Fantastic - better the second time around

I originally read this 20 years ago and have recently started re-listening to Michael Crichton books this year. Congo is one of the best books, in my opinion, that Crichton ever wrote. Great character development, realistic mix of science / fantasy, and steady plot development.

58 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

SLEEP WROTE

THAT'S A B8 PROBLEM
Written in 1980, Crichton was just getting his feet wet. This is a mass amount of facts and figures. While some of these tidbits of information are interesting, the book as a whole is lacking. No character development, with the exception of Amy the Gorilla. The story was not compelling. You want to skip this one.

51 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

the best of Crichton with excellent narration

Popular opinion on Crichton's Congo has always been divided--some feel it's one of his better novels while many feel it's the opposite. I'm one of the former. I love this book. And while the Jurassic Park movies remain among my favorites, I didn't love the books nearly as much--they were good, interesting, but failed to sweep me away like Congo did and continues to do, and for that reason, I put it well above the Jurassic Park and Lost World novels. Amy, the gorilla, in particular is a gem. I always forget how much I love Crichton's sense of humor. Amy is marvelously rendered and a fabulous character. The other characters are well drawn and interesting--no one is one-dimensional, no one is perfect, everyone is interesting.
The narration is superb, and I need to spend a sentence or two on that because when I was trying to decide whether or not to buy the audible version, I very nearly didn't because of the many negative reviews of the narration. One in particular shreds her performance of Peter, saying he sounds like a sulky teenager. I honestly have no idea where they got that. Julia Whelan does a magnificent job with all elements, particularly the sciency bits where Crichton veers off into massive amounts of exposition/history/etc that no fiction author should be allowed to get away with and yet he DOES and somehow does it really well--Julia Whelan does a masterful job with those sections making them every bit as interesting to listen to as the action sequences. As if often the case with cross gender reading, Whelan does sound a little strained with the male characters. But I've heard far worse, and it's not distracting. And she's spot-on perfect with the overall narration, the female voices, and Amy.

This was an easy 5 stars and I will definitely be re-listening to it many times in the future.

50 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Good not Great

Any additional comments?

I found this particular novel from Crichton to be less interesting that the others of his that I have read. The story itself was good, and it had his scientific details that really help to absorb the reader into a world where the events are actually taking place. But the story seems to be a ton of build up to about 50 pages (or about an hour) of rap-up. The story seems to focus most of its content on the preparation and trip to the Congo, and falls a little flat there. The technology discussed is particularly interesting to me, but I can see it further discouraging other readers. I would recommend it, and I will likely read/listen-to it again, but before you dive in, manage your expectations. This will likely not end up on your top 100.

36 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Very good

I really liked the story. The narrator did a decent job, although it took some effort to get through the male voices. Definitely worth it, however.

25 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Roller coaster

This book was incredibly fun to listen to, with some great narration to boot.

If you love Crichton, this is about as classic as it gets.

"Amy good gorilla."

21 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Iteresting read with great narration

Really liked the narrator, she was very even and did a good job of making the long explanations that while interesting, are not blended into the story line very well, more enjoyable to listen to.
Fascinating story that was very well researched of course which helps blend the science and fiction seamlessly.

18 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Not his best

This book spends way too much time on events leading up to the final conflict and technical jargon. I purchased it as a cheap buy to tide me over until next month's credit, but I struggled with wanting to finish it in many places. The narrator did a good job differentiating between different characters and it was entertaining, albeit frustratingly slow in places. I recommend his other novel, Prey, over this one, but it's not a terrible choice.

17 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Worth reading.

It was good just not great, I can't quite put my finger on it but it was missing something.

11 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Good Story, Bad Performance

This is a typical Crichton novel, a nice mixture of adventure and science. Not one of his better works but still an enjoyable read. Unfortunately it is not a enjoyable listen. I found the narrators attempts at accents to be distracting and would have preferred if she didn't even attempt them.

7 personnes ont trouvé cela utile