The Poseidon Adventure

By: Paul Gallico

Narrated by: Dylan Baker

The inspiration for the 2006 Warner Bros. film, Poseidon, Paul Gallico's The Poseidon Adventure is an intense and dramatic story about a gigantic ocean liner and its unimaginable final journey.

When a rogue wave capsizes the luxury cruise ship, a small group of survivors find themselves unlikely allies in a battle for their lives. As the unstable vessel rapidly fills with water, each must draw on skills and strengths they didn't even know they possessed, fighting against time for their own survival and for each other.

©1969 Paul Gallico (P)2006 HarperCollinsPublishers

The book that help started the golden age of disasters

For those who watched the original 1972 Poseidon Adventure, this is the novel that inspired the film. There are events that happened in the book, and the ending is different to.

The Movie Plus

Would you listen to The Poseidon Adventure again? Why?

Great story with characters and events that aren't in the movie.

Did the plot keep you on the edge of your seat? How?

The differences between the classic movie and the book made it even more interesting.

Which character – as performed by Dylan Baker – was your favorite?

Linda

Who was the most memorable character of The Poseidon Adventure and why?

Dr. Scott - Great leader

Any additional comments?

Well worth your time and money

not as good as the movie

There are a lot of different events that happened in the book compared to the movie. it dose give you a insight into what people are thinking. Dylan Baker didn't do a very good job at reading it, in my option.

Maybe The Movie Colored My Expectations

It was only recently that I discovered that one of my all time favorite movies The Poseidon Adventure had been based on a book, and as such I was eagerly anticipating the read. Only to find that it bore little resemblance to the film at all. Yes at first I could easily recognize the characters and most of the situations and hardships they faced in common, but that was about it. What was sorely lacking in the book that was a great attraction for me in the film was the likability of these people. I wanted the film characters to live, to make it through - all of them - and I cried more than once when some met their tragic fates, after having fought so valiantly to survive. But not so in the book.

With a couple of exceptions, first and foremost being Manny and Belle, who were in my opinion two of the most beautifully portrayed characters in both book and film - I didn’t like these people. I didn’t care whether they lived or died. Sometimes I actually hoped some would die just so I didn’t have to listen to their incessant whining anymore. They were crass, selfish, self-absorbed, morally corrupt, and emotionally bankrupt. Women who cared more about getting their hair wet, or having to shed clothing that might hinder their escape than they did about those who had literally died right before their eyes. Men who felt they needed to corral their wives/girlfriends into compliance by means of physical abuse. As a whole they were just some of the most irritating group of misfit people I have ever encountered in my literary life.

And if all that wasn’t enough to form a sour opinion of this book - the sheer absurdity of some of the action/decisions taken bordered on absolute disbelief. Bear in mind that these people weren’t situated somewhere safe calmly awaiting the end of times. No, they were in an overturned passenger liner clawing their way up to the very bottom of the ship in hopes of rescue before the sea claims it whole. More than one character at different times even vocalizes the importance of time, and how little of it remained. Speed was clearly of the essence. And yet they mosey along at a pace that baffles the mind. There are no less than 3 sexual encounters of both a consensual and non-consensual basis (you heard me right). Some wander off looking for booze and snacks, even though scant hours before they had been eating and drinking in abundance.

Some of the characters in the book weren’t in the movie. Some who died in the movie didn’t die in the book, and vice versa. That’s to be expected as rarely does the book translate in full to the screen. Remember Susan and Robin from the movie, the young boy and his older sister who were traveling alone to meet their parents? Well, here in the book the parents were onboard with them. I thank the movie gods that they weren’t included in the film if they would have been portrayed in any way similar to their book counterparts. The dysfunctional state of this family took me completely by surprise as up to this one pivotal moment they had seemed like the perfect model of domestic bliss. I’m still scratching my head over that screaming outburst the wife made to her husband in front of everyone. I went back a few times and re-listened to to see if I could actually figure out what had prompted it, but to no avail.

But it was the scene just prior to this that also befell one of that family’s members that really shocked me. Not only the scene itself but how it was handled afterward. It was so out of place, so bizarre and unwarranted that I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. This was the point where I fervently wished I had never learned that this movie had been based on a book. Hands down the movie was a billion times better. Its only saving grace was the that it was the basis for a really great adventure action film. And I’ll leave it there.