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Posted by Space Monkey (Member # 5112) on December 16, 2006 06:12 AM :
Hello Everybody
I haven’t participated in the discussions in a long time because I am behind on my MC reading! However I just finished the book Prey so I thought I’d make some comments.
I enjoyed the story very much. It didn’t take me long to read the book. Like the plot-one day and maybe part of another- tops! Unlike a television show that says “tune in next week for the conclusion” I didn’t have to wait -love that fact!
Here’s some quick thoughts:
-being who I am and doing what I do, I really appreciated how MC included intuition, physical sensations (as in “I just didn’t feel right” “Her words, this conversation makes me feel ill-somethings wrong here” ) , body language and precognitive dreams in the story telling-his children included in the dream with important information-how the sprinklers tied in ... Made Jack (and Mae and several others) well rounded characters and the plot/storytelling complete and more real to me. I thought of the content of Travels as I read this book. And I tell people all the the time in my work to pay attention to all those things when dealing with real life situations!
-I didn’t feel sorry for Jack’s wife at all, even at the end. I find that interesting. Maybe because I am a mother and wife myself and could not relate to her ambition as it was described?
I liked how I “became” Jack as soon as I started reading the first sentence. Or at least, I was riding right there on his shoulder the whole time. I related to just about all his feelings/thoughts/actions as the plot unfolded. For just one example when Jack arrives at the facility in the desert and is given a tour , my mind fixated and stored for further reference too all the key elements- the tanks, containing later the swarm killing soup-, the knee activated switch inside the magnetic room -the trip up the elevator (And I hate heights too!) -It’s like I sensed I needed to remember all this information right along with Jack. I really enjoyed these feelings while reading this book-even the scary parts! I also liked how Jack’s feelings/thoughts were complex- angry but loving, considerate yet not a total pushover, states of denial as well as hope, cracking jokes, sensing when to keep his mouth shut - same for Mae and the other characters in the frey... they were all well rounded characters, even the lesser ones. I hope I am expressing myself ok here you all can relate to what I am saying!
Anyway, if I have any more comments I will post them. BTW I am looking forward to reading Next because of reading Prey.
Cheers!
[ December 16, 2006, 08:14 AM: Message edited by: Space Monkey ]
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Posted by Ingrid (Member # 2685) on December 16, 2006 10:15 AM :
Space, what a great review! You almost make me want to pick up Prey again, even though it's not in my top 5 of MC favourites.
But the way you described it made me go 'Yes! that's true, that's how I felt about Jack; his wife and many other things as well!"
For some vague reason I never gave Prey that much attention. Maybe that has to do with the publicity surrounding a book or the timing in your own life when you read a book.
I'd say in my "Prey days" I was still sort of asleep, more going through the motions & logistics of life, rather than being really conscious of what my days are spend on.
Prey did trigger a certain form of uneasiness in the sense of "sure hope they never bring that to life"; but it never really woke me up as much as his books after PREY.
I do feel however that PREY was one of his first "become conscious of this" books as opposed to the other 'could it be possible that...." earlier work.
[ December 16, 2006, 12:17 PM: Message edited by: Ingrid ]
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Posted by jem495 (Member # 5643) on December 16, 2006 02:02 PM :
"I didn’t feel sorry for Jack’s wife at all, even at the end."
I feel that way about a lot of the characters in Michael Crichton's books. Neither did I feel sorry for Jack's wife dying, for the actor in SOF, for the guy selling the genetic information in Jurassic Park, nor for the leader of the expedition in Sphere. That also struck me as odd.
As for Prey, Dr. Crichton does an excellent job developing the characters. I wasn't disappointed with any of them.
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Posted by Space Monkey (Member # 5112) on December 21, 2006 05:07 AM :
Hi Ingrid!
jem 495 you say:
quote:
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Neither did I feel sorry for Jack's wife dying, for the actor in SOF, for the guy selling the genetic information in Jurassic Park, nor for the leader of the expedition in Sphere. That also struck me as odd.
