Jurassic Park - The Novel

I have just finished reading the novel Jurassic Park. I am a lover of the film and always meant to read the book and finally got around to it this week. I was expecting to be underwhelmed by the book, the film is one of my favourite films, but it captured me and I preferred it to the film. The book is full of much more suspense and action than the film, it seemed to be almost like the trilogy crammed into one book, with many more dinosaurs and events taking place which didn't happen n the film.

The book starts off giving a brief background into the 1980's boom of genetic research and how InGen started as a genetic research company. It then describes how workmen arrive at a clinic with injuries attributed to machinery but really are injuries from the dinosaurs. A little girl then gets mauled by a Procompsognathagus or Compy for short and the remains of one is found but due to it being extinct it is said to be a lizard species and nothing more is thought of it.

The rest of the book follows how the film goes but with added details and differences with characters inspecting the park and all the problems that occur thanks to Dennis Nedry tampering with the system and dying due to an attack by a Dilophosaurus.

I love how much more detail goes into the park with two tyrannosaurus Rex’s, one adult and one juvenile. It adds to the drama, same with the Raptors, which have bred unbeknown to the park management and play havoc in the park when the power is down. The story is told from many perspectives, the main one is Dr Grant and the children getting from the T Rex enclosure to the Visitor Centre with many twists along the way like being chased downstream by the T Rex and attacked by Pterodactyls in a giant aviary.

Unlike the film hardly any of the main characters die, Gennaro who is famously killed whilst on the toilet survives, the only deaths are Dennis Nedry (Dilophosaurus attack), Henry Wu (Velociratoptor), John Arnold (Velociraptor) & John Hammond (broken ankle and Compy's feasting on him). Ian Malcolm is also said to have but survives and is featured in the sequel.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, the part I found strange was how the characters are totally different to how they look in the film. Dr Grant is described as wearing colourful shirts, having a beard totally unlike the film. I kept on picturing Sam Neill, his demeanour is also different with him being child friendly unlike the film. Also the characters of Tim and Lexi are opposite with Tim being the older sibling and Lexi the youngest. That was my only qualm, I have seen the film so many times that it hampered my perception of the characters in the book. I would however like to see another film adaptation of Jurassic Park but more true to the book.

I have began to read the sequel to Jurassic Park, also called The Lost World. I hope it is as good a read as this was. I highly recommend Jurassic Park to everyone. You will be surprised how good it really is.