A review by chilihobbes
Jaws by Peter Benchley

dark sad 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

1.0

I’ve read this before, so I thought I knew what I was getting into, but man. The film is in my top 3 favourites of all time. It’s a timeless classic, perfectly shot, perfectly edited (mostly, but this is what happens after all) all-time classic music, rich and developed characters throughout the entire cast, and performances from the 3 mains that and just so real, and lived in, and complimentary to each other, that the film can be watched time and again and enjoyed each time.

But this isn’t about the film I love. It’s about the book. Sigh.

Anyway, things actually start with a massively high note. Chrissie Watkins. The initial pages of the book concerning her midnight swim are told from both her and the sharks’ perspective. Both are outstanding. The shark particularly is described in an engaging way, both realistic and ethereal. I’m not one to be scared by films, never mind books, but (perhaps due to a generous amount of thalassophobia) the descriptions of the shark as it gets closer to Chrissie genuinely unsettled me. Particularly immediately prior to the first strike, as it glides past her a little lower and off to the side, just enough to raise her in the water a tiny amount. Oh man. The actual attack is brutal, and surprisingly accurate with a blitz attack from below after an initial quick strike. There’s also a very clear moment when the narrative changes from the shark attacking a girl named Chrissie, to the shark destroying and eating a corpse. It’s jarring, which is incredibly effective.

Sadly, it’s mostly all downhill from there. Actual scenes like this from the sharks’ perspective are very rare (the shark is actually not much of a presence at all, much less than the film where it famously isn’t seen much until the end). The only other highlight before the climactic fight aboard the Orca is the attack on Alex Kitner, which is pretty much on par with the first attack.

One thing I did enjoy (if you can call it that) about the book was making note of all the differences from the film. Yes, yes, this is a book review technically, but both the book and film are so successful it’s impossible not to compare and contrast. It’s the reason I read the book anyway, so this is what happens. And the differences come in many sized. There’s the small, little background things, the location of Amity (it’s a town on Long Island in the book, instead of its own entity in the film). Then there’s the vast. Like every single character.
Look at Martin and Ellen Brody. Their relationship in the film is charming and genuinely loving. They’re a strong couple, both (I assume) from New York moving to a small town. Committed to each other, supporting each other. I love it. Then there’s the book Brody bunch. Ellen is a previously rich socialite who married Martin, a poor Amity native. She has forever looked back at the “good old days” and seemingly resented her new, and poorer in a multitude of ways, life. Martin is apparently an alcoholic. Bitter, jealous, suffering from a crippling inferiority complex. He takes an instant dislike to Hooper, and displays an ironic and snobby “I live here all year round” superiority that was aimed at film-Brody. Then there’s Hooper. By the time he’s introduced I hated everyone and he was a breath of fresh air. He’s the younger brother of one of Ellen’s ex’s, youthful handsome and well educated, but charming and endearingly sincere in his love of fish, In one paragraph he gives an actually beautiful description of sharks that I wholeheartedly agree with. His description reminded me of Paul Walker so that was my mental image, and I liked him. Up to a point. Oof. More on Hooper later. Then there’s Quint. When he’s introduced to the actual plot, it’s very near the end, and by then I was gasping for someone, anyone, to like. And Quint stepped up. To say he was my favourite character despite a frankly abominable streak of cruelty to fish says a lot. Mind you, even side characters aren’t safe. Remember Deputy Hendricks? He’s quite likeable huh? A little naïve but earnest and honest right? Wrong. He’s lazy, sexist and racist. Remember the mayor? He was kind of a sleaze huh? But in the end, he did the right thing, and only had the town interests at heart right? Wrong. He’s a mafia stooge who was blackmailed into investing every cent he had when the shark drove prices down, and only wants the beaches open to drive prices back up and make them a profit. Because that’s what a shark book needs. Profiteering from fluctuating property values.

Now, on to the subject of Ellen being unhappy in her marriage, and Hooper turning up. Ha! You thought his likable character would remain unscathed right? Wrong. Hooper reminds Ellen of “the old days”. Book Ellen is irredeemable. A chronically disappointed, scheming psychopath. When Hooper dies (spoiler) she feels sad at his passing, but “considers him a part of her past”. She bumped uglies with him 3 days prior. Savage. Their first few exchanges are actually quite fun too. One at a post office was funny because Hooper managed to flatter her (I fell in love with you back then, he says) then bring her crashing down (I fell in love with all my brothers girlfriends, he adds) in the same sentence. Ellen orchestrates a dinner party purely to get closer to Hooper, who still seems a pretty straight shooting guy. He talks to the Brody kids and seems friendly enough to Martin (who doesn’t reciprocate, in fact he’s ridiculously obtuse to every guest). Martin asks Ellen to invite a young girl for Hooper to be set up with, but that doesn’t go anywhere. This was Ellen’s intention from the start, as we later find out the girl is a lesbian. Ellen wants Hooper to herself even at this early stage.

