Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Tie-in Doesn't Stand On It's Own, November 25, 2002
This review is from: Taken (Mass Market Paperback)
It's hard to imagine that any review, positive or negative, will have any impact on the sales of this trite print-version of the Spielberg-branded mini-series. Tsave the time of some Thomas Cook fans, I offer this: Other reviewers have given plausible explanations for the barely one-dimensional characters and blitzkrieg pacing of the book; there is also an appalling lack intrigue or suspense: presentation of what may be a startling visual in the mini-series of a crash site is delivered without build-up or fanfare, dropped in the reader's lap like an unbuttered piece of toast. Consistency is painfully weak: what is described as a "treacherous" descent into a gorge is, in a page or two, capable of allowing a "vast array" of investigating staff and heavy equipment to arrive "within minutes"; an object described as larger than a B-29 is, again within a page or two, being carted off by a truck. There's no examination of any character's internal world; rather, we get bare descriptions of personal transitions: "...he couldn't accept that it was a dream no matter what she told him" is followed a paragraph later with, "He...believed that it was only a dream." Really, transitions simply don't exist; characters move emotionally from antipathy to gratitude, physically from office to crash site, within the space of a sentence-stopping period. Rambling sentences worthy of the Bulwar Litton contest, but with poorer use of commas, give us our only serious ratiocination as we try to ferret out meaning. If only I could give it "0 stars"...unless you simply must have the complete Spielberg brand, or the complete X-Files knock-off, or the complete repackaging of encounters library, pass.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Reversal of the Usual, November 20, 2002
This review is from: Taken (Mass Market Paperback)
A very quick, entertaining read. Cook said in an interview he was concerned with the pace of the novel, and pace is sure not a problem. It zips along. The problem is, it zips too quickly. In novelizing Leslie Boehm's epic teleplay, Cook adapted the equivalent of 10 TV-movies ... and rather than expanding upon the material (at least somewhat, as is the wont of most novelizations), he has streamlined -- summarized non-essential scenes, dropped tertiary characters, etc. At times the book reads like a riveting "treatment," a story expertly compacted, rather than a "real" novel. And I have a feeling that TAKEN might have benefited from allowing the story to breathe more -- not sprawl, but allow the characters to be more than essences and archetypes. That said, I don't know that Mr. Cook is at fault. His contract may have mandated getting the final product down to a limited word count ... these novelization gigs don't come without strings, and the final drafts have to be approved by the film's honchos as well as its editor. If a distillation was, in fact, his job, he has done it well. Whatever else is true, he keeps the tale interesting and taut ... and the book is never dull. (There's no time for it to be!)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A quick and satisfying read, April 12, 2003
This review is from: Taken (Mass Market Paperback)
Although I did not see the series, I gather from the book jacket that Taken was based on one. Whatever the quality of the acting may have been, the quality of the written work is quite good. It's not exactly major literature, but it definitely has major entertainment value-and how many of us would actually sit down with Tolstoy for an afternoon without a grade point average hanging over us? The characters are made multidimensional through a series of individual vignettes that carry the reader through the lives and interactions of several people in at least three families. The perspective changes in each of these vignettes, which allows the reader to take in more information than any one of the characters has, much like the diaries in Dracula do. The tale itself is not given in any great depth. There is no build up based entirely on the emotive impact of colorful imagery; the narrative is primarily responsible for giving information on the settings and that alone. The mini-chapters last mere paragraphs and the drama takes place predominantly in dialogue rather than descriptive form and are designed to engage the reader in the lives and personalities of the characters. This probably reflects the cinematic venue of the original work where The Character is everything. This makes the story a rapid read and difficult to put down; I finished it in a matter of hours despite multiple interruptions. I wasn't quite as enamored with the ending, though. It was as if the author enjoyed tailoring his characters and telling the story of their experiences, but couldn't find as tailored an ending for the work. It just sort of stops, as though he wasn't sure what great message he was trying to convey. There doesn't seem to be any impacting moral or definitive statement to be made, no real purpose to the story that would bring the whole to a conclusion. The little girl brings all the pieces together, but that is all that is accomplished. The only surprise is that there isn't a surprise. (I wondered if the little girl wouldn't turn out to be the second coming of Christ, or something similar). I suspect that this too is a function of the story's original starting point. A series based on a collection of characters and their interactions isn't really designed to have a "point" only to entertain and keep the audience returning every week. Although there is an effort to provide continuity from week to week, the end of the series is not necessarily designed into the project from inception. One presumes the authors hope it goes on for some time. Certainly endings can be designed to meet the need when a series ends, but that usually arises when the need for it does. In fact the finale for a popular series can be a media event. The book is a quick and satisfying read.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
