#evolution of claire

[dearinglovebot]

fun fact of the day: claire likes to make detailed lists and color codes anything she can. this is a subtle nod to the fact she is soooooo autistic

[skyyflakes]

Yapping about Evolution of Claire because I have nothing else to read so I re-read the book again since my mother refuses to buy me a new one😇 #1.1

(NOTE: All lines/quotes belong to the book and author itself, not mine!)

Chapter 2

"Well, I thought so," I say. "He apparently didn't, because he blew up at me and showed up at my dorm and said all this stuff about how I was cold-blooded, just like my creepy lizard. Apparently, he was just hanging around to sleep with me, and I messed with his plans."

(This is my opinion. I’m basing this off of the fan-fictions I’ve read🙈😅..)

This part of the chapter honestly made me a bit sad. Like in Jurassic World, Claire is known for her professionalism—and in most fan fictions, she is sometimes described as a “cold-hearted” person, just as she is being described in the book.

“Apparently, he was just hanging around to sleep with me, and I messed with his plans."

This part honestly got me ☹️. I felt sad for Claire since she had to experience how that guy—Jackson—only slept with her for selfish reasons. (Basing this on fan fictions again—some writers create plots where Owen or his friends bet him to try and sleep with Claire because she is considered “cold” or “distant” toward other people.)

And the “I messed with his plans” part—Jackson probably thought that because she was “weird” with her lizards and other interests, his friends or others might saw him as weird or uncool for dating Claire.

[freakrenaissance]

Sloooooowly realizing that I can't find any of my favorite clawen fics because they're all so awesome, they're being turned into novels 😍 😭 😏 ::sigh:: bittersweet fangirl problems

Any insights or links are much appreciated! 😆

Update! I found a bunch! Search clawen on my page here 😍 back on the hunt this weekend!

[ofdearing]

“I am interested in how you think, Claire. You are someone who wants to build a better world. And so do I. This island is part of that. It is an indulgence, on one hand, of course. A man and his dinosaurs,” His eyes sweep down, self deprecation in them. “But I have a built a whole new world. Piece by piece. ‘An ultimate, never-ending, always-nuturing challenge. a chance to start anew.’ It is a true gift.”

My cheeks burn red, because he’s quoting my essay back to me. Simon Masrani is quoting me to me, and I don’t even know what to say in response.

                               - The Evolution of Claire, Tess Sharpe.

[somepinkthing]

I just finished reading Tess Sharpe's book, The Evolution of Claire, and I'll admit that I'm a bit conflicted. I would give it either a 3.5 or 4/5 rating because, while I really enjoyed it, I can also see where it fell flat as far as character dialogue and action goes. However, also felt that it did a great job tying the conflicting parts of claire’s personality that we see in the movies together by setting her on the path to becoming who she is in JW. I feel that the book really builds this idealistic, young claire up to eventually become the woman we end up seeing. Though, I will admit that some of the hints of claire starting to slip into her new persona are easy to miss. So, as a tribute to claire, I’m gonna do a pros and cons list

CONS:

The dialogue and character interactions seemed a bit forced to me. It wasn't like it was completely unbelievable but that somehow made it seem weirder? If that makes sense. It was like the activities and themes of the interactions were familiar enough to me but then the characters spoke to each other and it often just seemed a bit... off. A lot of the references and quips felt forced and some of the lines simply didn’t feel like something a 19 yo would say or hear their peers say

The book did lack actual action. Which may be because the book is a prequel to a movie. Obviously it couldn't detail a big event where many people died because then how would you explain the park opening at all? But it was almost as if the author wanted every single thing claire did to have meaning and to say something about her person. Like, I can see that Claire caring enough about the dinosaurs to spend a whole day planning and then another painting a gyrosphere showcases that claire has a heart and believes in justice. I just didn't need that spelled out for me time and time again and I didn't need like 3 whole chapters of her doing just that. It just got a bit redundant to hear about how meaningful claire's actions were again and again.

