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skizzyskee 's review for:
Congo
by Michael Crichton
After reading Jurassic Park (which was a slam dunk) and Lost World (far less favored), I was excited to take on a different Crichton novel with a basis in biology for the science fiction. So I picked up Congo.
The funny thing about this read is that I stayed engaged the whole time, read it pretty quick, but walked away feeling neutral. Not totally fulfilled but not lacking either. Crichton tied up the story as it should have been. (Of course they weren’t going to walk away with the grand prize that they’ve all sacrificed so much for. Hubris at its finest). But all in all, Crichton didn’t leave me with anything at all.
Of course Amy the “talking” gorilla was a great character, and almost the sole point of empathy in this novel, and the history of animal language experimentation was intriguing. We’ve all heard of Koko but the extent of these experiments is fascinating, and I love Crichton’s way of bringing morality into the discussion without necessarily telling you who to side with.
From my short stint into Crichton, he seems to like bending the gender norms of the time, so it makes sense that Karen Ross is cold and calculated. Peter Elliot is the primatologist and caretaker of Amy, almost with paternal instincts towards her. Munro is the typical mercenary turned guide that carries the exploration forward.
Being that this novel was written ~40 years ago, the science behind the technology (physical, data collection, essentially what will come to be AI/machine learning) is interesting under the dated lens. But the technical jargon can get redundant.
Honestly, I was quite disappointed that A) it took so long to get to these potentially genetically modified gorillas that took down the entire original Congo team, and B) once we got there, I really don’t feel like we spent much time with them.
I’m still glad to give Crichton plenty more chances, but I’m really hoping to next one I read strikes some gold so I’m motivated to continue into his work.
The funny thing about this read is that I stayed engaged the whole time, read it pretty quick, but walked away feeling neutral. Not totally fulfilled but not lacking either. Crichton tied up the story as it should have been. (Of course they weren’t going to walk away with the grand prize that they’ve all sacrificed so much for. Hubris at its finest). But all in all, Crichton didn’t leave me with anything at all.
Of course Amy the “talking” gorilla was a great character, and almost the sole point of empathy in this novel, and the history of animal language experimentation was intriguing. We’ve all heard of Koko but the extent of these experiments is fascinating, and I love Crichton’s way of bringing morality into the discussion without necessarily telling you who to side with.
From my short stint into Crichton, he seems to like bending the gender norms of the time, so it makes sense that Karen Ross is cold and calculated. Peter Elliot is the primatologist and caretaker of Amy, almost with paternal instincts towards her. Munro is the typical mercenary turned guide that carries the exploration forward.
Being that this novel was written ~40 years ago, the science behind the technology (physical, data collection, essentially what will come to be AI/machine learning) is interesting under the dated lens. But the technical jargon can get redundant.
Honestly, I was quite disappointed that A) it took so long to get to these potentially genetically modified gorillas that took down the entire original Congo team, and B) once we got there, I really don’t feel like we spent much time with them.
I’m still glad to give Crichton plenty more chances, but I’m really hoping to next one I read strikes some gold so I’m motivated to continue into his work.