I read Michael Crichton's The Lost World. ? In the following paragraphs, I will not only
explain the book, but also give my critique of it. I will also give a paragraph that was
probably the best paragraph in the book, in my opinion.
The book starts out with Ian Malcolm, a mathematician who had already had an experience
with live dinosaurs a couple of years ago on another island. He has pretty much blocked
that experience from his mind. Anyway, it also talks about a man named Doctor Levine.
This man talks at a lecture that Malcolm is watching about the theory of there being a
lost world, an island, undiscovered, that has extinct animals on it, particularly
dinosaurs. Malcolm dismisses this idea saying that is the dumbest thing he ever heard.
After the lecture, Levine talks to Malcolm to help him in finding this "Lost World."
Malcolm again dismisses him. After a couple weeks of Levine nagging him, he sort of gets
more into the idea, and starts to believe it. Levine Narrows it down to one island, Isla
Sorna, and just leaves without telling anyone.
Two of Levine's students, Kelly and Arby, get worried when he wasn't there to teach their
class, because they were supposed to go on a field trip with him that day. They go to a
guy named Doctor Thorne, a guy that was making specialized equipment for their trip. He
said that he didn't know what was going on. They contact Malcolm and they go to Levine's
apartment. They go to his computer room and see all this stuff on the wall about site B.
They go onto the computer and Arby gets all this stuff about site B on it. Malcolm then
finds out that the island that Levine went to was Isla Sorna. They plan this whole trip
to go there, just Malcolm, Thorne, and Thorne's assistant, Eddie. They also call a woman
named Sarah Harding, a scientist in Africa, to come with them. She had to take a flight
in a while, she was too far to just go with them. They told the kids that they couldn't
go. They leave for a helicopter with a specialized explorer, and two trailers, with a
lot of equipment. On the way there, Thorne gets a call from Arby saying good luck. They
get to the island and search for Levine, with this device they have, the find him and go
back to the trailer. Before the go back, you find out that that Kelly and Arby hid in a
compartment in the trailer. They find a computer and get into the system and find that
there are camera's all around the islands.
Sarah Harding tries to find a way to the island, but can't, until she finds a boat going
there. The People on the boat, Dodgson, King, and Baselton. They have plans to go to
the island and steal some eggs. Sarah doesn't know this and goes for the ride. On the
way there, Dodgson pushes her off the boat. She swims to a cave and gets on the island.
Meanwhile, Levine, Thorne, and Eddie erect a high hide. This protects them from the
dinosaurs. They had a close encounter with Parasaurs when a whole herd of them went past
the high hide. They didn't notice it though. Later on, Arby sees someone on the screen.
Its Sarah. They go to pick her up.
Dodgson, King, and Baselton are stealing eggs. The get to the T-Rex's nest, the expect
the T-Rex to not be able to see as long as they don't move. Malcolm says that they are
misinformed and in the chase, Baselton and King Die, and Dodgson gets away and is chased
by these small dinosaurs into this shed, and he falls asleep. During that chase, Levine
and Eddie were at the nest, and Eddie saw a hurt baby T-Rex. Levine tells him to shoot
it, but instead, Eddie brings it back to the trailer. Ian and Sarah try to heal it while
everyone else goes back to the high hide. While they are mending it's broken arm, the
parents come back for it. They keep bashing the trailer until they figure out what they
are after, the baby. They give back the baby, and the dinosaurs seem to stop the beating
of the trailer. They bring the baby a little bit into the woods, and they then come back
to beat the trailer again. They hit it closer and closer to the cliff, until half of it
is hanging off the cliff, only being held by the connector. They realize that they have
to get to the top part of the trailer. They make it up. Just then, Thorne comes in the
jeep and the dinosaurs stop to protect their baby. They then go back to the nest.
Malcolm is very hurt and takes some morphine for the pain, Sarah just has a gash on her
fore head and a couple of bumps and bruises, but that's it. There is now less than five
hours until the return helicopter comes.
