Fountain Society: A Novel (Thorndike Large Print Basic Series)

Rating:
Summary: Fair debute
Review: "Fountain Society" is film director (my favorite) Wes Craven's first novel, and it was actually pretty good, though predictable. In it, mad scientist Frederick Wolfe is the head of one of many top secret U.S. govenment science studies, specificlly some wild cloning and organ harvesting experimenting. As elder weapons technology scientist Peter Jance is approaching death, his brain is transfered into the younger Hans's body. Hans's girl-friend starts looking for him and begins to uncover the extent of these black ops. I saw every twist coming a mile away, and so there really was no suprise for me what so ever. However, the characters were pretty good. Elizabeth is pretty convincing, well, up to a point. Hans/Peter is actually pretty good, usually convincing. Dr. Wolfe was very dark, but never taken far enough to be truelly evil. The action was pretty fast and I liked the pacing a lot. I know I am not painting a flattering picture, I swear it is really pretty good. Just if you have read Robin Cook, you'll get the idea pretty quick.

Rating:
Summary: Fair debute
Review: "Fountain Society" is film director (my favorite) Wes Craven's first novel, and it was actually pretty good, though predictable. In it, mad scientist Frederick Wolfe is the head of one of many top secret U.S. govenment science studies, specificlly some wild cloning and organ harvesting experimenting. As elder weapons technology scientist Peter Jance is approaching death, his brain is transfered into the younger Hans's body. Hans's girl-friend starts looking for him and begins to uncover the extent of these black ops. I saw every twist coming a mile away, and so there really was no suprise for me what so ever. However, the characters were pretty good. Elizabeth is pretty convincing, well, up to a point. Hans/Peter is actually pretty good, usually convincing. Dr. Wolfe was very dark, but never taken far enough to be truelly evil. The action was pretty fast and I liked the pacing a lot. I know I am not painting a flattering picture, I swear it is really pretty good. Just if you have read Robin Cook, you'll get the idea pretty quick.

Rating:
Summary: Craven - Fountain Society
Review: I didn't hold out much hope that Fountain Society would be anything other than an amusing, yet generic, thriller. In that respect I was not at all disappointed. Fountain Society is a cookie-cutter thriller. There's nothing about the novel that distinguishes it from hundreds of others. The plot is decent and interesting but nothing special. The characters are fairly two-dimensional and their dialogue is nothing special. In fact, one of the few things I found unique about the novel was the setting.

Don't get me wrong - Fountain Society is not a BAD novel. It's just not overwhelmingly impressive either. It's entertainment. Nothing more.

Rating:
Summary: Craven almost grows into the medium
Review: I happen to be a pretty big fan of Wes Craven films-- I think he makes horror into something funny and smart-- no mean accomplishment. I suppose it's only natural that I'd be disappointed by his first attempt at a novel, given that my expectations were pretty high.

_Fountain Society_ is based on the idea of amoral scientists deciding to extend life through cloning experiments and a love affair trying to survive through all the associated horror. The book begins *very* slowly and is full of clunky cliches and most of the major plot points are easy to guess. It did start to redeem itself by the end-- Craven started to get more of a feel for his characters and express more of the complexity that makes him such a good filmmaker. Unfortunately, it wasn't soon enough to save the novel as a reading experience.

I *will* read a next novel, should there be a next novel, but I'd definitely take a miss on this one.

Rating:
Summary: Still don't understand the "Fountain" part
Review: I hated this book, for a while anyway. The first 50 pages were, in a word, horrible. The language is so elaborate it becomes confusing and forced. Dialogue seems as though written on a storyboard (and a couple of the post-it notes fell off). Craven tries to make mystery and intrigue by omitting any introduction, leaving a confused reader. His story loses that magical flow, leaving a tale that jerks around like a teenager driving a car for his first time.

Then it gets better.

At around page 70, Craven realizes that a book isn't a movie and finds his niche. The conversation isn't as forced, and he actually develops a fine story. He obviously did heavy research for the technical parts of his novel which helps give it a more realistic feel. However, he feels a need to keep the action high... constantly. Eventually, this dulls the reader as the main characters encounter every death trap and moral dilemma the author can create. Readers will find themselves propelled from a love triangle, to a showdown with a Colonel and back again within five pages. Considering the novel is 450 pages long, it's a lot of jumping around.

