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blairsatellite's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
hopeful
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape
brindolyn's review against another edition
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
julie_sapienza's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
kate_kd's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
jenmangler's review against another edition
2.0
I really liked the first 2/3 of the book. The local politics and the divide between the year-round locals and the summer people intrigued me. I thought it was well-written. But overall, I'm not a fan of this book. I really hated the way Ellen was written. She was really the only major female character and to make her such a crappy, self-involved snob seemed sexist to me. And the book did nothing to make me love Quint, my favorite character from the movie. Weirdly, my least favorite part of the book was my favorite part of the movie: the hunt for the shark. Whoever wrote the script did a masterful job of turning this boring and seemingly endless hunt from the book into something that I really enjoyed on the screen.
hotdogbun's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
shadow1ane's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book is a product of its time, and that should be remembered going in. Great story, and tense, but also dated.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism, Homophobia, and Classism
royalwaves's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I’m so glad that I never bought a copy of this book and just borrowed it from the library. I would never recommend this. If you love the Jaws movies like I do save yourself the time.
The only good parts were the few scenes with the shark. I was expecting this to be a lot like the movie but this was like 90% about infidelity. The only reason I’m not rating this lower is that I don’t hate this book, I’m just
extremely disappointed.
extremely disappointed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity
Moderate: Child death, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Misogyny, Blood, Racism, and Animal death
Minor: Vomit, Rape, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
dagreatcatsby's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
I was so excited to read this, as I love the movie. But it fell so short of my expectations.
the_sunken_library's review against another edition
2.0
The film was significantly better.
I get it's an old book but the casual racism, homophobia and sexism is jarring.
Peter Benchley has the seed of a good idea, hence such an iconic movie being spawned from it, but his writing is dull in my opinion. I didn't find it scary or tense. The attacks are fast and unimpressive. The shark simply sounds like a shark and every character in the book is awful. The descriptions of abject animal cruelty are quite frankly disgusting. I had hoped they would all get eaten and the shark would triumph.
What a boring ending as well. Beyond disappointing.
I get it's an old book but the casual racism, homophobia and sexism is jarring.
Peter Benchley has the seed of a good idea, hence such an iconic movie being spawned from it, but his writing is dull in my opinion. I didn't find it scary or tense. The attacks are fast and unimpressive. The shark simply sounds like a shark and every character in the book is awful. The descriptions of abject animal cruelty are quite frankly disgusting. I had hoped they would all get eaten and the shark would triumph.
What a boring ending as well. Beyond disappointing.