Congo by Michael Crichton Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Congo
Book Review: Good Intro To Crichton
Summary: 4 Stars
This was the book that got me to enjoy reading back in the day. This was also my first Crichton, and I have to say I enjoyed it to the fullest. Easy to read adventure novel.Book Review: Good but not great
Summary: 3 Stars
As of this review I've read several of Michael Crichton's works, and I would have to say that Congo is not one of his best. However, weaker for Crichton is better than most and it's still a very entertaining read. Since Congo was written in 1980 it doesn't represent the mature author that we see in his latter works: Sphere, Jurassic Park, Disclosure, and Timeline. This book seems to have a slower pace, and never really hooked me like the others. I didn't have the urge to stay up until 2am to finish this book like I did with Disclosure.
What I love about Crichton is the variety of places, and experiences he brings to each novel. This time you will be going on a trip deep into the jungles of the Congo where many expeditions have gone but none have comeback. This is a typical Crichton page turner, and is thoroughly enjoyable however I felt it lacked the normal ending momentum that I've come to expect from this fine author. He diverts the reader's attention a few times in the last 20 pages that get in the way of the story, and slows the momentum. Maybe it's just me, but at the end of the book I want to know what is going to happen to the main characters, and I'm not that interested in diversions into Senate Subcommittee meetings, and an academic theory on earthquakes. Even though the information was useful the timing was not.
On another note, the computer technology in this book is very outdated. But this actually enhances the book in my eyes, and made it more enjoyable. It's a cool reminder of how far we've come technologically, and actually serves as a time capsule. I have a cheap flash card that has 4 times the memory of the highly advanced computers in this book!
Book Review: Gorilla Attack
Summary: 4 Stars
Crushed skulls and bodies lay everywhere in the destroyed expedition camp. A grainy shape is seen on tape and it resembles a gray gorilla but gorillas aren't gray. What could have caused this carnage thought ERTs employee Karen Ross. The secret may lie in a gorilla with a 620 sign vocabulary. All the action can be found in Michael Crightons Congo.
With the first expedition team dead they plan to send out a new team in less than three days. Karen Ross the captain of the team is determined to get success on this mission. With Peter Elliot and gorilla Amy they must take more supplies. As they get deeper into the Congo Amy starts acting differently. She runs off and returns late at night.
What is going on and why are the gorillas attacking? How did those gray gorillas come anyway? So many questions and all will be answered in Michael Crightons Congo.
Book Review: Great book, one of Crichton's best
Summary: 4 Stars
This truly was one of Michael Crichtons best novels. Alhtough superbly written, it did lack some of the technical intricacies of the usual Michael Crichton novel. As far as the book being family friendly, it didn't do too bad either, getting a T-rating from www.evalbooks.com I think the movie got a similar rating.Book Review: Great fun!
Summary: 4 Stars
Earth Resources Technology Services wants something that's hidden deep in the jungles of the Congo, at the Lost City of Zinj. Because it's a resource that can make nuclear power obsolete, others want it just as badly. When their Congo field team's satellite check-in gets interrupted by the deaths of all its members, apparently at the hands of a band of gorillas behaving in totally atypical fashion, ERTS dispatches supervisor Karen Ross to lead the next attempt. As the 24-year-old mathematics prodigy and her new team fight their way toward a goal they may never reach, her drive to succeed may be what keeps them alive. Or it may just as easily be what finally kills them, too.
Joining the ERTS team are primatologist Peter Elliot and Amy, an adolescent gorilla trained by Elliot to communicate using American Sign Language. Ross hopes Amy may make a difference if they encounter the first team's killers, while Elliot has his own agenda. Meanwhile, the Congo's chronic unrest boils over into tribal warfare - and the local volcano threatens to just plain boil over.
I picked this book up expecting a "not his best" effort by one of my favorite authors, after finding the movie version rather - well - hokey. But what came across that way on the screen works fine in Crichton's prose. A wild roller coaster ride! Great fun, and a nice tribute to H. Rider Haggard, too.