Claire’s characterization. Claire does seem a far cry from the person we see at the beginning of JW right up to the end of the book. And its not like the characterization is completely off but something is absolutely missing. Most notably, somewhere between the end of the book and the beginning of the movie, claire completely lost her investment in the dinosaurs and her sense of wonder. And it’s actually her attitude towards dinosaurs that is the hardest to reconcile. Unfortunately, during the course of a lifetime, losing your sense of wonder is a common enough occurrence, as is regaining it. But it’s hard to imagine this young claire growing into someone who calls the dinosaurs ‘assets’. My real criticism for it is that the book should have added an epilogue or given us more glimpses of older claire and her thoughts on what happened between then and now. That may have made the change in attitude seem smoother. Because, while I can see this claire becoming the one we’re introduced to, it did take a lot of thinking. So I do think some dialogue from an older claire may have made that easier for readers to follow

I’ll be honest, if I accept the book events as canon, a lot of how claire reacts to the indominous doesn’t add up. I would expect her to be more upset about it. I would especially expect her to have more of a reaction to masrani’s cover up, either trying to justify it or being against it. THOUGH I suppose that depends on what we’re assuming happened in the interim and what lessons claire had to learn. Plus, doing a prequel after the sequel has already been made does make it hard to make everything line up

That scene at the end, where claire pets the dinosaur. I feel that she should have turned away given the state of mind the author was trying to convey and the direction she was trying to take claire’s character. That would have been more in line with the tone of the last few chapters and with the person claire would eventually become by JW. However, I can also appreciate trying to end the story on a hopeful note and it’s not a game changer

PROS:

First off, feminism. Acknowledgment of privilege from a main character. Casual LGBTQ relationships. Girls supporting girls. Guys supporting girls. This book’s got it all.

The book really does well in helping bridge the gap between the claire we see at the end of JW and what she becomes by Fallen Kingdom. It brings more depth to her development in the time skip. How, with the events of this book, claire went around full circle. Returning to her old calling and the drive that was always there after the disaster on Isla Nublar but this time with more fortitude and experience

It also did a pretty nice job of giving some backstory behind why claire does some of the things she does. For example, why she stayed on the island, why park security is so important to her. It also gives some of her reactions in the movies some depth--her aversion to the dinosaurs at first, her distress at the sight of the dead dinosaurs, her desperation to stay in control once the indominous escaped. The book ties itself in pretty well in that respect

I loved the characters, despite their unnatural interactions with claire. It's refreshing to see a book about characters with ambition. Characters who aren't the wandering hero, who want more, who seek out more. And claire and her friends were definitely that. Plus, the book also gave movie characters like masrani and wu some more background

Claire’s internal dialogue was amazing. Every part of it

I really like how they let claire be idealistic and young. That actually makes it more believable to me that claire would have such a distant and pragmatic reaction to dinosaurs and other people later in life. No one starts out as jaded as claire was in the first movie without some kind of reason. A careful but idealistic teen suffering a major betrayal from two close friends which caused her boyfriend to die in her arms, horribly mauled at the jaws of a creature that once gave her hope and inspiration would do it.

Most of the characterization seems to be pretty spot on for a younger claire tbh. Her interactions with people, her likability despite her unconventional personality, her ambition, her need for control and organization, her aggressiveness, her forward thinking attitude, her righteousness; those were all intact.   

Although I criticized it earlier, I believe the book does a good job of setting 19 yo claire up to become who she is in the first movie, just that it takes too many mental acrobatics to get it. But once I saw it, all the pieces did fall into place

You have to consider time as a factor. Assuming claire stayed with masrani all the way to the beginning of JW, then she has spent over a decade cultivating the park from its beginning by the time the movie rolls around. That is a lot of time for a young woman to go through some major changes. And claire, after justin’s death, is definitely on the brink. 

Environment also has a part to play. The deeper she gets into this park and the more her role at the park plays into her need to feel in control, the harder it’ll get for her to take that step back and realize what this is becoming. 

