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hjb_128's review against another edition
adventurous
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Infidelity, Alcohol, Gore, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Child death, Rape, and Animal death
novellearts's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-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
3.0
TW: Rape
I was struggling with what to rate this.. I think I would’ve given it a 4/5 if not for the horrid dialogue between two specific characters in the book.
Exhibit A:
“‘That’s supposed to be every schoolgirl’s fantasy,’ she ventured playfully. ‘What is?’ ‘To be a … you know, a prostitute. To sleep with a whole lot of different men.’”
Exhibit B:
“‘To fantasies,’ he said. ‘Tell me about yours.’ His eyes were a bright, liquid blue, and his lips were parted in a half smile. Ellen laughed. ‘Oh, mine aren’t very interesting. I imagine they’re just your old run-of-the-mill fantasies.’ ‘There’s no such thing,’ said Hooper. ‘Tell me.’ He was asking, not demanding, but Ellen felt that the game she had started demanded that she answer. ‘Oh, you know,’ she said. Her stomach felt warm, and the back of her neck was hot. ‘Just the standard things. Rape, I guess, is one.’”
Exhibit B then evolves into Ellen describing examples of the above. Being a book about sharks, I never expected dialogue between the characters to be anything close to this. Especially after seeing the movie first.
Also, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a “yawning” vagina before now.
I was struggling with what to rate this.. I think I would’ve given it a 4/5 if not for the horrid dialogue between two specific characters in the book.
Exhibit A:
“‘That’s supposed to be every schoolgirl’s fantasy,’ she ventured playfully. ‘What is?’ ‘To be a … you know, a prostitute. To sleep with a whole lot of different men.’”
Exhibit B:
“‘To fantasies,’ he said. ‘Tell me about yours.’ His eyes were a bright, liquid blue, and his lips were parted in a half smile. Ellen laughed. ‘Oh, mine aren’t very interesting. I imagine they’re just your old run-of-the-mill fantasies.’ ‘There’s no such thing,’ said Hooper. ‘Tell me.’ He was asking, not demanding, but Ellen felt that the game she had started demanded that she answer. ‘Oh, you know,’ she said. Her stomach felt warm, and the back of her neck was hot. ‘Just the standard things. Rape, I guess, is one.’”
Exhibit B then evolves into Ellen describing examples of the above. Being a book about sharks, I never expected dialogue between the characters to be anything close to this. Especially after seeing the movie first.
Also, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a “yawning” vagina before now.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Rape, Sexual content, Death, and Child death
eyebrightt_'s review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
tba
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, and Child death
Minor: Rape
repeated instances of both human & animal death. a character describes a rape fantasy in chapter 8.celisabeth's review against another edition
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.75
This book held some really problematic pieces for me - such as racism, uncomfortable infidelity, sexism in the fact that Ellen (Brody's wife) serves almost no purpose in the story whatsoever except as a product of anger and other issues, and that's not to mention the apparent rape fantasy "all women have."
We can also talk about the endless fact that this novel sparked so many fears of sharks, who mostly don't attack people (seriously, it's supposedly more likely to get struck by lightning than to get attacked by a shark) and aren't truly attracted to women's menstrual cycles. (I will note Benchley wrote an introduction to the edition I read retracting a lot of those issues and problems faced in the book.)
But even through the problems, the book was an easy read with strong writing and an engaging storyline. The characters could have been developed more and I wished for more tense reactions when the shark did appear. Nonetheless, this book is finely written, but I would say (in this case), you could really just watch the movie and forego the book.
We can also talk about the endless fact that this novel sparked so many fears of sharks, who mostly don't attack people (seriously, it's supposedly more likely to get struck by lightning than to get attacked by a shark) and aren't truly attracted to women's menstrual cycles. (I will note Benchley wrote an introduction to the edition I read retracting a lot of those issues and problems faced in the book.)
But even through the problems, the book was an easy read with strong writing and an engaging storyline. The characters could have been developed more and I wished for more tense reactions when the shark did appear. Nonetheless, this book is finely written, but I would say (in this case), you could really just watch the movie and forego the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Child death, Animal death, and Gore
Moderate: Grief
aristata9000's review against another edition
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? No
1.0
I hesitate to call this book a thriller. I was disappointed by the characters and plot line. The focus for the first part of the book seemed to be on Brody’s wife’s unhappiness with her life rather than the shark that was killing people in town. The ending was disappointing to say the least and had no punch. Even the hunt and subsequent fight with the shark did not have high enough stakes, which could have been fixed with better writing. Just watch the movie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Xenophobia, Fatphobia, Lesbophobia, Antisemitism, Body shaming, Child death, Racism, and Sexism
Minor: Rape
zakcebulski's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
You know in school when teachers always talk shit about movies "oh the book is always better than the movie"?
