- Joined
- Jun 4, 2004
- Messages
- 442
I know many have seen and enjoyed the movie, but I recently re-read the classic book and was again blown away by this novel. A glaring example of a book being better than the movie, IMO. For those who have not read the book, I highly recommend it. Here is an excerpt of a dialog between Lewis and Ed that goes much more in depth with the characters than the movie.
" We'll see," Lewis said, glancing at me as though he had me. "We'll see. You've had all that office furniture in front of you, desks and bookcases and filing cabinets and the rest. You've been sitting in that chair that won't move. You've been steady. But when that river is under you, all that is going to change. There's nothing you do as vice president of Emerson-Gentry that's going to make any difference at all, when the water starts to foam up. Then, it's not going to be what your title says you do, but what you end up doing. You know:doing."
"I know, " he said. "you think I'm some kind of narcissistic fanatic. But I'm not."
"I wouldn't put it that way, exactly," I said
"I just believe," he said, "that the whole thing is going to be reduced to the human body, once and for all. I want to be ready."
"What whole thing?" I asked
"The human race thing. I think the machines are going to fail, the political systems are going to fail, and a few men are going to take to the hills and start over."
I looked at him. He lived in the suburbs, like the rest of us. He had money, a good looking wife and three children. I could not really believe that he came in from placating his tenants every evening and gave himself solemnly to the business of survival, insofar as it involved his body. What kind of fantasy led to this? I asked myself. Did he have long dreams of an atomic holocaust in which he had to raise himself and his family out of the debris of less strong folk and head to the same blue hills we were approaching?
" I had an air-raid shelter built, " he said. "I'll take you down there sometime. We've got double doors and stocks of bouillon and bully beef for a couple of years at least. We've got games for the kids, and a record player and a whole set of records on how to play the recorder and get up a family recorder group. But I went down there and sat for a while. I decided that survival was not in the rivets and the metal, and not in the double sealed doors and not in the marbles of Chinese checkers. It was in me. It came down to the man, and what he could do.The body is the one thing you can't fake; it's just got to be there."
What a classic book!
" We'll see," Lewis said, glancing at me as though he had me. "We'll see. You've had all that office furniture in front of you, desks and bookcases and filing cabinets and the rest. You've been sitting in that chair that won't move. You've been steady. But when that river is under you, all that is going to change. There's nothing you do as vice president of Emerson-Gentry that's going to make any difference at all, when the water starts to foam up. Then, it's not going to be what your title says you do, but what you end up doing. You know:doing."
"I know, " he said. "you think I'm some kind of narcissistic fanatic. But I'm not."
"I wouldn't put it that way, exactly," I said
"I just believe," he said, "that the whole thing is going to be reduced to the human body, once and for all. I want to be ready."
"What whole thing?" I asked
"The human race thing. I think the machines are going to fail, the political systems are going to fail, and a few men are going to take to the hills and start over."
I looked at him. He lived in the suburbs, like the rest of us. He had money, a good looking wife and three children. I could not really believe that he came in from placating his tenants every evening and gave himself solemnly to the business of survival, insofar as it involved his body. What kind of fantasy led to this? I asked myself. Did he have long dreams of an atomic holocaust in which he had to raise himself and his family out of the debris of less strong folk and head to the same blue hills we were approaching?
" I had an air-raid shelter built, " he said. "I'll take you down there sometime. We've got double doors and stocks of bouillon and bully beef for a couple of years at least. We've got games for the kids, and a record player and a whole set of records on how to play the recorder and get up a family recorder group. But I went down there and sat for a while. I decided that survival was not in the rivets and the metal, and not in the double sealed doors and not in the marbles of Chinese checkers. It was in me. It came down to the man, and what he could do.The body is the one thing you can't fake; it's just got to be there."
What a classic book!
