Jumper (1992)

It is a great book about a kid named Davy with the ability to teleport. His father is an abusive drunk who beat his mother so severely that she needed two years of therapy a facial reconstruction. He runs away to a new city where he makes a life for himself from the money he robbed from a bank. After much searching he finds his mother who dies a few weeks later by a bomb form the terrorists attack. He then searches and takes down the terrorist. I read this book because I had seen the movie and thought it was good a while ago and one day while at the library I stumbled upon it and thought I’d give it a whirl.

I got the book because I'd kinda liked the movie, and figured the book would be better.

The book is SO different from the movie- that it almost seems like they tell the life of two different persons- if only they didn't have the same name.

It was quite refreshing and most interesting to read the book, I found the story quite catching, if a little slow at times, and loved the story overall, definitely enjoyed it more than the movie. ( )

First of all, I really don't know what the screenwriters were smoking when they were adapting this book to movie format, but it was something POTENT! Was Jumper a Disney movie or something? ;) I saw the movie long enough ago that if this book hadn't had the same title, I wouldn't have known they were the related at all.

That being said, I really enjoyed the book. I thought Davy's teleporting power was really well defined and that Davy used his powers well. He had a rough childhood, man... And this book isn't so much about kicking bad-guy butts as it is Davy trying to overcome the crap he's been through (and goes through) in his life. I think the movie did a really good job painting Davy as a selfish bastard, which the Davy in the book SO WAS NOT. And I appreciated that part of his character: he was very down-to-earth, real, normal, even with this supernatural ability.

Overall, I think it was a great little book with emotion and action and all sorts of good stuff. ( )

Plot: 3 stars
Characters: 2 stars
Style: 3 stars
Pace: 2 1/2 stars

I found this book boring and tedious. It seemed like it should be a fun, scifi romp, but took off into the emotional weeds repeatedly. I found Davy hard to like, and despite the dramatic changes in his life, he never seems to grow as a person. Sure, he gets nicer clothing, but that's about it. The rest of the characters were even more flat. The romance aspects felt forced and trite. I'll probably skip the second book in this series and just try the third to see if it's gotten any better, since that one has a different MC. ( )

First half: 4 stars.
Second half: 2 stars.

I am behind on my reviews again:-/ ( )