Lovely Little Shelf

The Book: Jurassic Park, by Michael Crichton

The Story: I probably don’t have to explain this one too much…

A crazy old guy decides to clone dinosaurs and put them on an island as an amusement park.  They are all girl-dinos and they are pretty sure that they have control over the whole situation.  A couple of dinosaur scientists, a lawyer, two kids and a mathematician head to the island to check it out.

Quickly the scientists and the mathematician figure out that they are not, in fact, all girl-dinos and that they are breeding. A stingy computer guy turns everything off so he can steal some embryos.  So the dinos are kinda on their own.

All hell breaks loose.

What I Thought: I remember reading this while I was in middle school and just absolutely loving it. I’m not sure what prompted me to pick it up again- I just saw it at the thrift store and got nostalgic.

I have to say, I really liked it again.  I was less impressed with the writing, but the story still really compelled me.  I liked how Michael Crichton “talked shop” a lot so that we’d know what was happening and why.  I don’t  know if this book was actually well researched or if he is just a good b.s.er, but either way it worked for me.

I do usually tend to lean toward character-driven books, and this is not that in the slightest.  The characters have no story, very little personality, and not much to distinguish them from each other. The story is very heavily plot driven, but I was fine with that.  It moved along quickly and kept me reading, so I can’t complain.

Not sure what year this book was written, I guess around the mid-ninties, but I couldn’t quit thinking about how a high-speed internet connection and cell phones would have changed this storyline.

Conclusion: A fun, quick read.  And as a bonus it made my husband so happy that I was reading this because now I’ll want to watch the movie.  It is his favorite of all time. So funny.