Book Review, Final Verdict: '2001: A Space Odyssey' and 'The Last Unicorn'

So I managed to read most of 2001 and The Last Unicorn. Unfortunately, I have to turn in the books tomorrow since the renewal limit has run out, so I'll just go ahead and give you my thoughts on both books.

As I mentioned in the past, the books are basically what their movie counterparts are in written form, which is not surprising considering both authors wrote the screenplays. 2001: A Space Odyssey has basically the same plot as the movie but with unnecessary rambling. Whole pages are dedicated to explaining the advanced technology and locations, which can get annoying at times. It is because of that I would recommend watching the classic film instead of reading this book. The special effects are phenomenal, especially when you consider they were made without any CGI. Overall Score: 8/10

The Last Unicorn is also a beat-by-beat retelling of what happens in the film. What bothered me was when characters were thinking to themselves and the text didn't become italicized or given any indication that it's the characters' thoughts and not the narrator speaking. But that's just a minor gripe. Both the book and movie are great, and the film has the added benefits of being animated by Rankin/Bass and given an amazing music score by the band America. Overall Score: 9/10

Update on Book Reviews

I have decided to stop reviewing each chapter of the books 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Last Unicorn. Due to my unpredictable schedule, I don't always have time to sit down and write up a bunch of posts. That and I would like to focus on other things on this blog than just these books.

I will finish reading the books and then write a review post for each of them in the near future, hopefully by the end of the month. Thank you all for understanding, and have a good rest of your day, and if you are Christian, happy Pentecost.

Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapters 15-16: "Discovery," "Hal"

Hal 9000. Source

We now begin the third act known as "Between Planets." And yes, as the above picture would suggest, this is the first appearance of Hal 9000.

Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapters 13-14: "The Slow Dawn," "The Listeners"

Dr. Floyd et al entering the excavation site of TMA-1. Source

Here it is, the other famous scene from the film I was talking about!

Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapters 11-12: "Anomaly," "Journey by Earthlight"

Moon excavation of the TMA-1 monolith from the film. Source

 Now we know what TMA-1 stands for! As for what it is...well, I can't say.

Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapters 9-10: "Moon Shuttle," "Clavius Base"

Clavius Base. Source

 Don't worry, you guys. The other famous scene from the film is coming up, but first we have to get through these chapters.

Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapters 7-8: "Special Flight," "Orbital Rendezvous"

Source

We now begin the second part of 2001: A Space Odyssey known as "TMA-1" that takes place in the year 2001 (finally!).

Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapters 4-6: "The Leopard," "Encounter in the Dawn," "Ascent of Man"

Moon-Watcher and his tribe from the film. Source

 I will make an exception to the two-chapters-per-post rule, because (1) Chapter 5 is a little more than two pages long, and (2) the end of Part 1 of the book is after Chapter 6. With that said, let's begin.

Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapters 2 and 3: "The New Rock," "Academy"

You all knew this was coming. Source

I have decided to review two chapters at a time of 2001: A Space Odyssey, because upon skimming through the book, I realize that the chapters are each only a few pages long and I do not want to end up having 20-plus posts on the same book when I could just condense them into chunks.

 Chapter 2: "The New Rock"

Moon-Watcher wakes up later in the night. He sits up in the cave and overhears what he thinks are big cats just outside. During the commotion, he hears the sound of metal hitting stone, a sound which has never been heard before on Earth.

The next morning, Moon-Watcher and his tribe go to the river and catch a glimpse of a monolith. He thinks for a while and concludes that the slab is a rock that shot up out of the ground overnight. He tries biting and licking the monolith, but to no avail. 

After foraging for food miles from home and one of their females newly dead, the man-apes head back to the caves when they hear a strange sound coming from the monolith. They begin to move toward the pulsating noise as though they are in a trance. Once night falls, the monolith begins to glow. The lights begin rotating faster and faster, merging into various shapes as the man-apes stare in awe. The whole time they are watching the monolith, it is reading their minds and studying their reactions.

The man-ape nearest to the monolith is freed from his trance and attempts to tie a knot with a stalk of grass, still being manipulated by the slab. After crushing the grass stalk, he becomes frozen again. Another younger man-ape becomes unfrozen and does the same task as the last one, succeeding this time. Soon, one by one, the others are made to do similar tasks with their hands and bodies.

Moon-Watcher becomes unfrozen and is made to pick up a rock and throw it at a target on the surface of the monolith. 

After everyone had been possessed, the monolith begins to glow. The man-apes are awoken from their trance and head back to their cave.

Chapter 3: "Academy"

The next morning, the man-apes go out to forage. They pass by the monolith, having no recollection of what had happened the night before.

That night, as the tribe head back to the cave, the monolith glows and makes noise like before, but this time it is only experimenting on a few of the man-apes. Moon-Watcher, one of the chosen, begins to have visions of a man-ape family with clothes on and full stomachs. The vision soon fades, and Moon-Watcher leads his tribe home. As he sits near the entrance of the cave, he begins to feel a new feeling, that of discontentment with his life. The same visions appear to Moon-Watcher and the other few man-apes for a few more days.

One day Moon-Watcher sees some warthogs pass by, and he begins looking for an object on the ground. He finds a pointy stone and a young warthog and kills the beast with the rock. The other man-apes surround the poor creature and begin hitting it with the rock until the corpse is unrecognizable. The man-apes have now learned how to use tools and hunt.

Book Review: '2001: A Space Odyssey' - Chapter 1: "The Road to Extinction"

As was promised, I now begin the overview series of each chapter of the two books I borrowed from the library yesterday, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Last Unicorn. We will begin with 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. 

Original 1968 American book cover. Source

One interesting fact about this book is that it was being written at the same time that the 1968 movie was being produced under film director Stanley Kubrick. The film and book are both based on the short story "The Sentinel" written by Clarke himself in 1951. Clarke would go on to write three other books in the Space Odyssey series: 2010: Odyssey Two in 1982 (with a film adaptation two years later), 2061: Odyssey Three in 1987, and 3001: The Final Odyssey in 1997 (my birth year!). And as mentioned in my last post, Clarke wrote the screenplay for the film. Therefore, as you can imagine, the book should be very similar to what is shown in the movie.

Interesting Finds at the Library

Today, my family and I went to a local outdoor festival. As it is the beginning of May and I live in the eastern United States, it was fairly warm outside, and my younger sister and I wanted to go into the library next door to cool off. My sister, being an avid fan of classical composers due to the recent anime series ClassicaLoid (a series which I may or may not review in the future), wanted to borrow a book on the subject. She eventually found one, a biography about Mozart. As for me, I went to the science fiction section wanting to find 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. I indeed found it, as well as another book that piqued my interest: The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, which oddly enough was in the same section as 2001. Thankfully, I had my library card with me, and I managed to check out all three books.

Though 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Last Unicorn seem very different on the surface, both books share at least two things in common: they were made into feature films, which are more well-known, and each author wrote the screenplay for the film based on his story. 

I am like most people in that I am more familiar with the films than the books that inspired them. So, I thought to myself today, why not read the books that inspired the movies? Both are not that long, so I should be able to finish them within the month, if time permits. Expect more blog posts on the way, as I have decided to review each chapter of each book. Stay tuned.