Reviews with content warning for Blood - Jaws

Next month, February, celebrates the 50th ANNIVERSARY of the book release! *mind blowing*

I'd been wanting to read the book for some time, and I was trying to hold out until the anniversary month, but I had just finished a book and... Let's just say, OMG! It's soooo much better than the movie! And I'm soooo disappointed by what was not incorporated into the movie, too!

But if they ever remake JAWS, which they should never, never, never do... They seriously need to include some of the left-out plot details!

I will say, that I read White Shark last year and thought, "ok, this is good, but it's not amazing..." and was questioning if I should read JAWS. Well, if you've read any of Benchley's other books and you're not sure about JAWS, you should definitely read it!

Content Warnings

aristata9000's review against another edition

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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

perthalus's review against another edition

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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

czoltak's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

“Rising at him from the darkling blue—slowly, smoothly—was the shark. It rose with no apparent effort, an angel of death gliding toward an appointment foreordained.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I definitely prefer the movie, but I loved getting to experience the original source material and seeing the origins of these characters. I loved the emphasis on the town and its people as it added layers to this and made it more than just a shark story. Also, Benchley’s inclusion of scientific specifics elevated the story and made it that much more compelling.

Content Warnings

mcotton2479's review against another edition

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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

bearystarry's review against another edition

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dark 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? Yes

0.25

I literally only finished this book so I could rate it because I hated it so much. The only interesting/good parts were the parts about the shark, everything else was a nightmarish mixture of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and weird rape fantasies. And also some copaganda and animal torture/cruelty for fun, I guess.

Content Warnings

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