Alien

I just realized I forgot to post about the last book I read, Alien by Alan Dean Foster. It's good, although I still can't figure out if it's an adaptation of the movie or if the movie is an adaptation of this book. The book states the latter, but the two are so similar, and that rarely happens, that the former looks more likely.

I don't know, all I know is that I can't find the book itself on online resellers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, which is quite unusual, and I'm a little bothered by the whole thing, because I certainly wouldn't have wasted any time reading a book based on a movie I saw. I don't know why, but I feel like the adaptation process works only one way, not both.

Anyway, for anyone who hasn't read the book or seen the movie, stop reading here, there are spoilers ahead.

The story is about the crew of the Nostromo, a commercial spaceship en route to Earth that is forced on a detour by the onboard computer known as Mother to investigate an alien communication.

The crew is none too happy to have been disturbed from its deep sleep hybernation for a mission that will only delay their return home and their fat paycheck collection, and that has nothing to do with their "day jobs," but they have to oblige. Only the scientific advisor seems positively ecstatic about the possibility of such a promising discovery, which makes sense, given his duties... and his real nature and mission.

One of the crew members ends up being attacked and infected by the alien life form they went to investigate, and eventually the whole crew is taken down, one by one, until Ripley, the sole human survivor, and her cat Jones are able to take the escape-pod to safety and kill the alien on the way to it.

Like I said, a great story, a good book, a must-see movie. The reason I now believe the book is an adaptation of the movie is that nowhere was a particular event not recounted in the movie or needed me to create a mental image for it. But why then would the book say the movie is an adaptation?

All considered, it was a good read, but I had bought the book a while back and was in Italian, which I wouldn't do anymore now. Just like watching a movie not in its original language is something I don't enjoy anymore, reading a book not in its original language felt forced and at times fake. Amazing how I never felt that way for most of my life, and I would never have known the difference had I not moved to the States.