Jaws

Rating:
Summary: Forget the movie, this is the real deal.
Review: I first read Peter Benchley's "Jaws" back in the 1970's, several month before the movie was released. The story gripped me at that time and I still find myself re-reading the book every few years. I like the movie also, but the book is a far different experience. All the basic characters and plot are in the movie, but the book has a vastly different pace and an a rather enigmatic ending that may confuse readers. The central portion of the book involves a love affair between oceanographer Matt Hooper and Chief Brody's wife and you'll wonder what this has to do with the shark, but keep reading. This is a mini morality play in the making. If you can keep an open mind you might notice that this story is far more realistic. The shark is slightly smaller, less acrobatic and not as vicious as its film version. And if the ending puzzles you, then re-read the book's first paragraph. It hints at what really happens to the shark in the end. No, this isn't "great" literature. There is no deep or hidden meanings here. But it is a great time-capsule of classic 1970's pulp fiction at its best.

Rating:
Summary: Not the movie, but still good
Review: I read the book as a teenager before seeing the movie. They're very hard to compare. In the book, I liked the scientific input, as well as Hooper's discussion about the possibility of mega-sharks millions of years old surviving still in the deepest, most unfathomable parts of the ocean. I was enthralled all the way through.

What I didn't like: The characters in the book all seemed kind of sad (even before the shark came along!). None were particularly heroic, except maybe Hooper when he got in the underwater cage. Quint was just plain bizarre rather than crusty and eccentric as in the movie. Brody was a bit of a loser. Ellen was simply pathetic - Remember that dinner party she decides to give to re-live her days as one of the elite of the island? That was painful to read; it was just plain sad.

Ellen and Hooper's short-lived fling was stilted and, even as an inexperienced teenager, a lot of it struck me false. I actually wondered if Benchley himself had had much experience with women to draw on for this part of the book.

Anyhow, I'd recommend the book because there are some interesting facts about sharks and it gets into the heads (for their last few moments of life) of the people being attacked in a way that makes your blood go cold. The shark's demise was anti-climactic, though probably more realistic than the movie's dramatic explosion.

(And to the person below who referred to Hooper as a 'weasly jew college boy?' Nice. Real nice. Just what everyone needs.)

Rating:
Summary: SCREW ALL WHO HATED THIS BOOK
Review: I saw jaws several times before i actually found myself buying the book, out of curiosity, to see the story in its original form. I was about 16 or so, and i couldn't put this book down. The characters were actually human beings, entailing that they demonstrated dysfunctionality. And secondly, the shark scenes did not force you to into seeing the great white as some 25 foot, gravity defying, rubber puppet like in the spielberg movie. Granted the book had no precedent or right to show sharks as mindless, vengeful, eating machines, at least in the book you were given enough of a break to inject some form of science into the whole situation.

And what is with these previous reviewers who were so offended by the relationship between ellen brody and matt hooper? Yeah hooper was a east coast rich weasly jew college boy, who didnt think twice when it came to coming onto brody's wife. But hey, things like that happen. Relax the grip you have on your bibles people, sex is not such a bad thing to have in a novel. I kind of thought ellen's character was a pretty decent break from all the scientific innacuracies this book was based on. As i raged over the innacurate and unscientific portrayal of the great white, I imagined Ellen soothing me with her soft touch, telling me that it was all gonna be okay. Ahhhhhh...

peace.

Rating:
Summary: A few miscellaneous comments
Review: Since others have written very complete reviews, I just had a few miscellaneous observations.

I read this book before seeing the movie and found it very entertaining, although it's not my usual fare, since I don't read much horror fiction. Although Benchley exaggerates the risk to humans from great whites, which are technically man-biters and not man-eaters, this book has become synonmynous with a new genre of sea thrillers that hasn't been seen much since the swashbuckling movies of the 40's to the 60's, and which were very different movies.

Some of the plot elements are classic Hollywood horror devices, but Benchley recasts them in a new mold. For example, we know that the brainy shark biologist, played in the movie by Richard Dreyfuss, must die because he has sex with Roy Scheider's wife, who needed to be reassured about her desirability to Dreyfuss, who comes from the same New England upper-crust society she does, having married beneath her socially to Roy Scheider, the town's chief of police. So Dreyfuss comes to a bad end, getting eaten by the shark and then shot (although already dead) by Scheider. So he basically gets killed twice. The moral message here can't possibly be missed.

This is also an old convention of horror movies in Hollywood, such as the Scream series of teen slasher/horror movies, where the only people who get killed have had sex. No doubt Jonathan Edwards would approve. And no doubt great white sharks find human sex as repulsive as the old Puritans did, which no doubt accounts for many of the attacks. :-)

Overall, a suspenseful read and much better than I was expecting.

