Sphere by Michael Crichton

Again, another book of Crichton that i felt had read long before but forgot about it. In fact, whenever i re-read such books, which i am sure had read before but not able to remember anything about the plot or storyline, reminds me time and again that, there was a reason why it wasn't so memorable. Either the plotline would've been too confusing and for someone who hop-skip-jump read such sections very frequently in the past, i would've either lost interest in the story and would've dropped it half way or would've finished it quick, without actually liking anything about it. Sphere, for what its worth, is somewhere deep in between.

The premise is fascinating with a group of academic scholars, being air dropped into middle of ocean, and then deep into the ocean to study about a wreckage, that later turns out to be an alien craft. While there is continuous debate till the end, whether it was something sent from the future or from a far away planet, the situations involving the sphere, how it suddenly begins to communicate with the team, how one by one they end up getting killed and the chaos it wrecks on the underwater habitat are all very interestingly laid out. In fact, when you summarize it like above, it does sounds pretty positive, but with repetitive sequences and not so creative sequences involving the sphere and how it ends up controlling the minds of the scientists, granting them power to manifest their thoughts in the mean time, doesn't come out as interestingly as it should've. I wouldn't say racist like the previous one, but this book also involves Black characters who are often shown as wavering at best. In fact, in most of the books that i've read previously, i will never be able to guess the color of the character and would often imagine a white guy or a lady playing that role. But whenever i find their color being mentioned, it often makes me wonder, was it to show a reasoning behind their actions or was it more from a representation perspective? James Patterson's Alex cross is a good example. He is a Black person and the entire family setup, his friends his relations, his beliefs everything adds a layer to the stereotypical Black person as shown across several movies, but in a positive light. Most of the villains of Cross novels would be white people is a different perspective altogether that may or may not been intentional. Coming back to the story, like "A case of need" here also there are passing references that may be picked up for scrutiny in present day world. Intha mathiri ennaye yosika vachirukaanganna antha oor karanunga kothi kooru potruvanunga nenakren!!

The way the underwater habitat was described in detail at the beginning, it made me wonder, whether they were actually way deep down in stormy ocean or in a big sized swimming pool. Hot water varuthungaran, oxygen/helium air vachu comfortabla breath panranunga and at the drop of the hat they jump out of their jump suits and swim around the habitat, in case of any trouble. If it is so easy to survive even for couple of minutes at the depths of ocean, Crichton might've as well made the setup in a more habitable environment. The ease with which they take control of such a complex environment and launch submarines with user manuals that are like Rapidex speaking course and considering the amount of scientific mumbo jumbo that gets thrown around by the scientists, it doesn't mix well as a setup. May be it was too advanced for its time, that is before the internet and google i guess. So for its time, this book might've felt very advanced but alas, not so the case for present day world. Mission Impossible - Day of reckoning had more underwater stunts than what is described as alien driven in this book. And that is something!!