At her most vulnerable, claire was surrounded by people like Henry Wu and Simon Masrani--her heroes. While they meant well, they filled her with their skewed, biased ideas of the truth and of what was right for her. They sold her their explanation for what happened with both iz and justin which claire started to normalize it in an attempt to feel sane. Then they gave her a concrete goal that they thought would be best for her and she clung onto it. She grabs onto this goal set out before her and focuses on that instead of actually dealing with her trauma and fear. Instead of learning to accept the situation and move on, claire’s decided that the situation was her fault and that she should have been able to control it. Going forward, she intend to make sure this never happens again, to be in total control next time. Pile that mentality onto trauma, respect for rules and regulations, trust issues that have been worsened by betrayal, and an overwhelming sense of responsibility and you have a slippery slope---one that I can absolutely see taking claire to where she ends up in the beginning of JW.  

At the beginning, claire is someone who has the whole world set out in front of her. And some of that hope and idealism is based in innocence and the illusion that she’s safe. By the end of the book, that’s taken from her in the worst way. Now, every dinosaur related disaster will hit too close to home for her. Every injury will make her think “that could’ve been another justin”. Sure, she still loves dinosaurs to some extent, but what happens the first time one of them hurts one of her staff on her watch? And once people start entering the park? How far is claire from realizing she can't keep everyone safe without hurting some dinosaurs? In the last chapter, claire admits she’s now looking over her shoulder, waiting. She’s already started seeing dinosaurs as dangerous creatures--that isn’t that far of a jump from ‘Asset That Needs to be Controlled’ given her self-imposed mission and mental state

The book leaves claire on a precipice. She’s one sticky, dino-related mishap from realizing that there is no absolute control or safety where dinosaurs are involved. And that’ll snap something in her. She’s running scared and is trying to pretend she's not. She will do anything she has to do to feel safe and in control again. Slippery slope.

[rawwrchie]

“ Can you change in a handful of breaths? Because I am changed. I feel so different, like my very molecular structure has been altered. I think I know what it is. This is what it feels like to survive. ”  the evolution of claire, tess sharpe

[dearinglovebot]

i need to talk about how blatantly autistic-coded claire is in the evolution of claire novel. like it drives me up a wall. 

she almost failed a poetry class because she doesn’t get gardens that aren’t gardens aka can’t interpret metaphors well plus she can’t really grasp the emotional weight to them. there’s this line about how poetry makes her feel and it’s just... 

“I felt completely out of my league.  Like I was just scraping along the surface of something that everyone else was diving deep beneath. And no matter what I did, I couldn’t quite slip under with everyone and get it.” 

 like that is word for word what the experience is. that is basically a diagnosis. 

and claire has always been established as a routine and order loving person, but this novel cranks it up to a ten. she’s making lists, she’s color coding, she makes spreadsheets, she keeps a copy of every paper she’s written and the notes she wrote for the classes, hell she types them so she will never lose them. even if she’s never forgotten something because her mind is a vault.

“--I cannot go with the flow or whatever. I am scientific. I am methodical. I like to fix things. And I’m determined enough to do it. To find the problem and pull it out from the roots so it doesn’t return. 

and then the whole point of her mother and karen just not getting her as a person. they love her but they don’t get that her language isn’t in sentimentality or the arts. it is in puzzle solving and tangibility. there are points where they’re just bewildered by her as a person, and she’s left feeling like something’s wrong with her even if they don’t mean it like that. hell, no one seems to really get her. she says she didn’t have any friends beyond her lizard until high school.

Sometimes I feel that way. Like my shoulders are rubbed raw from people’s expectations. Like I should not be, but I am. I persist, even if they don’t like it. 

this is not a neurotypical woman! this is just scratching at the top of the list.  EVERYTHING in her characterization points to neurodivergency, specifically autism. 

[heartsyhawk]

The only thing about Jurassic World Claire that doesn’t make any sense really after reading Evolution of Claire is the scene where the hurt dinosaur dying makes her realize these are living breathing creatures not just assets. I realize its been like ten years for her and the movie came first but...this girl jumped into a pit with a triceratops to remove a stick from a wound and spent hours troubleshooting a brachiosaurus needing to play and then her friend [redacted]. I...don’t especially think she’d need a reminder of that. Extra especially since she got the internship as an animal rights activist who wanted to be a lawyer for animal rights.