This book... Jaws is absolutely the exception.
If I read this book in 1974 upon release I don't know that I would have been able to stomach reading this shit.
Every single character is some level of slimey, or unlikable. I thought the reviews were being funny when they said that they were eventually rooting for the shark. But, holy shit, they were not. I could not stand any of the characters, and I think that that shows what a fucking mastermind Spielberg and Gottlieb are for taking all of these shitty ass characters and making a truly remarkable adaptation of this book.
Why is Hooper such an asshole "shit-don't-stink" type in this book?
Why was there a fucking affair between Ellen Brody and Hooper? Why was this shoehorned in?
I mean this with every single fiber of my being that if this book was 70 pages long and the only mentions of land were when the shark attacked, this book would be so much better.
I don't think that characterization matters when the characterization is fucking garbage.
Like, Ellen is an unsatisfied housewife who opts to have an affair, and then we are supposed to turn around and be so on her side when Brody wants to go risk his life to kill the shark? Fuck off. What an annoying ass character.
That drunk dinner scene was one of the most annoying scenes I have read recently. Fucking hell. And then, the whole affair was in the book for what reason? Who fucking knows. It was just there to I guess add background to Ellen and Hooper and increase tension between Hooper and Brody... But, it ultimately goes nowhere when Ellen realizes that she actually loves her husband and her tryst was for nothing. Great, this would have been such an awesome revelation with some nuance into Brody and Ellen's marriage if either character were not a fucking slog to read.
Quint was colored in to be an animal abuser in the worst way possible, for the sport of torture under the guise of being a weathered sea captain and fisherman. But, in reality it just makes him so hard to care about.
Brody is an uncertain, whiny and stymied at every turn cop who can't do fucking anything and when he does he keeps falling back on him trying to do right.
Boy oh boy can we talk about the lack of depth in subplots? Why is there a whole mafia thing that goes exactly.... nowhere? In the movie the mayor is just worried about the town going under because of the risk of closing beaches... Why can that not be in the book? Instead we have a whole ass undercooked fucking mafia subplot that makes things unnecessarily complicated.
And even the main plot- hunting a giant fucking shark- is boring as shit. Yes, the attacks are intensely written, which is great. But, when the three are on the Orca it is so fucking boring to read. Hooper dying by forcing himself to go in a shark cage? Hilarious. Fucking moron.
Quint going out not unlike fucking Ahab was cool. But, goddamn what a drag to read. I wish that the tension and thriller tone that Benchley had during the individual shark attacks translated over to the "final battle".
I was absolutely rooting for the shark throughout this book. Fuck these melodramatic ass underdeveloped ass whiny ass complaining about everything ass characters.
The only reason that this book gets a 1 star is because it served as the basis for the movie adaptation which holy fucking hell, there is no goddamn competition between this book and the movie. That, and the research that Benchley put in to reading about sharks.
This book review could have easily devolved in to a hyping up of Steven Spielberg and Carl Gottlieb and honestly it would have been more worth my time.
I don't even have anything else to say.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Animal death, Child death, and Animal cruelty
cabbagecakes's review against another edition
dark
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? No
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Animal death, Child death, Infidelity, and Death
Moderate: Homophobia and Gore
Minor: Rape, Misogyny, and Racism
perthalus's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Fashioning a mean grin like a knife, Jaws is a jagged toothed beast that carves through each page with ease. It perfectly balances character driven drama with its unforgivingly gory horror. Each page feels grimy and dirty with peak summer heat, so much so that you’d think you could smell the fish guts coming from the words. I can see why this is a classic, and why Spielberg chose to adapt it to screen, I would too.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Violence, Alcohol, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Classism, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Vomit and Toxic relationship
Minor: Rape, Misogyny, Police brutality, Racism, and Sexual assault
mcotton2479's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-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? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Gore, and Death
Moderate: Misogyny and Rape
Minor: Racism, Homophobia, and Child death
bookishbeccahale's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
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
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child death, Death, Sexual content, and Animal death