Jurassic Park

While watching the introduction to The Great American Read on PBS, I noticed Jurassic Park.  I remembered when the movie came out being in elementary school and having to be reminded the dinosaurs were NOT REAL (thanks, mom), but I’d forgotten it was a book first.  So I decided to add it to my summer list.

In the book a group of experts and investors are invited to a small private island off the coast of Costa Rico where John Hammond has created a resort…with dinosaurs!  He found a way to re-create the dino DNA by splicing it with other animal DNA.  Some are skeptical, like Malcolm—a mathematician who sees that you can’t control chaos theory—and Gennaro—an investor who wants to shut down the enterprise and cut his losses.  Others are in awe, like Grant—a paleontologist who’s speciality is velociraptors—and Tim—Hammond’s grandson who’s a dinosaur fanatic.  While they are out touring the island, a disgruntled employee looking to make a few quick bucks cuts off the security system so he can smuggle out dinosaur embryos, and everything does downhill from there.  Without spoiling the story too much…THE DINOSAURS ESCAPE!

I thought the story was captivating and well told.  Even though it was published in 1990, it did not seem laughably dated.  The action was also well placed, so it had nice swells in the action where you were gripping your seat then lulling you back into a false comfort while waiting for the next catastrophic event to unfold.  The only downfall to the novel was the beginning of the book.  It took the first 80 pages or so for the story to really pick up because it was setting up who the characters were and the conflict between Hammond and everyone else in the story.  It also gives you the history of how genetics companies came to be, which is relevant to the story but not that engaging.  

Basically, if you can make it through the first part of the book, you will not be able to put it down once they get to the island.  A very deserving pick, PBS!