Still, Craven has a magnificent first attempt. His characters have personality, he provides a new twist to an old theme, and most importantly, he carries that idea throughout his book. It is an interesting story, and although I don't recommend you put it on the top of your wish list, remember the title the next time you go book shopping.

Rating:
Summary: Stick With What You Know
Review: I have finished almost every book I've ever started. Call it Obsessive/Compulsive or blame it on my English degree, but once I start a book, I have to finish it. I put down Fountain Society after chapter two only to find it later with a year's coat of dust. All I could think as I trudged through it again was "This would make great movie." There was just enough violence (imagine how Wes Craven would produce a scene with a guy being sucked out a plane window), just enough sex, and just enough plot--for a movie. Fountain Society wasn't a bad book--I've read much worse--but it would have made a better movie.

Rating:
Summary: What a horrible waste of time.
Review: Okay, I know that I bought this book at Jewel and that I really didn't expect it to be a masterpiece. But, this must have been the biggest waste of $7.00 ever! I have never been so bored reading a book before. The plot is increadibly un-realisitc and lame. Dr. Peter Jance commits murder to keep himself alive then blames it on his psychotic ex-best friend's greed. He then falls in love with his wife's clone and wishes that everyone could just get along. I wrote better stories in 5th grade! This is a horrible, horrible book. I feel that Wes Craven is a very talented director but a terrible writer....

Rating:
Summary: Kinda like a diesel engine...
Review: This book is the literary equivalent to a diesel engine: It may take a while to get going, but once it starts, it goes and goes and goes, taking you along for one of the wildest Craven rides of your life. "Fountain Society" is an excellent novel from an excellent filmmaker with an impressive resume ranging from "A Nightmare on Elm Street" to "Scream". Wes Craven, like John Carpenter and George Romero before him, has become synonymous with the horror film genre, helping to shape it into what it has become today. Without Wes Craven we wouldn't have Freddy; just try configuring that into your brain for a moment and you'd have a few Halloween pranks and inside jokes removed from your memory.

But Craven isn't just about horror; he's about intelligence and plot, taking you into areas of completely original thinking while doing his absolute best to make you believe that everything you are experiencing as his audience member is possible. In "Fountain Society," we get that in spades. Literally everything in this book reads to be eerily plausible. Mostly, I speak of an astonishingly detailed surgical procedure that is prophecized by its engineer to be the birth of immortality. Craven goes through every passage of the procedure and the steps leading up to it with such detail and realism that we are almost convinced that such a thing could be accomplished. Such is the gift of a wonderful storyteller.

There really isn't much I could explain about the plot of the book that wouldn't give something away except to say that it revolves around a weapons engineer (Dr. Peter Jance), his wife (Beatrice Jance), the Frankenstein like Dr. Frederick Wolfe, a supermodel (Elizabeth ?), and a rich stock broker (Hans Brinkman). There are way too many surprises in this book to count. As they unfold flawlessly with the passing of the pages, I was willing to forgive Craven for his slow beginning of the novel, which delivers a completely unexpected shock of an ending.

Craven's decision to make this a book and not a film is one to his credit. This story could not exist as a film. The surprises within the story depend on it living in text, not in celluloid. It simply couldn't be done, unless you wanted to sacrifice Craven's uncanny ability to remain three steps ahead of his audience until the middle of the story, when he sprints ahead and never lets you catch up until you turn that very last page, you sigh your traditional final sigh that says, "I'm done," and close the binders of the book with a feeling of appreciation for the incredible work of thrilling literature that Craven has delivered. Read it; love it; read it again; love it more.

Rating:
Summary: Scary and interesting
Review: This book was a great read. It starts off like a hopeful experience, but then the main characters realize maybe their choices were mistakes. This book could probably really happen one day, some of the things they went into, who knows, maybe it already is...

Rating:
Summary: Very good
Review: This is the kind of books I like, it never goes out of the story with descriptions and descriptions that the only thing they do is to fill pages that the writer doesn't know how to fill, the end of the book is not so good but the rest of it will keep you reading, and the final question is: could it be possible in the near future?
As we can see in this book, with this kind of technology everybody will suffer sooner or later, because nobody can say to another person how to live his life, no matter if you think exactly like the other person or you know how or what thinks that person.