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thehodgenator's review against another edition
3.0
I would rate this 3.5
There was a lot of interesting history, and as I read I could definitely see the inspiration behind 'Jaws,' but there was a lot of historical background on families of the victims that I found to be unnecessary. It slowed down the story more than moved it forward.
There was a lot of interesting history, and as I read I could definitely see the inspiration behind 'Jaws,' but there was a lot of historical background on families of the victims that I found to be unnecessary. It slowed down the story more than moved it forward.
lah_reads's review against another edition
3.0
The subject matter of this book was interesting, but I found the writing a bit dry and grew frustrated with the way the author hopped timelines to ramble about the 1800s or the 1950s before returning to the period the book was supposed to be focused on. It was very distracting from the account of the 1916 shark attacks that was the main focus of the book. There was also a tendancy to introduce a new person by giving their full history up to 1916 along with their future endeavors (essentially, a brief account of their entire life story), sometimes spending several pages to describe who they were, often only to have them appear just once or twice throughout the book. I did enjoy some portions of the book, and especially appreciated the sections that described the behaviors of sharks and why the experts believe they do the things they do, but I was over all a bit disappointed that this one didn't have the level of excitement that I was expecting.
lastminute's review against another edition
3.0
I actually never finished this book; I ended up skimming it. Partly this was I ran out of time before I had to turn it in, but not entirely. There was a lot of non-shark description going on in this book; a review I read somewhere else (can't remember where, curses) said this book offers a better glimpse of life in America at the beginning of the 20th century than it does of the shark attacks and I think that's true. I was really hoping for more of a thriller type book, so I kept getting bogged down in the description of individuals' lives and how society operated at the time. Or maybe I'm just spoiled by fiction books like Meg.
librarianonparade's review against another edition
4.0
I zipped through this in less than a day, I couldn't put it down - which I guess is the mark of a good book. It's about the 1916 shark attacks off the coast of New Jersey that gripped the entire United States and were the inspiration for Peter Benchley's Jaws. It starts quite slowly, more than a quarter of the book goes by before the first attack, but it's very good at 'setting the scene', so to speak. The actual exploration of the attacks is very well-written, dramatic and graphic, but it works just as well describing the America of the time, a society teetering on the brink between the old Edwardian Gilded Age and the new modern age. It does very well trying to explore why the shark came so close to shore, seventeen miles inland up tidal creeks at one point, what was prompting the attacks on humans and how the scientific community's disbelief that sharks were dangerous exacerbated the danger.
samirakatherine's review against another edition
3.0
I listened to 4 CDs of this on my way North for the break and the last CD today, coming home. I am endlessly entertained by popular history. Popular historians make all sorts of claims that you just can't quite substantiate!
That said, I chose this book because it was 1 of 3 books on CD available at the local used bookstore and it was far more interesting than I would have assumed a book about a killer shark was going to be.
That said, I chose this book because it was 1 of 3 books on CD available at the local used bookstore and it was far more interesting than I would have assumed a book about a killer shark was going to be.
melissakeymer's review against another edition
1.0
To be honest, DNF. Save yourself the time and read the wikipedia article instead
Unless you want to know every single detail from 1916. It's pretty much all filler.
Unless you want to know every single detail from 1916. It's pretty much all filler.
hinniger's review against another edition
3.0
I'm a lover of nonfiction, so most get at least a 3/5 which I know is ridiculously crazy! However, when you throw in a story of a great white shark attack to an already fearsome ocean goer, the ranking is justified, and I'm pretty sure I'll never step into an ocean again after this one! The attacks of 1916 were ones I had never heard about, but wow, what an amazing compilation by Capuzzo to depict the events during that time! It was a little slow getting into as usual, but truly kept my interest after a while!
gamelady's review against another edition
3.0
Very slow start but the ending wraps things up nicely.
chgoange's review against another edition
4.0
true story of a rogue white shark that attacks the unsuspecting leisure class on the Jersey Shore during the summer prior to the start of World War I.
da dum, da dum...
da dum, da dum...
amvolbrecht's review against another edition
3.0
A bit slow to get started. While I enjoyed how the book put the shark attack into the large context of the time, it could have benefitted from a bit better pacing.