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4.0 AVERAGE
4.0 AVERAGE
Dear Ben, Wolfgang, Darren, and Lori,
When I was a young teenager, my dad randomly gifted me the DVD of the 1985 film Explorers. It wasn’t my birthday or anything – just a random act of kindness from Dad. I adored the film (and appreciate it even more to this day). I don’t care what others think about it. To me it’s special.
I think I found this book at a church garage sale by coincidence around the same time, but I never read much further than Traegheitslosigkeit. I wasn’t much of a reader back then. I struggled to finish most of the books I started.
Coming back to this novel as an adult, I can’t express the joy it has brought me! While I admit that the writing occasionally uses cliches and is somewhat dependent on having seen the film for best experience (all the flaws one should expect from a screenplay novelisation), I just had such a great time immersed in the story, which is ultimately what matters most to me. I loved that the book outlined the secondary characters more, including Lori Swenson and Steve Jackson (who has elephantitis of the ego!).
This book captures early adolescence like nothing I’ve ever read – at least from my experience. I personally relate to Ben the most, his dreams of becoming a real astronaut, facing the school bully with his geek loser friend, and being obsessed with Lori. Honestly Ben is 14-year-old me. It’s one of the reasons I love the story so much. There are heaps of other details that the book touches on more than the film. I like the extra scenes, such as Lori’s birthday party, Steve Jackson’s clothes disappearing as one of Wak’s sneaky pranks, and Wolfgang changing his name to “Wolf” after returning to Earth.
I also liked Darren a lot more in the book. He gets more lines and attention to character development. We hear more of his back story and get a better sense of his toughness. Explorers the novel is like the special extended edition of Explorers the film.
I feel such a swimming nostalgia and melancholy after finishing it. I am seriously considering writing an unofficial sequel. I will miss you dearly, Thunder Road. I will miss you Wak and Neek. I will miss you Ben, Wolfgang, Darren, and Lori.
Rest in Peace,
George Gipe (The Author)
River Phoenix (Wolfgang Müller)
Amanda Peterson (Lori Swenson)
Dick Miller (Charlie Drake)
Meshach Taylor (Gordon Miller)
Until we meet again in another world,
Love from Caspian.
When I was a young teenager, my dad randomly gifted me the DVD of the 1985 film Explorers. It wasn’t my birthday or anything – just a random act of kindness from Dad. I adored the film (and appreciate it even more to this day). I don’t care what others think about it. To me it’s special.
I think I found this book at a church garage sale by coincidence around the same time, but I never read much further than Traegheitslosigkeit. I wasn’t much of a reader back then. I struggled to finish most of the books I started.
Coming back to this novel as an adult, I can’t express the joy it has brought me! While I admit that the writing occasionally uses cliches and is somewhat dependent on having seen the film for best experience (all the flaws one should expect from a screenplay novelisation), I just had such a great time immersed in the story, which is ultimately what matters most to me. I loved that the book outlined the secondary characters more, including Lori Swenson and Steve Jackson (who has elephantitis of the ego!).
This book captures early adolescence like nothing I’ve ever read – at least from my experience. I personally relate to Ben the most, his dreams of becoming a real astronaut, facing the school bully with his geek loser friend, and being obsessed with Lori. Honestly Ben is 14-year-old me. It’s one of the reasons I love the story so much. There are heaps of other details that the book touches on more than the film. I like the extra scenes, such as Lori’s birthday party, Steve Jackson’s clothes disappearing as one of Wak’s sneaky pranks, and Wolfgang changing his name to “Wolf” after returning to Earth.
I also liked Darren a lot more in the book. He gets more lines and attention to character development. We hear more of his back story and get a better sense of his toughness. Explorers the novel is like the special extended edition of Explorers the film.
I feel such a swimming nostalgia and melancholy after finishing it. I am seriously considering writing an unofficial sequel. I will miss you dearly, Thunder Road. I will miss you Wak and Neek. I will miss you Ben, Wolfgang, Darren, and Lori.
Rest in Peace,
George Gipe (The Author)
River Phoenix (Wolfgang Müller)
Amanda Peterson (Lori Swenson)
Dick Miller (Charlie Drake)
Meshach Taylor (Gordon Miller)
Until we meet again in another world,
Love from Caspian.
Gipe is a great writer who was taken too soon. His work was thoughtful, funny and illuminated movie scripts in a way that many other writers couldn't do. I really enjoyed this but the story took a really silly turn in the last few chapters that really changed the tone and feel of the book and turned into something it hadn't been in the previous 200 pages.