Customer Reviews

Enemy Mine

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I bought this item, thinking it was Barry Longyear's original novelette. This item is NOT the original novelette (a reprint of which is at Enemy Mine). Note the joint authorship on this item between Barry Longyear and David Gerrold. This item is a novelization of the movie "Enemy Mine" (1985).

More confusing yet, the "Look Inside" link (as of 21 Apr 2009) takes you (incorrectly) to the original novel as reprinted by IUniverse, not (correctly) to this novelization of the movie as published by Charter Books. The "Just so you know..." message leaves the impression that they're just different editions of the same book. They're not just different editions. They're different stories.

A few of the differences between the two: The original novel begins with the confrontation between human and alien on the ground. How they got there is later told in retrospect in a couple of paragraphs. The novelization of the movie begins at the "starbase" and descibes the space battle step by step in 5 chapters/19 pages. The original novel puts them on an island up against frequent tidal waves. The equivalent in the novelization of the movie is repeated meteor showers, and they're on a continent. In the original, they eat snakes to survive. In the novelization, they eat mock turtles. Pretty much all of the details in the stories are different, but the general gist is similar. The original novel is 96 pages long. The novelization of the movie has 218 pages.

Between the two, I prefer what I've read of the original novel, but the novelization of the movie is a good story, too, and it's cheap: I bought my like-new used paperback for a penny (plus $3.99 shipping and handling, of course).

This is quite simply one of the best books I've ever read. I believe it was originally published in a magazine as a novella and then reprinted in book form to make money. It is rather short, but every page is worth five in a typical novel. The story is deceptively simple: a human and an alien crashland on an ocean world and most work together to survive. The story has been done before, but never so well as this. The beginning is solid suspense while the middle is a tear jerker. The final third is less intense and moves to more of a cerebral level. It is a fitting conclusion, though not as intense as the first two parts. All in all, Enemy Mine deserves its many accolades. By the way, read the book before you see the movie--the acting is good but they changed too many things for a fan to be satisfied.

About the book:
War forces two enemies to crash on a tiny island which is slowly overrun by waves. They must rely on each other for their survival but no one said they had to like it. The sea keeps rising until the two are forced to leave the island, but not without serious injury to the human, Davidge. The Drac, Jerry, builds a shelter and nurses Davidge until he recovers from his injuries caused in their violent sea crossing. This is just the beginning a a unique friendship. The whole story is complicated because the Drac is pregnant and gives birth. But that is less than the first half of the story. The rest of the story concerns the raising and safety of child Zammy.

My take:
First let me say I absolutely loved the movie adaption of this story. Dennis Quad was hot, hot in this movie and Lou Gossett, Jr. had my heart in his hand by the middle of the movie. After I saw the movie, I wondered how I missed reading the story. After all I was a big, big science fiction fan at the time. The truth is I didn't miss the story, I just didn't find it as wonderful as the movie.
The book is still good, the writing tight, the plot while not totally unique (There was a WWII movie that about a Japanese and an American soldier stranded on an island fighting each other) was good. I enjoyed the friendship that develops between the two main characters as well as how Davidge handles the birth of Zammy. It is amazing how much story can be built into just 95+ pages.
One of my favorite parts of the story is where Jerry apologizes for his blasphemous remarks he made about Mickey Mouse. Yes, you have to read the book or see the movie to find out what I mean.
This story is told in the first person, something I have found I dislike as of late. This could be a result of so few current writers handing it well. This book shows how it should be done.

Recommendation:
I highly recommend the book to anyone who likes introspective stories, even those who do not normally read science fiction. I also recommend our readers see the movie because although the movie is like the book, there is more action in the movie, different action, and Quad and Gossett bring life into the wonderful characters Longyear created.

Two fighters on opposite sides of a war, and on different species are forced to work together to stay alive.

This relationship also moves on to the next generation, and the human combatant becomes a diplomatic bridge between the two alien races, once they are out of the hairy situation.

[...]
The second short story is about a displaced man who finds himself in the
novel Moby Dick come to life around him.
Both are award winning stories, but "Enemy Mine" in the original form is the prize here:that which is taught here in is worthy.

I'm a huge fan of "Enemy Mine," and have read every version Longyear has published and every Longyear collection it has been in... "Manifest Destiny" and "The Enemy Papers," to be precise. This is one of the greatest stories of breaking racial barriers and living in peace with people of different cultures ever written. It is just as timely now as ever.

I am hoping that the full length novel version of Enemy Mine that Longyear and David Gerrold (author of "The Man Who Folded Himself" and Star Trek's "Trouble With Tribbles") will be reprinted soon. Longyear is bringing back all of his other books, why not that one? Does the movie studio own the rights? I'm sure Gerrold would like to see it reprinted. It fleshed out the story more, developed the relationship between Shigan and Davidge, and added more Zammis material. The ending was almost the same as the short story only it was expanded and improved. The only version out there is the one with the movie tie-in cover, which is long out-of-print.

It is wonderful to be able to read the original Enemy MIne. The book is far superior to the movie.