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Yes me too! You know this makes me think. Alot of actors and actresses (also music industry entertainers) these days are expressing their opinions in public on certain issues (real or not real). I find myself boycotting them in real life! Even though a movie looks good or the music sounds good I will not buy a ticket or a cd/dvd because what they are say irratates me to no end; and compared to a MC point of view or speech which I admire greatly, their proclaimations seem to lack content and intelligence.
It's funny how you don't really miss anything when you choose to do that-you find another person to enjoy, or a movie or cd out there equally as good.
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Posted by Space Monkey (Member # 5112) on December 21, 2006 05:17 AM :
495 you say:
quote:
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Neither did I feel sorry for Jack's wife dying, for the actor in SOF, for the guy selling the genetic information in Jurassic Park, nor for the leader of the expedition in Sphere. That also struck me as odd.
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Yes me too! You know this makes me think. Alot of actors and actresses (also music industry entertainers) and public figures these days are expressing their opinions on certain issues (real or not real and debatable). I find myself boycotting their products in real life! Even though a movie looks good or the music sounds good I will not buy a ticket or a cd/dvd because what they are say irratates me to no end; and compared to a MC point of view or speech which I admire greatly, their proclaimations seem to lack content and fact. I also feel insulted! Same with many magazines and newspapers-I guess after reading MC you come to expect and only feel comfortable with a well rounded person, opinion based on fact or a complete and honest storytelling.
It's funny how you don't really miss anything when you choose to do that-you find another magazine or person to enjoy, or a movie or cd out there -equally as good or even better. I think MC said somewhere "It's time to get tougher on the bad guys". I have been in this state of mind for a long time now! (not to mean everyone is a "bad guy" if I don't agree with them just that my opinion is tough on them)
[ December 21, 2006, 07:21 AM: Message edited by: Space Monkey ]
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Posted by Space Monkey (Member # 5112) on December 21, 2006 05:18 AM :
I meant to say Hi Ingrid! too. boy I am having trouble posting. The add reply and preview is getting hung up and I had to repost twice.
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Posted by James (Member # 5706) on December 28, 2006 05:26 AM :
Great Review. I myself am behind on his readings to. I have to agree I didn't feel sorry for Julia.
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Posted by onereader (Member # 5654) on December 28, 2006 11:30 PM :
I think I couldn't feel sorry for Julia because I "know" Julia. I think he wrote her "just right."
I know it's hard for some people to understand how a mother could act like this, even if they are comfortable with a wife acting that way. I said, "I know Julia," and truth be told, I know several Julias.
But anybody can write Julia. MC didn't impress me with Julia. The attempted "redemption" at the end, excusing her worst actions as being the result of "something other than Julia," didn't work. "Die *****!" was about all I was thinking.
On the other hand, Jack was written so well he made me uncomfortable. Jack's suspicions, what he blew-off and what he worried about, his reactions to those suspicions; perfect.
MC has either been, or knows very, very well, a Jack.
In my probably-should-keep-it-to-myself opinion, MC did what he often does that just goofs with my thorough enjoyment of his books.
He had a REALLY good idea. He wrote a really great beginning and "let me peek" into his technological imagination. He explained enough to make the bad-guys seem plausible in a far-out kind of way (the willing suspension of disbelief being in 4th gear and torquing forward nicely). Then he took a good thing too far. Then he took it WAY too far. (I stuck the willing suspension in overdrive and floored it, but my turbocharger stalled as I passed the "cave scene".)
When MC is good, he's great. When he gets "cornered" by the storyline and the only escape is through the river of the patently absurd . . . well, I finish the books realizing that I passed my exit.
"Tom Tom, how to do I get back to MC's genius?"
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Posted by Space Monkey (Member # 5112) on December 29, 2006 07:01 PM :
Hi everyone.
One Reader you say:
quote:
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But anybody can write Julia. MC didn't impress me with Julia. The attempted "redemption" at the end, excusing her worst actions as being the result of "something other than Julia," didn't work. "Die *****!" was about all I was thinking.
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LOL! Maybe like other beasts and abuses, if you bring them into a full blown light often enough, to be observed and dealt with instead of dealt with in hush hush and denial-they will eventually hold no power. Maybe MC wants all the Julia's of the world to go away permenantly and so he wrote one -because they do exist and that isn't good! LOL
I know what you mean about the cave. But I have a thing for ants so I was ok with it. What do you think would have been better? I had a problem only with the scene on the ladder myself-gettting that jug of stuff up to the vents-it played on my fear of heights and I thought it was too easy or lucky something?- because of my own fear of heights-I couldn't imagine having functioned that well even if my life depended on it. It's a pretty overwelming condition.