Meanwhile, Levine, Eddie, Kelly, and Arby are at the high hide. They see that Malcolm
and Sarah made it. Suddenly, Levine sees some raptors in the distance, coming towards
the high hide. They almost go straight by, until one of them smelled a candy wrapper.
The find the high hide, and they start to attack it. They knock off Arby and Eddie.
Arby gets into a cage they had set up at the bottom, but Eddie is killed. The key is
still in the lock of the cage, so Arby tries to lock it, he does, but he drops the key
and a raptor gets it. The raptors rip the cage off and push it down the hill. Thorne,
Levine, and Malcolm go after Arby and Kelly and Sarah go after the raptor with the key.
Sarah drives the motorcycle and Kelly is sitting behind her. Kelly has to shoot the
raptor and does it on like her third try. They get the key and fine the others who got
Arby back. They go to the worker village to rest and to try to find gas for the jeep.
The raptors that were chasing them mysteriously stopped before the worker village. They
mend Arby while Thorne goes out to find gas somewhere. He goes around back into a shed
with these barrels in it. They were all empty. He then heard breathing, but he didn't
see anything. Suddenly, the lights went on inside the house and he saw 2 figures
standing there, changing their colors, chameleon dinosaurs. Inside, Levine also saw that
they were chameleon dinosaurs and told Sarah. Sarah and Levine went outside with
flashlights and waved them around at the dinosaurs, who couldn't adapt to the rapid
changing, and ran away.
They went inside and Thorne mentioned the other car, and that it would be good if it
still worked, and then remembered that there was a switchboard that would fix the car.
Sarah goes there and sees about 50 dinosaurs around the jeep. She climbs onto a tree
branch so that she could get over them and onto the jeep, she misses the jeep and goes
under it. Meanwhile, Dodgson wakes up, and finds Diego's, Levine's guide who dies within
the first hour on the island, and open's it, he finds a 2-way radio and hears Sarah and
Thorne talking. He goes to where Sarah is and ends up hiding under the car with her.
The dinosaurs disappear because a T-Rex is coming. Sarah pushes Dodgson out and the
T-Rex takes Dodgson and leaves, letting Sarah get the jeep going, she goes straight to
the Helicopter landing sight and is too late, so she didn't get to tell him to wait so
she could get the others. She starts to go back.
Meanwhile, at the house, Levine figures out why the raptors stopped. It was because of
the chameleon dinosaurs, but now that it was morning, the chameleon dinosaurs weren't a
threat, so the raptors would come to the house. His theory was right, and Thorne and
Levine end up holding the door shut while the raptors try to get in from all ways. Kelly
is on the computer trying to find a way off the island when she sees all the graphics on
the screen and knows that the cord to the computer must go through the floor, which must
have enough room for a repairman to get through, so they all go through there and when
they get out, the see Sarah and head for the boathouse. They get there and see a boat in
there. They take the boat off the island, and go home.
I think the only weakness of the book is that it is too much like the first book,
Jurassic Park. ? The characters have similar strengths and weaknesses, two kids, etc.
I also thing that there are numerous strengths to the book. It was very compelling, and
some nights I'd be up until stupid hours in the morning reading it because I couldn't put
it down. It was a thrilling book. It kept you wanting more.
A particular passage which impressed me was PP 422 & 423, Chapter Exit, the whole
chapter. I particularly liked this chapter because it sort of turned the table on
humans. We always think we are superior to every other animal in the world, always
taking them for granted, killing them and eating them. The T-Rex brings Dodgson back to
the nest for the babies to eat, sort of like when a bird brings a worm home for its
babies, only we're the worms.
In conclusion, I really liked this book, it is my favorite book now. I would definitely
recommend it to anyone. No matter what they are interested in. I didn't read Jurassic
Park, ? but I am definitely going to, and I can't wait to see the Lost World ? on the big
screen.
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