So I have just spent the past four and a half hours sitting in a rather uncomfortable chair in an isolated dorm room, thanks to one Robert Ludlum.
"Mr. Ludlum: Thank you for writing such wicked awesome books. However, I am writing to ask you to stop. I feel that my chances of engaging the rest of society and eventually getting married would be higher were there less of your stellar literature on the market. I trust that such a move would not endanger your livelihood, as you must be rolling in the benjamins. All good things must come to an end. Thanks for understanding. Your fan, Seth."
I bought my first copy of The Bourne Supremacy over Christmas Break from a Barnes & Noble in Tulsa. It proved to be an excellent read until page 344. Mainly because it jumped straight to page 393. I loved the book, but I couldn't drop 50 pages of material and just keep going... So I put the book on indefinite hold. A couple of weeks later, I was shopping in a Kroger here in 'Tucky (Krogers are awesome, btw; you're jealous, even if you don't know it) and chanced across the book aisle. I saw a copy of the same book and proceeded to quality check it; and since this volume contained the missing pages, I added it to my purchase.
A friend here in the dorm commented that he hadn't read the books; that was why they made movies! I wanted to beat him with my defective copy. The Bourne movies are not like the books; as with so many movies, there's simply no way to squeeze it all in. Especially the way Ludlum writes.
Anyway, the book was simply riveting; I couldn't put it down. Great story.
The movies are quite a departure from the books; and understandably so. There's too much happening to make a good movie. However, the movies make me sad because they focus on the action. Don't get me wrong, there's plenty of action. But the underlying themes of the book are lost; the struggle of a man trying to find his true nature, and the desperate battle of a husband and a wife to be reunited though all the powers of earth stand in their way. These elements at their pure, soul-rending level seem to be lost. The Bourne movies are good, and I'd recommend them; but in the same breath, I'd recommend the books even more highly. Check 'em out, kids; you won't be disappointed.
