Sex on the Moon
Written by: Ben Ezrich
Published by: Doubleday 2011
Promising raw materials indeed, and the byline “the amazing story behind the most audacious heist in history” certainly does entice, clearly marking the book out as a thriller. The really intriguing element explores what on earth, or beyond earth, were Thad’s motivations? He’d shown the necessary dedication and commitment to get into NASA, so he was in the place he always wanted, and needed to be, to make his dreams come true. So what changed, what were the triggers that enabled him to rationalise the plan to steal moon rocks, a plan that could so clearly jeopardise all of this? Are we really to believe he did it all for love, to impress a girl he’d recently met? To express some sense of rebellion against his straight-laced Mormon upbringing? Or was he always a fantasist, a risk-taker looking for thrills and opportunities to be the centre of attention? Ezrich flirts with, and skirts with, all of these possible explanations, but none are rendered convincing within the constrained dramatic narrative structure of the book.
Although Ezrich cites numerous sources for the dramatization of the story, including court documents and interviews with various protagonists, he is open in acknowledging that interviews with Thad Roberts form the primary source and that the book is therefore very much written from his perspective. Unfortunately this limits the scope of the book; the supporting characters are not well drawn and Ezrich fails to really unravel Roberts’ motivations as it becomes apparent that Roberts doesn’t seem to have adequately explained them to himself, let alone to Ezrich. What we are left with is a not particularly well written, middle-brow thriller, a Dan Brown for the space age. While we never get to fully understand Roberts’ motivations, is there perhaps a clue, via the dramatization technique, into what may have motivated Ezrich to write the book? Are we really dealing with another book to film option? If so, this would follow on the success of The Social Network, adapted from Ezrich’s previous book “The Accidental Billionaires.” If the producers could get Aaron Sorkin to weave his script-writing magic again, maybe Sex on The Moon could work as a film. It would certainly stand a very good chance of achieving that rare feat, a film that improves on the original book.
Article by: Steve Cox
posted:31 Jan 2012
Related Link: www.randomhouse.ca
Published by: Doubleday 2011
For Ben Ezrich, the true story of Thad Roberts’ 2002 theft of priceless lunar rock samples from the Johnson Space Center offered the raw materials for a fictionalized heist thriller that would also seek to tell the story behind the story: what could possibly lead a promising young NASA student to throw away any prospect of achieving his objective of becoming an astronaut, and his ultimate dream of being the first man on Mars, on such a naive and outlandish enterprise?
Promising raw materials indeed, and the byline “the amazing story behind the most audacious heist in history” certainly does entice, clearly marking the book out as a thriller. The really intriguing element explores what on earth, or beyond earth, were Thad’s motivations? He’d shown the necessary dedication and commitment to get into NASA, so he was in the place he always wanted, and needed to be, to make his dreams come true. So what changed, what were the triggers that enabled him to rationalise the plan to steal moon rocks, a plan that could so clearly jeopardise all of this? Are we really to believe he did it all for love, to impress a girl he’d recently met? To express some sense of rebellion against his straight-laced Mormon upbringing? Or was he always a fantasist, a risk-taker looking for thrills and opportunities to be the centre of attention? Ezrich flirts with, and skirts with, all of these possible explanations, but none are rendered convincing within the constrained dramatic narrative structure of the book.
Although Ezrich cites numerous sources for the dramatization of the story, including court documents and interviews with various protagonists, he is open in acknowledging that interviews with Thad Roberts form the primary source and that the book is therefore very much written from his perspective. Unfortunately this limits the scope of the book; the supporting characters are not well drawn and Ezrich fails to really unravel Roberts’ motivations as it becomes apparent that Roberts doesn’t seem to have adequately explained them to himself, let alone to Ezrich. What we are left with is a not particularly well written, middle-brow thriller, a Dan Brown for the space age. While we never get to fully understand Roberts’ motivations, is there perhaps a clue, via the dramatization technique, into what may have motivated Ezrich to write the book? Are we really dealing with another book to film option? If so, this would follow on the success of The Social Network, adapted from Ezrich’s previous book “The Accidental Billionaires.” If the producers could get Aaron Sorkin to weave his script-writing magic again, maybe Sex on The Moon could work as a film. It would certainly stand a very good chance of achieving that rare feat, a film that improves on the original book.
Article by: Steve Cox
posted:31 Jan 2012
Related Link: www.randomhouse.ca
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