The BOOK/MOVIE Club discussion

Discuss your thoughts on "Who Goes There?" by William F. Nolan with us here! If you've seen either of the two film adaptations, which are "The Thing From Another World" (1951) and "The Thing" (1982), feel free to talk about those as well :)

Normally I complain about too much description....well this didn’t have enough.
I have never seen the movie “the thing” that was the inspiration for this book, so I will have to do that
Anyway. At first it was slow, entirely too much dialogue and not enough of the scene set, but i did get into in the middle and ended up really liking it! Definitely a classic and stands up to the test of time!

Another great thing about this book is that it’s super fast to get through! I’ll be listening to this on my commute to work through audible and it’s only 2.5 hours long! If you’re reading this book, it’s less than 200 pages. This is a great one to help you catch up on your GoodReads reading challenge! (:

I read (listened to) this last year I think. But the 1950s version of The Thing is one of my favorite movies of all time. However, if you want the movie to be faithful to the book, you should probably watch the remake with Kurt Russell.

Katie wrote: "Normally I complain about too much description....well this didn’t have enough.
I have never seen the movie “the thing” that was the inspiration for this book, so I will have to do that
Anyway. A..."

Hoping I feel that way soon because I agree with your description entirely. I've watched The Thing, probably a dozen times and love it and the writing here is killing me a little with the pacing. I'm going to power through though.

I agree with the previous comments that the style was difficult. It felt almost purely dialogue with not enough description of actions or settings. I felt like I was lagging behind in fully grasping what was happening for that reason. Also, I had a hard time distinguishing between different characters’ dialogue because there was no real character development for most of them. As a short story, I can appreciate this and think the story itself is really intriguing though. While the overall style made it hard for me to get into, there were enough tidbits here and there that I thought were really well written or especially thought provoking, so I can appreciate that. I’m not sure I would have powered through if it wasn’t so short, but I am glad I did. I haven’t seen any of the movies but plan to- not sure which one to watch first!

Diane wrote: "I agree with the previous comments that the style was difficult. It felt almost purely dialogue with not enough description of actions or settings. I felt like I was lagging behind in fully graspin..."

It was tough for me as well. I think watching the movies will be the big pay off. I think the Kurt Russell (The Thing) is the best.

I’ve been listening to this as an audiobook and I’ve been enjoying it! It feels like a campfire story. I can see why it would be hard to read due to the heavy dialogue.

Monika wrote: "Diane wrote: "I agree with the previous comments that the style was difficult. It felt almost purely dialogue with not enough description of actions or settings. I felt like I was lagging behind in..."

I agree about watching the movie! It almost seems like it was written for film anyway. Thanks for the recommendation!

Adriana (Mea) wrote: "I’ve been listening to this as an audiobook and I’ve been enjoying it! It feels like a campfire story. I can see why it would be hard to read due to the heavy dialogue."

That's interesting that you say that - I actually started it as an audiobook and had to switch to reading an ebook because I felt like it was too hard to follow - I find I am more inclined to reread or dwell on passages when reading instead of listening.

Here’s my full final review!

Who Goes There? is the tale of a research group discovering a foreign “thing” which has been frozen in an ice block. They have to decide what to do with the Thing- do they melt it, cast it back where it came from, call for help? The research team is composed of an extremely smart group of individuals: biologist, physicist, aviation mechanic, meteorologist, etc. who each bring unique theories to the table. You could not have a more intelligent group taking on the world’s most frighting creature.

I absolutely loved Cambell’s eerie choice of words, the frozen wasteland setting of Antarctica, the intelligent and realistic characters, and of course the concept of a monster so horrifying, it can only be described as- THE THING!

Format: I listened to this through Audiobook and the narrator (Steve Cooper) did an excellent job of differentiating the characters through diverse voice impressions. In my version, William F. Nolan (director of Logan’s Run) narrates his own introduction where he gives a brief history of the book and its vast influence on the sci-fi book/movie genre. Keep in mind that while it is short, it is a dialogue heavy book with many characters that are sometimes difficult to keep track of.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book to lovers of science fiction, horror and the unknown. It reminds me of Annihilation (Jeff Vandermeer) mixed with the Alien movies. It’s probably better for an experienced reader due to the dialogue formatting (teen and up). However, I imagine this would be great to read out loud over a campfire. While it is scary- I believe I would’ve loved this as a teenager at an overnight camp.

I give this book 5 out of 5 Things.

If anyone is interested here is a free 40 page PDF version provided by NYU (New York University): https://wp.nyu.edu/darknessspeaks/wp-...

I liked the 1982 version of The Thing but haven't read the book. I actually liked the 2011 prequel of the same name even more! Cool to see how the hot mess base camp that the 1982 crew visits came to be.

I still haven't finished. Think I'm going to switch to the audiobook for the last third.

I thought that this was a solid read! Short and sweet, suspenseful and thought-provoking. Like everyone here has said, it seemed heavy on the dialogue and light on description- almost like a screenplay in that sense. But the dialogue was written very well, and I appreciated how smart many of the characters were.

The audiobook version was best for this I think, since it's easier to differentiate the characters by their voices than their names.

Excited to see the movie adaptations!

I just finished watching “The Thing” directed by John Carpenter and I thought it was a great adaptation of the book. A lot less characters, but still a large enough group that you still feel the same sense of mystery, anxiety and horror at every corner. You don’t know who to trust!

There were some key developmental changes, but overall my feelings at the end of both the book and movie were similar. I was deeply mortified by the “what if” factor. I think Kurt Russell as well as the rest of the cast were phenomenal choices.

The special effects they used to create “The Thing” were amazing for the time period they were made. They reminded me of the Cronenberg’s Existenz in the way The Things were made to look like fleshy, guts turned inside out animal beings.

Overall, Carpenter did an excellent job of modernizing “Who Goes There?” to create a classic horror film that greatly compares to the far more popular Alien series.

Book vs Movie Rating: 4/5 “Things”

Adriana (Mea) wrote: "I just finished watching “The Thing” directed by John Carpenter and I thought it was a great adaptation of the book. A lot less characters, but still a large enough group that you still feel the sa..."

Yes, my dad said it was a great adaptation. I have a personal fondness for the older one starring Kenneth Tobey, but it's not very faithful to the book.