my most despised historical misconceptions; peasants maybe worked so little for their lords, but they spent the rest of that time doing household chores and making all their food and clothes from scratch, as well as trying not to die from all the diseases that modern science has made us forget were constantly killing people until about 200 years ago. There is a good message of caution in this novel. It was delivered very well in the first half, but then weighed down by yammering well beyond its welcome. Movie Malcolm is much more likable.
The movie's also better on the gender front. Dr. Sattler gets a lot less to do in the book, here she's mostly around to look hot and make one pertinent observation about the park's poor safety standards. And the sexist assumptions and remarks that other characters make about her are met with mild finger-wagging. Movie Lex is easily the biggest upgrade out of all the characters; book Lex is useless.
Is it better than the movie? I don't know about that. The movie is one of the best of all time, and I would not say the book shares that honor as a novel. But it is quite good. If you're a JP fan or just a sci-fi fan, I'd recommend it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Violence
Minor: Sexism
adventurous
challenging
informative
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Absolutely incredible. I’m so glad i read this, it has so much more plot and detail than the movie. I love the movie but wow, there is so much they changed or left out.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death
adventurous
dark
informative
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This was a lot more violent than I expected but also surprisingly interesting in the scientific sense. I have never read about more annoying children in my life though, someone please get Lex a burger so she can shut the fuck up about being hungry while being chased by dinosaurs, geez.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Violence
adventurous
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Gore, Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Child death, Medical content
Minor: Fatphobia, Sexism
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Blood
Minor: Cursing
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A little too much science and not enough fiction for my taste. I found myself enjoying the escape from dinosaurs more so than parts explaining, for example, chaos theory. There also just felt like a few too many characters. Though it is a good cautionary tale for ethics in scientific research: just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Violence, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
informative
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
My all-time favorite book. While I adore the movie, like 99% of books, the book is better. If they ever remake the movie, I hope they make it more like the book. Two T-Rexs, who actually knows how many Velociraptors, and Dilophosaurus' on the loose. Yes, please! I constantly tell people to read this book because it's better than the movie. No one has listened to me yet, but maybe you will. The perfect book to read before the new movie comes out.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Sexism