The Lost World: SummaryI read Michael Crichton’s The Lost World. In the following paragraphs, I willnot only explain the book, but also give my critique of it. I will also give aparagraph 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 anexperience with live dinosaurs a couple of years ago on another island. He haspretty much blocked that experience from his mind. Anyway, it also talks abouta man named Doctor Levine. This man talks at a lecture that Malcolm is watchingabout the theory of there being a lost world, an island, undiscovered, that hasextinct animals on it, particularly dinosaurs. Malcolm dismisses this ideasaying that is the dumbest thing he ever heard. After the lecture, Levine talksto Malcolm to help him in finding this “Lost World.” Malcolm again dismisseshim. After a couple weeks of Levine nagging him, he sort of gets more into theidea, and starts to believe it. Levine Narrows it down to one island, IslaSorna, and just leaves without telling anyone.
Two of Levine’s students, Kelly and Arby, get worried when he wasn’t there toteach their class, because they were supposed to go on a field trip with himthat day. They go to a guy named Doctor Thorne, a guy that was makingspecialized equipment for their trip. He said that he didn’t know what wasgoing on. They contact Malcolm and they go to Levine’s apartment. They go tohis computer room and see all this stuff on the wall about site B. They go ontothe computer and Arby gets all this stuff about site B on it. Malcolm thenfinds out that the island that Levine went to was Isla Sorna. They plan thiswhole 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 withthem. 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 aspecialized explorer, and two trailers, with a lot of equipment. On the waythere, Thorne gets a call from Arby saying good luck. They get to the islandand search for Levine, with this device they have, the find him and go back tothe trailer. Before the go back, you find out that that Kelly and Arby hid in acompartment in the trailer. They find a computer and get into the system andfind 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 aboat going there. The People on the boat, Dodgson, King, and Baselton. Theyhave plans to go to the island and steal some eggs. Sarah doesn’t know this andgoes for the ride. On the way there, Dodgson pushes her off the boat. Sheswims to a cave and gets on the island.
Meanwhile, Levine, Thorne, and Eddie erect a high hide. This protects them fromthe dinosaurs. They had a close encounter with Parasaurs when a whole herd ofthem went past the high hide. They didn’t notice it though. Later on, Arbysees 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, theexpect the T-Rex to not be able to see as long as they don’t move. Malcolm saysthat they are misinformed and in the chase, Baselton and King Die, and Dodgsongets away and is chased by these small dinosaurs into this shed, and he fallsasleep. During that chase, Levine and Eddie were at the nest, and Eddie saw ahurt baby T-Rex. Levine tells him to shoot it, but instead, Eddie brings itback to the trailer. Ian and Sarah try to heal it while everyone else goes backto the high hide. While they are mending it’s broken arm, the parents come backfor 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 beatingof the trailer. They bring the baby a little bit into the woods, and they thencome 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 itup. Just then, Thorne comes in the jeep and the dinosaurs stop to protect theirbaby. They then go back to the nest. Malcolm is very hurt and takes somemorphine for the pain, Sarah just has a gash on her fore head and a couple ofbumps and bruises, but that’s it. There is now less than five hours until thereturn helicopter comes.
Meanwhile, Levine, Eddie, Kelly, and Arby are at the high hide. They see thatMalcolm 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 themsmelled 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 thebottom, but Eddie is killed. The key is still in the lock of the cage, so Arbytries to lock it, he does, but he drops the key and a raptor gets it. Theraptors rip the cage off and push it down the hill. Thorne, Levine, and Malcolmgo after Arby and Kelly and Sarah go after the raptor with the key. Sarahdrives the motorcycle and Kelly is sitting behind her. Kelly has to shoot theraptor and does it on like her third try. They get the key and fine the otherswho got Arby back. They go to the worker village to rest and to try to find gasfor the jeep. The raptors that were chasing them mysteriously stopped beforethe 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 wenton inside the house and he saw 2 figures standing there, changing their colors,chameleon dinosaurs. Inside, Levine also saw that they were chameleon dinosaursand told Sarah. Sarah and Levine went outside with flashlights and waved themaround 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 goodif it still worked, and then remembered that there was a switchboard that wouldfix the car. Sarah goes there and sees about 50 dinosaurs around the jeep. Sheclimbs onto a tree branch so that she could get over them and onto the jeep, shemisses the jeep and goes under it. Meanwhile, Dodgson wakes up, and findsDiego’s, Levine’s guide who dies within the first hour on the island, and open’sit, he finds a 2-way radio and hears Sarah and Thorne talking. He goes to whereSarah is and ends up hiding under the car with her. The dinosaurs disappearbecause a T-Rex is coming. Sarah pushes Dodgson out and the T-Rex takes Dodgsonand leaves, letting Sarah get the jeep going, she goes straight to theHelicopter landing sight and is too late, so she didn’t get to tell him to waitso she could get the others. She starts to go back.
Meanwhile, at the house, Levine figures out why the raptors stopped. It wasbecause of the chameleon dinosaurs, but now that it was morning, the chameleondinosaurs weren’t a threat, so the raptors would come to the house. His theorywas right, and Thorne and Levine end up holding the door shut while the raptorstry to get in from all ways. Kelly is on the computer trying to find a way offthe island when she sees all the graphics on the screen and knows that the cordto the computer must go through the floor, which must have enough room for arepairman 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 inthere. 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 verycompelling, and some nights I’d be up until stupid hours in the morning readingit because I couldn’t put it down. It was a thrilling book. It kept youwanting more.
A particular passage which impressed me was PP 422 & 423, Chapter Exit, thewhole chapter. I particularly liked this chapter because it sort of turned thetable on humans. We always think we are superior to every other animal in theworld, always taking them for granted, killing them and eating them. The T-Rexbrings Dodgson back to the nest for the babies to eat, sort of like when a birdbrings 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 woulddefinitely recommend it to anyone. No matter what they are interested in. Ididn’t read Jurassic Park, but I am definitely going to, and I can’t wait tosee the Lost World on the big screen.
