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btaylor131's review against another edition
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
2.75
zakcebulski's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
sad
tense
fast-paced
3.75
I have a fascination with sharks. I mean, how can you not? They're one of the most spectacular things on this planet that in itself is full of spectacular things.
I recently read the book The Devil's Teeth about the Farrallon Islands off of the coast of San Franscisco where a team of researchers lives on the islands and research the high concentration of white sharks off the shore.
I thought that this book was fascinating in its coverage of white sharks and their behavior. It as well got me interested in further reading on sharks.
This eventually got me to read about the New Jersey Shark Attack flap of 1916.
Now, this topic is one that I feel any student of the macabre will have read about a few times. I, if you look at my reading history, am no exception here. However, this topic always had that feature to me where it took place so long ago (107 years at the time of this writing), and all of the coverage was in black and white, that there was a disconnect between myself and the topics.
But, this book helped to illustrate in such a terrifying way the true horrors that took place on the New Jersey shoreline and in a fuckin' creek.
I have to commend Michael Capuzzo for the way that he brings this world to life again. There is something so difficult to comprehend when it comes to understanding who people were when they were alive when their lives are discussed by an outside source. But, I think that Capuzzo does an exceptional job here. Throughout this book you truly feel like you are experiencing the day to day relationship of these folks.
It is nice to also get to know these people more than just "name and age". Capuzzo discusses their personalities, their aspirations, their appearances, their histories- he does what I commonly commend true crime writers for- giving being to the victims. I think that it is so woefully easy to discuss people and their deaths with a sort of detached fascination. It is so easy to forget that these were people who experienced life much the same as you and I. They had families that cared for them, and missed them, and experienced grief and terror and heartbreak, and it is important that we remember that.
Now, on to the sharks.
Capuzzo does a really good job of discussing the animal Carcharodon Carcharias- the Great White Shark.
I liked learning about the lifespan of these animals and their development. I felt that this was the perfect entry level for people who are interested in these majestic beings.
I also loved how the shark's behavior was so misunderstood by even the most respected scientists of the time that it was inconceivable that sharks posed any threat to humans.
This was incredible, and it was fascinating to see how people were so... willing to believe that anything else was the perpetrator of these killings.
One thing that I do take some Umbridge with is the fact that Capuzzo seems to go forward with the idea that the Great White Shark is the perpetrator of these killings.
I would have liked to see a bit more exploration with the idea that the Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucus) was the perpetrator. While I know the bull shark and white shark are both postulated to be to blame, the bull shark seems, to me, more likely, due to the fact it can easily thrive in fresh water. However, at the time that this book was written, it may have been more concretely accepted that the white shark was the species to blame.
One further thing that I did not like about this book was the consistent villainization of sharks. There are many instances throughout wherein Capuzzo talks about how the sharks are evil, or monstrous and preternaturally dangerous. Now, there are a few times wherein Capuzzo mentions that humans are attacked by accident by sharks, because silhouettes can look similar to typical prey, so he is not casting a total "sharks hunt humans" net, but, there are still instances where he seems to take the position that sharks are out to get us.
While I do agree that these animals should be respected and humans should exhibit caution around, I do not agree that these animals are filled with bloodlust and are the most dangerous things. I cannot stand when people venture in to the domains where they are not the top of the food chain and are killed because an animal is doing what an animal does and the reaction is the mass culling of animals at random.
This is likely a controversial view, and while I do have sympathy for the victims of these attacks, I take issue with the approach of revenge killing on these amazing animals en mass. It is absolutely heartbreaking that things have only gotten worse for these animals in the century since then.
I think that this was a fascinating book that educated well the history and the events of the shark attacks of 1916 that directly influenced Jaws by Peter Benchley. There were some parts of the book that I felt were a bit offputting and parts where I felt Capuzzo did not go far enough in to his evaluation of sharks and the possibility of other species committing these attacks.
All in all, I thought that this was a great read and I think that the line was balanced very well between educating about sharks and establishing the historical context of these events.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Child death, and Gore
jamiezaccaria's review against another edition
5.0
A concise yet equally detailed account of the terrifying shark attacks of 1916. The author painted a realistic picture of life on the Jersey Shore and then shattered it over and over again with descriptions of the brutal attacks. I loved this book from beginning to end.
aimmyarrowshigh's review against another edition
5.0
I did put this down for an extended period when I hit the 75% mark -- it can veer into the verbose and many sections feel very padded with insignificant extraneous detail -- but overall, I really enjoyed Close to Shore. It takes place in a time period that I generally think I know extremely well, but I still learned things about the sociopolitics and culture of 1916 America that I'd never encountered before, and that's always a joy. If you like granular detail about architecture, street names, and lineages of ownership, you will like this book. I don't know that there's a single human being mentioned who doesn't get an extensive genealogy or immigration record or anecdote -- which again, is sometimes to the detriment of the pacing and urgency. Like, this guy just got bitten in half by a shark, man! I don't need to know RIGHT NOW about how his grandfather immigrated from this specific village that uses the term 'beast of water' for sharks, or whatever!
The chapters from the shark's "point of view" were... well, to crib from the best book review of all time: "This book gave me more information about [sharks] than I care to have." I worry that in his effort NOT to anthropomorphize the great white, Capuzzo ended up anthropomorphizing it all the more effectively with his empathy for its alien animal instincts.
I kept pulling my feet up while reading this book because the empty air felt like it might have a lost, starving great white shark in it, just waiting to chomp at them. And that's the biggest compliment one can give a book about the real-life inspiration for Jaws, right?