Rating:
Summary: The movie was better than the book
Review: Sometimes when I see a great movie, I just HAVE to read the book. You know the old saying,"The book is always better than the movie." Amazingly, this is the only time I thought it was the opposite.
As it happens, the movie and the book are totally differant! The book is almost entirely from the sharks point of view. I found it rather hard to relate to a shark, to be honest.
The characters in the book did have more depth than they did in the movie. I liked the fact that Chief Brody's wife had an affair. She played a much bigger roll in the scheme of this story.
All I have to say is, if you are picking up the book because you loved the movie, as I did, you are in for a let down. But Benchley does write a good story, none the less, and Jaws is worth a read. But if I can make a suggestion, read Beast instead. I just think it's a much better book.

Rating:
Summary: AS GOOD AS THE MOVIE
Review: The two are equally fantastic. The difference is that the events of the novel transpire in a more realistic fashion. It also lets you into the mind of Chief Brody. Something that a movie cannot due. There's a couple of interesting twists involving the mayor and Matt Hooper, but I'll let you read the book.

Rating:
Summary: Jump out of your chair terror!
Review: I saw this movie as a child, and I still get enraptured when I see it, such a well down show. I finally obtained a 1974 copy of the book and read it just recently. WOW! Is it ever true that the book is better than the movie! So much is explained, and the ending is so different. Peter's ability to get into the mind and soul of the character makes it more than just another thriller, it makes one to read again and again. I'm glad he did the screenplay because it was more true to the book than it would have been, although so much can't be seen in a movie that can be described in a book.

The relationship between the chief's wife and Hooper was unexpected and very realistic. The graphic detail was (astoundingly) better described than the movie could ever help to show, as well as the victims' fears and feelings before death. Talk about type-casting in the movie with Matt Hooper played by none other than Richard Dreyfuss and Quint as Robert Shaw! This book is one readers of any age will love and remember, as well as pass along to their own children. Peter Benchley is a genius!

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointing
Review: I am very disappointed with this book. I love the movie and I thought the book would have the same story with more details. But it isn't so. I'd like to know more about the shark and its impact on the city but a large part of the book is devoted to Ellen Brody and her social problems. I couldn't even finish it. Maybe it's not that bad but if you expect something similar to the movie, you will be certainly disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: The only book, of thousands I've read, worse than the film
Review: I bought "JAWS" by Peter Benchley after I heard how great it was. It wasn't. Nothing like the extraordinary film, it's perhaps the ONLY book I've ever read that is WORSE than the film adaptation.

Then I found out other people felt the same way as me, and I wondered why I had ever bothered with the novel.

Why is it so phenomenally bad? A few things:

Brody's wife, Ellen, gets into an affair with Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss in the film) and it's ridiculous. Pointless. It really serves nothing to the plot, and the detail is sickening. In the end, I thought to myself, What did that accomplish? Nothing but 10 - 15 extra pages for Benchley to fill in.

Benchley must have been "excited" when he was writing the affair parts. (If you catch my drift.) It was just so pathetically immature of Benchley to include a long passage of pointless eroticism.

The entire book was just pretty dumb. Quint is undeveloped, as well as all the characters. It's disturbing, and unlike the film, the so-called "heroes" are not nice at all. I don't think I was rooting for them -- I was rooting for the shark to eat them all!

The ending is nothing like the film, either, and it feels anti-climatic.

I've read thousands of books and this is perhaps the only one worse than the film adaptation.

The movie is far superior.

Much like "JAWS," Benchley's "Shark Trouble" is a bit stupid. But it's better than "JAWS" because it's more fun to read. I recommend this with hesitation.

Rating:
Summary: A good book, a GREAT movie...
Review: It is difficult to give Peter Benchley's "Jaws" novel a proper review because a vast majority of people saw the movie before they read the book. Therefore, even if just subconsciously, the characters of the novel already have distinct faces, mannerisms, etc. before anyone even reads the first sentence. The fact is, the movie and the novel DO differ significantly, as the film is primarily a horror/slasher/suspense film (the only difference being that instead of having a human murderer, this time, it's a shark), whereas the book is basically a character study of human nature (love, lust, greed, trust, etc.). SO, my advice to anyone reading this book is this: Don't read it expecting to be satisfied the way you were when you saw the movie.-- This book and the film focus on different things. Also, although this may be brutally honest, this book has gained most of its popularity and/or cult following BECAUSE of Speilburg's brilliant movie. Standing by itself (without the movie next to it), this book is average. It didn't alter the world of fiction the way "Jaws" (the movie) revolutionized the film world. The book borrows elements from primarily Moby Dick, while throwing in some soap-opera-esque triangle-love conflict (which seems, admitingly, unnecessary and out of place). But, any true fan of the movie should read this book for the simple sake of comparison. Honestly, this is one of the few instances where the film is better than the book, but that should not stop anyone from wanting to read it. It's a good "beach read" (um...pardon the phrase)...lacking any real literary/academic value other than pulp entertainment, but interesting and provacative because of the legend and iconic status that has developed surrounding the "Jaws" realm (book, film, amusement park rides, etc).