Format: Paperback, 160 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin
Publication date: 15 April 1997
ISBN-13: 978-0312155148
Links: Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US
Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆
The Dechronization of Sam Magruder is one of the stranger works of fiction that has appeared in recent years. Its author, George Gaylord Simpson, was widely regarded as the greatest paleontologist of the twentieth century.
Sam Magruder, a fortyish research chronologist, vanished on February 30, 2162. Thrown back in time eighty million years to the prehistoric Jurassic era, he discovers that he is the only human being in a valley filled with dinosaurs.
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Review
This is such a great little story! The bright pink cover is at odds with the storyline but don’t let that put you off, I actually quite like it…it’s ‘quirky’. A very quick read and therein lies it’s only flaw….it ended too soon. I hung on every word and would have liked to see many, many more of them.
The book was only ever intended as an amusement for the author, but by chance was it found after his death and published, and lucky for us that it was.
Short synopsis would be that an academic (Sam McGruder) from the far future (the year 2162), travels back in time to a place in prehistory where dinosaurs roamed, with no chance of ever getting back. Now, it’s not JUST the story that hooks the reader, it’s all the thought provoking ideas that the story presents too. What would ‘I’ do? How would ‘I’ cope? Would I cope?!
I wanted it to go on and on and on……
It’s very short so any details I give are likely to be spoilers but suffice to say it’s a great book and one not to be missed. From the moment you pick it up it will draw you in. Even if it’s not your usual type of reading material, it’s still worth the read.
Remember….don’t let the pink cover put you off!
Rating
| Characters | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Plot | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Pacing | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Writing | ☆☆☆☆☆ |
| Overall | — |
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