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A review by birdkeeperklink
Close to Shore: The Terrifying Shark Attacks of 1916 by Michael Capuzzo
2.0
There were certain aspects of this that I really enjoyed. The context in the first few chapters is wonderful--really helped set up just what a shock such violent shark attacks would have been at that time. Also at the beginning, the information on great white shark biology and behavior was really interesting. However, this 'stage-setting' and random tidbits got very, very annoying as the book stretched on, partly because it began to meander farther and farther away from the subject of the book, distracting from the 'action' and also creating frustration as I found myself drawn down a completely different path in the middle of suspenseful moments. The book might easily have been pared down by 150 pages if some of these non-essential wanderings and, occasionally, repetitious information had been excised. In the beginning of the book, it provided context, which is wonderful--by the end, it was no longer acceptable and had become static. It also had a somewhat 'cinematic' feel, at times--by which I mean that it seemed as though the author was attempting to write a very detailed screenplay, rather than a literary nonfiction piece. This is not a good feeling, for me, anyway.
I also found it somewhat aggravating that the author did such an excellent job making us feel as though we knew these victims and their families, only to completely exclude any follow-through--we're never told what happened to the families of the victims (or the victim who survived) in the years after the attacks. That frustrated me, because the author had done a beautiful job making me care about these people. Possibly that information wasn't available, but even saying so would have helped.
All in all, the book dragged. The off-topic context and the shark stories from other years and locations were interesting, but by the end had become tiresome. Half as much of that would have done. I'm sure many others would find this book wonderful--personally, I preferred Vaillant's [b:The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival|7624594|The Tiger A True Story of Vengeance and Survival|John Vaillant|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320490797s/7624594.jpg|10109525] for an example of a good animal attack book. All of the digressions were on-topic, save for a few sections on context (but those didn't go overboard), and the suspense was maintained. It, too, ran on the long side, but unlike with this book, I never felt a struggle to continue reading it.
Still, this book has its merits. There is more information than can be found in the Wikipedia article on the subject. Just be aware that there is a lot of extraneous information.
I also found it somewhat aggravating that the author did such an excellent job making us feel as though we knew these victims and their families, only to completely exclude any follow-through--we're never told what happened to the families of the victims (or the victim who survived) in the years after the attacks. That frustrated me, because the author had done a beautiful job making me care about these people. Possibly that information wasn't available, but even saying so would have helped.
All in all, the book dragged. The off-topic context and the shark stories from other years and locations were interesting, but by the end had become tiresome. Half as much of that would have done. I'm sure many others would find this book wonderful--personally, I preferred Vaillant's [b:The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival|7624594|The Tiger A True Story of Vengeance and Survival|John Vaillant|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320490797s/7624594.jpg|10109525] for an example of a good animal attack book. All of the digressions were on-topic, save for a few sections on context (but those didn't go overboard), and the suspense was maintained. It, too, ran on the long side, but unlike with this book, I never felt a struggle to continue reading it.
Still, this book has its merits. There is more information than can be found in the Wikipedia article on the subject. Just be aware that there is a lot of extraneous information.