Review of "Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton
While I am a huge fan of the movie Jurassic Park, I had never read the book, despite having a physical copy in my home. So, since the movie is one of my favorites, and I've heard about the changes made, I finally decided to get the audiobook and give it a listen. Even though I still prefer the streamlined plot of the movie, I love all of the additional characters and side plots in the book. The book actually answers several questions that the movie either never brought up or just didn't answer.
So, the book opens with a scene that is similar to the opening of the second movie, The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The book opens with vague descriptions of strange lizards biting children in Costa Rica, and then a family goes to the beach and the girl gets attacked. We meet some characters, that don't have anything to do with the rest of the story, but it sets up this mystery of what are these creatures, and how did they get here. It's a great way to set the tone for the book, the science, the intrigue and wonder of Jurassic Park.
The introduction to Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler is mostly the same except it's the lawyer Donald Gennaro instead of Hammond (in the movies). The movie had to streamline the characters, but the novel gives us a lot of Gennaro, and he's not the coward that he is in the movie, I actually came to like Gennaro in the book. There's a character in the book called Ed Regis, that they combined with the lawyer in the film. We also get more from Dr. Wu, Dr. Harding, Muldoon and Dr. Arnold. Showing how they run the park and control the animals. It was great getting to know these characters and their functions more. Dr. Arnold truly believed in control of the park, and Hammond is not the friendly grandpa that Richard Attenborough portrayed him as, in the movies. It was interesting learning the park systems and how everything was created and controlled.
The character of Denis Nedry also got a bit more motivation in the books, but he's still the bad guy that betrays Hammond. Although the book version of Hammond is not nice either. It's a passing line in the movie about Nedry having financial problems, but the book explains that Hammond has been overworking Nedry without compensation.
Another small change from book to movie, is Dr. Grants dislike of children. In the book, Alan Grant, loves children and has no problem taking the child under his wing to take care of them. I understand the change for the movie, they needed to give Grant character development that separates him from the others. In the book we get more of Alan, Lex and Tim's journey throughout Jurassic Park, including a scene on the river trying to escape a T. Rex. As well as a subplot about the trio discovering raptors on the boar headed for the mainland. Which is what explains how the "strange lizards" got to Costa Rica. Also in the book, Lex is not a computer nerd, but a whiny kid that loves playing ball. She gets annoying and I can see why they changed the character in the movie.
Dr. Sattler I think has less to do in the book, but is still a decent female protagonist type. Ian Malcom is pretty much the same except he constantly tells Hammond and the crew how he predicted Jurassic Park would fail. I do like Ian Malcolm in the book, but Jeff Goldblum brings all the charisma to the character in the movie. Malcolm's character speaks a lot about the theme of the book, which is; should science be trying to play god, and assert control over nature.
Overall, I loved learning more about the park, learning the science of the park, and getting to know the characters in more depth. Muldoon and Harding serve more purpose in the book, and I like the behind the scenes of how the park is run. I think if you haven't read the book and only seen the movie, then you should read the book because it only adds more information. The only real downside of the book is that Hammond and Lex aren't as likable. Other than those changes, I recommend Jurassic Park movie lovers read this book, especially if you want more of the dinosaur science. It's a slow build opening but once we meet Grant, the story picks up and we're along for the Jurassic Park ride.
