Reviews with content warning for Gore - Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916

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Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo

3 reviews

bookshelf_al's review against another edition

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dark informative tense slow-paced

2.5

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zakcebulski's review against another edition

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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.

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angelfireeast24's review against another edition

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informative reflective fast-paced

5.0

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