And so this tragic tale ends up with her master plan. Lie to Martin, arrange a lunch date with Hooper, get herself shaved and apply perfume to her nipples for some reason (an odd choice if she wants them in Hooper’s mouth), skip work, and thus begins a frankly jaw-droppingly cringe inducing lunchtime discussion. I don’t feel like I should spoil it here, but oh my days. It’s actually even noticeable when Hooper goes from innocent lunch guest (I bet these aren’t real scallops. Are these real scallops? I told you! They’re not real scallops) to getting on board with the toe curling sex talk. Then it’s nothing but r*pe fantasies, Ellen stating that all girls dream of being prostitutes to sleep with tons of men (I had no idea), penis size, and then it’s straight to pound town. Luckily for me, it cut from them leaving the diner, to Ellen returning home. Phew. BUT NO! She thinks back to the act so we’re treated to Hooper’s O face in all its 1 minute long bug-eyed glory. Smashing.

But it’s not the only super weird sexual references Benchley treats us to. I admit I don’t know anything about him, just that he hates this book (as do I Peter, as do I) and he’s obsessed with penis size. And not just humans, but the titular shark too. Yep, at the end, during the “cage in the water” scene, as Hooper is marveling at the shark, he extends his hand from the cage to touch it. From its “pectoral fins, the pelvic fin, to the thick genital claspers”. Thick. Genital. Claspers. Cheers Peter. I mean I’m not too shocked by this point in the book, since he already had me googling “pudenda” to find out what it is. I naively hoped it was something Huttese that Greedo might throw at Han Solo, but nope. The fact this word cropped up when young teenage boys were eyeing up the girls on the beach is super fucking creepy.
So. Questionable stuff all round, melodrama, unlikable characters, sharks hanging dong, the works.

And then, with like 10% of the book left, they hire Quint, and we’re off to sea on the Orca. Hooray! As I said before, by this point Hooper is a schlong-size obsessed scumbag, Brody is a paranoid alcoholic who is convinced Ellen fucked Hooper (maybe not so paranoid after all) and Quint guts sharks only to throw them back overboard still alive, to eat themselves and be eaten by other sharks. For a giggle. He also has a stillborn baby dolphin to use as special bait. And he’s the most likable one! Partly because he’s the most true to the film, partly because the shit he gives to Hooper is good fun (when Hooper going in the cage he said “I should have brought weights” to which Quint replies “you should have brought brains”). Hooper, shark expert that he is, begins to theorise that Carcharadon carcharias might actually be the same species as Carcharadon megalodon, and that perhaps there’s a 100 foot long porker out there somewhere, since megalodon only went extinct 30,000 years ago. Nice idea mate, you’re only out by 3.5 million years. And that’s Otodus megalodon to you. Quint quite rightly openly mocks him at this point for believing in fairy tales. Chalk up another point for Quint. Hooper dies in the cage here, and it’s not a sad moment. Again, Benchley can’t resist reminding us that knobs exist (Quint shouting to the shark as it breaches the water “I can see your cock” makes all the sense in the world, but I think he’ll find they’re actually thick genital claspers). And so we reach the end game. The shark breaches again and lands on the boat, destroying it and causing it to sink. Quint, who has speared it 3 times already spears it again, only this time a rope is wrapped round his leg, so when the shark goes down below the surface again, Quint is dragged with it. This is the third and last genuinely impactful event of the book. The image of Quint being dragged down is horrific.

And then we’re there, the final showdown. Man versus fish, Brody versus shark. He has no weapons here, just a cushion (don’t ask). The shark swims towards him, dragging 3 barrels. At the last second Brody closes his eyes, awaiting the incoming unbearable pain of death in the crushing, razor filled maw. Nothing. He opens his eyes, and the shark has stopped right in front of him, dead, and sinks beneath the surface. What a fucking anticlimax. This is a worse climax than Ellen had to put up with staring at (although mercifully much quicker). To be fair, there’s one final strong image, as the 3 barrels stop the shark sinking to the bottom, so it’s suspended barely on the border of visibility in the murky water… the corpse of Quint still attached and floating 20 feet closer to the surface. Gruesome, but a great visual.
Then Brody swims to shore.

There’s a fun theory regarding Indiana Jones, that all 5 films wouldn’t be any different if he hadn’t been involved. Book Brody is in the same boat. If he hadn’t been present, the attacks would have happened, the beaches would have been temporarily closed then reopened, ultimately Quint would have gone out, speared it 4 times, and died alongside the shark. The true stroke of genius for Spielberg was only keeping the concept of the book, and the character names, and completely rewriting the rest. I read that Benchley had a go at adapting the script, and thank fuck it wasn’t used, or we’d all be up to our knees in awful flirting, depressing broken relationships, and genitals. Mind you, is there anything better than pudenda? (Yes, a really good book! Which this isn’t).

I thoroughly recommend this book to everyone. It’s fucking awful. Amusingly, it was at number 2 on the New York Times best seller list. For 44 weeks! Beaten the entire time by Watership Down (a far superior book). Jaws is incredibly dated, (the language is very “of its time” and even then I’m not sure people in the 70s actually called women dames) which I guess you could argue is because of course a lot of time has passed since it was written. I would counter though by saying an equal time has passed since the film, which stands up today. So go watch that, like I’m about to do.

2 out of 10, 1 each for the first 2 shark attacks. 
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