Book Review — The Lost World
A road trip to New Mexico just finished, and then a two-day ice storm at home meant I was out of reading material. Being a voracious book reader (reading an E-book is NOT the same, please don’t get me started), I went to the basement on a mission. Looking through the boxes of books that I brought back from a grandson attending College in New Mexico, I landed on a fancy copy of The Lost World (1995) by Michael Crichton, complete with gold page edges.
I read it once before and, of course, I’ve seen all the Jurassic Park/World films multiple times. Despite all that previous exposure, I read it again. Talk about simple enjoyment! I plowed through all 400 pages in the two days. I loved the characters that I could picture in my imagination, some that were major factors in the plot (e.g., Ian Malcolm and Lewis Dodgson), and others that were just mentioned in passing (e.g., Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant). My favorite line was from Doc Thorne on page 758: “He leaned close to Levine. You’re too old to act like an asshole, he said quietly. Now pull yourself together, Richard. Are you listening to me, Richard?” The Dr. Richard Levine character was super annoying, an egotistical academic. To picture him emotionally losing his composure was very satisfying.
Ian Malcolm’s character literally jumped out of the pages. I could visualize Jeff Goldblum with his sarcasm and wit. The interactions with Sarah Harding, who was written as a formidable person, were intriguing. Dodgson was Dodgson, as shifty and unscrupulous as ever. Of course, then there are all the dinosaurs, and the scientific observations that are the center of the plot. I never got tired of paragraph after paragraph of the theories, the ideas, and the thoughts of the research team, as they attempted to explain ancient history that has captivated the world since the 1800's. I might have gotten a little tired of paragraph after paragraph of the chase scenes, but it’s a work of fiction. A good book, a good read and I recommend it.
