Rating: 
Summary: Cheers to Spielberg, Shaw, and Benchley
Review: Jaws has all the literary elements and devices of a good book: plot, character, setting, scene, conflict and resolution, metaphor, irony, etc. And that's exactly what Jaws is--a good book. A person picking up the book who wants to read the movie, however, will be disappointed. When I first read Jaws, I had already seen the movie. I was looking for parts of the movie that I loved, to be in the book. I couldn't find many of these. I couldn't find Quint's story of the Indianapolis or when the characters sit around the table on the Orca and talk about their scars. I did, however, find a town filled with corruption. There was a mayor who was in up to his neck with the mob, a police chief's wife who had an affair with a much younger shark expert, and people who were so obsessed with killing a shark that they themselves met their own fate (Gardner and Quint).
I think a more fitting title for the book would have been Amity, but I don't think that title would have had the commercial value that the title Jaws did.
I would suggest reading the book, but if you are looking for the movie to be in the book, you will be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: No Bite in Jaws
Review: I liked the movie, so I chose to read the book. The first couple pages were OKAY, But the rest of the book was so boring, I barly finshed it. After reading 309 Pages the ending is a real downer! There was a huge boring love triangle with the 3 main characters and way to much love! but if you love the book, good for you, but I don't. Although, I love the movie.
Rating: 
Summary: A PRETTY GOOD READ BUT KINDA BORING
Review: This was a really good suspencful book. It grabs you from the opening chapter, but then when getting to the middle, they drop the shark plot for a few chapters and go into kinda boring and really stupid subplots. Some of the plots include deep sexual content and really bad language. After a while it does pick up and the suspence does come back. The movie is much much better though. It is a good read a deserves praise, but could have used a lot of work. A better Peter Benchely book is White Shark which doesn't have a dull moment and makes the shark from Jaws look like a pet goldfish.
Rating:
Summary: too slow for me
Review: Not bad- not good either. Put it this way: the ending (...), too much blabbing about this and that, no suspense at all. There are good points: good characters, good plot, perfect settings. Read it, but only if you have a taste for drama.
Rating:
Summary: Benchley's debut still has bite.
Review: "I sat down to write this story about a guy and a fish." From that simple idea Peter Benchley crafted a superthriller that spawned one of the biggest horror hits of all time.Based on inaccurate science and folk legend, as well as the historic New Jersey attacks of 1916, Jaws tells the not so simple tale of what happens when a shark takes up residence in the coastal waters of a hot summer vacation spot and the town seeks to cover it up. Only one man, Sheriff Martin Brody, chooses to stand up to both the shark and the town, for which he pays a hefty price. Jaws is not high literature, it's just a brisk thrill ride of a novel. One that tapped something deep inside the audience of its day and proved that monster stories could acheive mass market success. The novel still works, especially whenever the shark rears it ugly snout and bares its teeth. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Jaws is the mold that was broken...
Review: If you enjoyed the movie you will love the book. The characterizations in the book are very different and are much less stereotypical. You have to do that in a movie with only 2 hours or so to develop the primaries, its good to see that Benchley managed to avoid it in the book. Jaws, the book, is about the way people act under stress. Each person, Chief Brody, his wife, Hooper, Quint and the Mayor all are driven by original motivations with regard to the terror that has beset Amity. Reading that is what is great about the book. Not that the shark isn't there! Benchley manages to write about the giant fish in a way that will grab you from page one. An interesting aside. Benchley was very sorry he wrote this book, or at least the repercussions it and the movie had on the public perception of sharks. He has spent the past few years being a spokesperson for conservation of these amazing animals.
Rating:
Summary: A Pure Suspense Thriller!
Review: Below the gentle surf, below the many adults, teens, and children having an enjoyable time on a nice hot day, there is something waiting...something furocious. More than just an ocean creature of the deep. It is as if a great white shark were a devil. JAWS! is an excellent novel and movie! I have seen the movie JAWS many times, and I am always in pure suspense. This book offers that same kind of suspense. It intorduces chief Brody more than in the movie, and more of the characters. The story, in case you don't already know, is about a frustrated, but kind-hearted, tough police chief who must deal with what seems to be cosmic forces of pure evil: a great white shark who terorizes beach goers in Amity Island. It's up to Brody, with some help from his co-workers, to stop the giant beast who will devour anything. It would have gotten 5 stars, but, I must say, it had too much about Brody's wife's sexual feeling anout a young man named Hooper. Also, it had lots of foul language. But, besides that, it is a wonderful book. Peter Benchly gives an exquisite image in your mind about the characters and the great white beast. I recommend this book for JAWS fans, even though sharks are really not this bad. Also, my condolences to the people who have gotten hurt or been killed by sharks over the years, and just recently. I have prayed for you, especially the boys who have died this summer. Read JAWS, and don't go back into the water.
Rating:
Summary: Peter Benchley's JAWS
Review: The master of the deep's first novel Jaws is a pretty enjoyable book. The beging grabs you in when a young woman meets her doom in the surf.Only Benchley goes into other affairs that don't really have to do with the shark. The ending was a little confusing but still this book is very well done. The characters are well imagined and after reading this you will want to stay in shallow water at the beach. A nother great book by Benchley is White Shark.
Rating:
Summary: Thinking back....
Review: Thinking back to about 10 years ago when I read the hardcover version of this book, I just picked up a copy at a sale for my daughters to read. I think that even though this book is about a 'big fish' that likes to dine on humans, it is a classic in that category if you know what I mean. I remember when this book first came out. People actually stopped going into the ocean after reading it because it was that convincing! Peter Benchley's imagination goes full blast in this tale of a police chief and his family who live on the Cape in Massachusetts. The story starts with a heart stopping attack of a girl who goes for a midnight swim then becomes our 'fish friends' first human meal. After that, you can't put the book down. We then read about the frustrating world of a Police Chief who is getting absolutely no help from the town committee and he has to deal with this massive beast roaming the town's waters. I usually wouldn't recommend a book with so much bloody content for a teenager but seeing as they've probably seen the movie version anyway, this is quite good reading which is why I grabbed it ten years after reading it myself for my two teenagers. Even though 'Jaws' has lost some of the clout as when it first came out, it's still a great book, well written and entertaining. So, even after ten years, I fully recommend this great book!
Rating:
Summary: Too much sex
Review: This book would have gotten 5 stars if Mr.Benchley had gotten his mind out of the gutter and not had the secondary characters run around having affairs. Benchley also uses some extremely foul launguage in this novel. The plot is really good though, it develops the characters a bit better than in the movie. It's a good book if you can get around the filth that slows the story down
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