James, I am reading Next right now and it's fun and a laugh!- which is the only way to describe it so far. Cheers!
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Posted by onereader (Member # 5654) on January 01, 2007 09:01 PM :
>I know what you mean about the cave. But I have a thing for ants so I was ok with it. What do you think would have been better? I had a problem only with the scene on the ladder myself-gettting that jug of stuff up to the vents-it played on my fear of heights and I thought it was too easy or lucky something?- because of my own fear of heights-I couldn't imagine having functioned that well even if my life depended on it. It's a pretty overwelming condition.<
I've got to figure-out how to do that stylish quote-thing.
I don't exactly know what I would have done instead of the cave-scene. I think I wouldn't have taken it far enough for the cave to have been a possibility. . . I thought he did a wonderful thing by creating a nano-network that could be pretty-much whatever it needed to be. It reminded me somewhat of the idea of a three-molecule space probe that can become whatever it needs to be. But that's a whole different thing.
Nano is frightening because it cannot be seen, can theoretically do just about anything, and can theoretically eat your face. . . from the inside. . . for no particular reason.
I can only put it like this: I have a fear of spiders. I have no fear of snakes - not even venomous ones. Why? Because a spider is little and creepy and can crawl down the neck of my shirt without my knowing it, or bite me in my sleep without my knowing it, and then, only later, cause a canonball sized hole to develop in my skin. A snake? I can see the snake. I can see the bite if it happens, and if I stay out of striking distance it can't hurt me.
You have to admit there is something just "ARRRRGH!" about walking through a large, well-built, spider web in the dark. It's the "where is it, what is it" panic.
Well, nano stuff is like that. Where is it? What is it doing? "GET IT OFF OF ME!" So, MC chose not to use the "creepiest" thing about nano as the "main monster." I'm not forgetting the hazmat folks. I definitely noticed. I was getting creeped-out. Then he chose to use this powder to create a larger monster - like a snake that breaks-up into spiders. In my non-best-selling opinion, that was a mistake.
I have no clue what I would have done.
The ladder scene would have been more effective for me if I didn't remember The Andromeda Strain so vividly. . . and half of all bond films. . . and some Dr. Who episodes. . . and even some Buster Keaton clips. It's been done and done and done - but I don't share your fear of heights, so maybe I can't appreciate the suspense as much as you can. I'm fearful of injury from a fall of 3', so 20' just means I have that much longer to enjoy the fall.
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Posted by onereader (Member # 5654) on January 02, 2007 11:15 AM :
[/QUOTE]Just click on the quote marks of post you want to quote, and edit it as needed. [/QB][/QUOTE]
Gosh! Quote marks. What will they think-of next? Thank you.
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Posted by onereader (Member # 5654) on January 02, 2007 11:19 AM :
quote:
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Originally posted by onereader:
Just click on the quote marks of post you want to quote, and edit it as needed.
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quote:
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Gosh! Quote marks. What will they think-of next? Thank you.
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Okay - It's off to HTML school for me.
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Posted by Oleg L Gubarev (Member # 5695) on January 02, 2007 11:53 AM :
quote:
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Originally posted by onereader:
I think I couldn't feel sorry for Julia because I "know" Julia. I think he wrote her "just right."
But anybody can write Julia. MC didn't impress me with Julia. The attempted "redemption" at the end, excusing her worst actions as being the result of "something other than Julia," didn't work. "Die *****!" was about all I was thinking.
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So easy, so simple! Please, give me to say some words in Julia defense. I, the same as you, dont' like this being, which was Julia. And, of course, real Julia is guilt in many things. But do you know what it mean to act under compulsion? When you have not your one will and must afraid for your life?
And as for me Michael understand that to kill anybody even alien intellect is not so simple. Jack in novel was needed this sunction from real Julia. And in this MC as good as in all novel. Of course it only my personal opinion.
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