The chapters from the shark's "point of view" were... well, to crib from the best book review of all time: "This book gave me more information about [sharks] than I care to have." I worry that in his effort NOT to anthropomorphize the great white, Capuzzo ended up anthropomorphizing it all the more effectively with his empathy for its alien animal instincts.
I kept pulling my feet up while reading this book because the empty air felt like it might have a lost, starving great white shark in it, just waiting to chomp at them. And that's the biggest compliment one can give a book about the real-life inspiration for Jaws, right?
helterskelliter's review against another edition
4.0
Honestly, I didn’t think I’d care much for this book. I’m not very interested in historical works. Not really my literary flavor of choice. But, this was a pleasantly horrific and surprising story about something I knew very little about despite living in New Jersey, a state where my family has lived for generations. Prolific and horrifying shark attacks along the Jersey Shore just never came up.
Which is a shame.
Though I found the start of this book to be slow and some of the descriptions melodramatic at times, the actual story and the attacks are incredibly interesting. I definitely have several questions and concerns about the veracity of the events surrounding the attacks but there seems no doubt that something was on the prowl along the Jersey Shore in the summer of 1916. 4 dead people and several maimed men and children makes that clear. It is very much a real horror story, the reality that inspired Jaws sixty years later (supposedly that’s true).
Again, I found myself pleasantly taken aback by how absorbed I became in this story and the mounting intensity of the quest to find this “man-eater”. Even though I quite like sharks and find them to be terribly misunderstood, this story didn’t disturb my sensibilities too much. Much of the sensationalism is followed up with what science we now know as far as great whites are concerned. (We shockingly don’t know all that much.) There is definitely some creative license taken with the shark and the attacks but it’s not so great that it’s distracting. I found it oddly charming to imagine what this shark must be thinking, as if it were a reasoning human being.
Anyway, I feel like I’ve droned on enough. If anything I’ve mentioned sounds interesting, I recommend checking out this book~
Which is a shame.
Though I found the start of this book to be slow and some of the descriptions melodramatic at times, the actual story and the attacks are incredibly interesting. I definitely have several questions and concerns about the veracity of the events surrounding the attacks but there seems no doubt that something was on the prowl along the Jersey Shore in the summer of 1916. 4 dead people and several maimed men and children makes that clear. It is very much a real horror story, the reality that inspired Jaws sixty years later (supposedly that’s true).
Again, I found myself pleasantly taken aback by how absorbed I became in this story and the mounting intensity of the quest to find this “man-eater”. Even though I quite like sharks and find them to be terribly misunderstood, this story didn’t disturb my sensibilities too much. Much of the sensationalism is followed up with what science we now know as far as great whites are concerned. (We shockingly don’t know all that much.) There is definitely some creative license taken with the shark and the attacks but it’s not so great that it’s distracting. I found it oddly charming to imagine what this shark must be thinking, as if it were a reasoning human being.
Anyway, I feel like I’ve droned on enough. If anything I’ve mentioned sounds interesting, I recommend checking out this book~
thisbookishcat's review against another edition
Shark clickbait hoo ha ha.
Michael spends so much time poetically attempting to craft a tale of Victorian and Edwardian East Coasters during the turn of the century, going into full backgrounds of people, inventions, the wars, etc. and not enough time on the damn shark. The time he does spend on the shark? He's trying to get into the shark's mind, think as it thinks, portray its thoughts and motivations for what it did, while briefly touching on anything scientific.
As some others have pointed out in their reviews, this reads more like he was trying to write a screenplay and less like he was actually trying to present the facts and information about these shark attacks, and the science and research that has gone into understanding shark behaviour now as compared to what took place back then. I'm so disappointed because I love sharks, non-fiction, and history, so this in theory had it all. Instead, it was 30% into the novel before the first shark attack happened, in which time we've learned ALL about some hotel, some rich people loving the beach, the SCANDALOUS new bathing attire, proper etiquette for the rich and Quakers and proper Victorian men, and the use of ichthyologist a few times to make it seem like we're still talking about sharks. Did I mention the SCANDALOUS swimsuits? if he spent half as much time on the shark as he did on how shocking this swim attire was, it would probably have been a better book.
This is a big no for me. Clearly it works for some but I want my non-fiction to feel like non-fiction and not a wannabe screenplay.
TL;DR - Not enough sharks. Too many stuck up Victorian ideals. Swim suits.
Michael spends so much time poetically attempting to craft a tale of Victorian and Edwardian East Coasters during the turn of the century, going into full backgrounds of people, inventions, the wars, etc. and not enough time on the damn shark. The time he does spend on the shark? He's trying to get into the shark's mind, think as it thinks, portray its thoughts and motivations for what it did, while briefly touching on anything scientific.
As some others have pointed out in their reviews, this reads more like he was trying to write a screenplay and less like he was actually trying to present the facts and information about these shark attacks, and the science and research that has gone into understanding shark behaviour now as compared to what took place back then. I'm so disappointed because I love sharks, non-fiction, and history, so this in theory had it all. Instead, it was 30% into the novel before the first shark attack happened, in which time we've learned ALL about some hotel, some rich people loving the beach, the SCANDALOUS new bathing attire, proper etiquette for the rich and Quakers and proper Victorian men, and the use of ichthyologist a few times to make it seem like we're still talking about sharks. Did I mention the SCANDALOUS swimsuits? if he spent half as much time on the shark as he did on how shocking this swim attire was, it would probably have been a better book.
This is a big no for me. Clearly it works for some but I want my non-fiction to feel like non-fiction and not a wannabe screenplay.
TL;DR - Not enough sharks. Too many stuck up Victorian ideals. Swim suits.