Wow, this was an interesting read. By the author of Orca, this source novel for the Irwin Allen killer-bee motion-picture spectacular was not at all what I expected:
1) First off, it was a good read, plain and simple.
2) It was a really swell sci-fi story with good elements of horror, and only got bogged down in scientifical equations in one or two places. Never boring.
3) Infinitely more complex and interesting than the movie, essentially a big-budget crapfest with a whole lot of big names. Fred MacMurray! Michael Caine! Katherine Ross! Olivia De Haviland, for Pete's sake! Even Bradford Dillman! But they still couldn't save the movie from sucking socks.
4) This is not just a novel; it is the source of a global terror that took years to subside, like Spielberg's Jaws.
But here's the unexpected part: I had no idea, having only seen the movie, that this book was really about white people's oogy feelings about the Black Power movement. I can't believe it didn't cause some serious controversy, having come out in 1974, at the height of the movement. It was just that obvious.
Eileen M started this discussion 1 year ago. ( | permalink )
