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hannuhreads's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
2 stars.
š¦ The vibes:
- A classic
- Thriller / horror
- Unlikable characters
- Relationship drama
š¦ My thoughts:
Where do I even begin? Storygraph told me I wouldnāt like this one and once again Storygraph was correct. 2 stars feels generous- but I will say itās not that this book is written poorly. Itās just that I disliked almost everything in this book.
If this book was written to show how terrible humans are- then it did that. But otherwise- I donāt think this book gave me anything good. Iāve seen online a lot of attempts at explaining the moral of the book; some say itās about fear, others say itās about nature, and more say itās about predators (ie human). For me- the best I can take away from this novel is that it shows just how flawed humans are and how deep greed runs in our blood. Almost every character exhibited deep selfishness and greed. But enough with the philosophical chat. Now onto my unfiltered thoughts.
Theres a shark, sure. But mostly thereās a lot of bad behavior here. The shark is almost the hero compared to the rest of the characters. Sigh.
Ok. So letās just jump into the various categories (and how they didnāt work for me):
This book is pretty gory and gross. Thereās tore up bodies from the shark- limbs, blood, and guts. Itās just nasty. I donāt recommend snacking while reading this one.
The gore is probably the least gross thing to mention. Overall- itās just gross in all the ways. Like mentioning the police chief Brody dreaming of when heās in highschool groping a girl in the stairwell or how heās married but feels things when he sees young blonds in the beach running bouncing around. Or talk about teenage boys grinding into the sand to get their jollyās. See. Gross.
But ultimately I was disgusted by Ellenās behavior. She says all girls fantasize about being a prostitute and sleeping with a bunch of men ā¦. And that she specifically fantasizes about being raped. A whole scenario she explains in detail. Gross, guys. Gross. I absolutely donāt want to hear about this, Ellen. Nobody does.
Furthermore - cheating and affairs is something I donāt enjoy to see. Flirting with married people entertaining flings. Bleh.
Thereās elements of prejudice/racists comments. I didnāt enjoy this.
Thereās mobs, animal cruelty, and almost every other CW out there for this book. Itās just a big yikes in all the ways.
Specifically - amongst others - a baby dolphin and a cat is killed. I really disliked this book. I rest my case.
I donāt know that this would be considered āopen doorā necessarily but thereās enough explicit descriptions throughout that Iād go ahead and consider it as such.
Note: open/language
Check CW for this. Itās extensive.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racial slurs, Rape, Blood, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting
bearystarry's review against another edition
dark
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
0.25
I literally only finished this book so I could rate it because I hated it so much. The only interesting/good parts were the parts about the shark, everything else was a nightmarish mixture of racism, misogyny, homophobia, and weird rape fantasies. And also some copaganda and animal torture/cruelty for fun, I guess.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Blood, Police brutality, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Antisemitism
bookswithlauren's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-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
To say I am disappointed in this book is an understatement. The shark wasn't even the main focus of the book!
I adore sharks and shark movies, especially the Jaws franchise, and yet, I had never read the book before. Having read the book now, I appreciate all the changes Steven Spielberg made for the movie adaptation so much more. I understand Jaws was written in 1974 and I have tried to keep that in mind but the movie came out the following year and all the problematic issues from the book had been taken out and the plot line had been improved greatly, so although it was a different time back then, Spielberg still made those much needed changes.
I adore sharks and shark movies, especially the Jaws franchise, and yet, I had never read the book before. Having read the book now, I appreciate all the changes Steven Spielberg made for the movie adaptation so much more. I understand Jaws was written in 1974 and I have tried to keep that in mind but the movie came out the following year and all the problematic issues from the book had been taken out and the plot line had been improved greatly, so although it was a different time back then, Spielberg still made those much needed changes.
The first issue I have with the book is the homophobic language: within the first few pages we see homophobic slurs being used to describe a group of men. Again, further into the story, more homophobic slurs being used against a girl who lives on the island.
Secondly, the sexist language, remarks and behaviours were just ridiculous. The descriptions of the female characters and women on the beach from the male characters point of view were disgusting. After the first shark attack the mayor of the town wanted to over ride the cause of death concluded by the coroner to a potential suicide on the basis that the girl may have been on her period at the time of swimming in the water and therefore, asking to be attacked by a shark. I could not have rolled my eyes more heavily at this scene. There was the very stereotypical dominant male theme throughout the book: husband makes the rules, belittles the wife, makes crude and abusive remarks, threatens physical abuse, doting wife is tempted by the new, smart guy in town and has a brief affair with him.
There was unnecessary focus placed on the corrupt police department on the island: treating rape like an inconvenience and covering it up. The whole book glorified rape, racism and rape and rape fantasies to be perfectly honest. One of the main characters was possibly raped throughout the story and it was written as a sordid affair and fantasy of a housewife, which again, was just an unnecessary added plot line.
Another thing that just ruined the story for me was the introduction of the mafia into the story... yes, you read the correctly. The mafia had a hand in all the shark attacks because they were forcing the town mayor to keep the public beaches open because he was in debt to them and they did not want money, they wanted favours, in the form of keeping public beaches open...
Lastly, there was so much unnecessary killing and torturing of sharks and other animals for enjoyment throughout the book. It was disgusting to read, in great detail, the injuring and suffering of the sharks and other animals at the hands of the main characters in this book.
What was the main plotline of Jaws? Was it the mafia infiltrating a small seaside town? Was it the decline of a marriage resulting in an affair? Was it a corrupt police department? Because it definitely was not the shark. The chase to catch the shark lasted two chapters and in the end, the shark just died randomly, 2ft away from Chief Brody, mouth open, ready to attack. An even more disappointing ending to a disappointing book.
Honestly, Steven Spielberg made some much needed changes for the film adaptation and I am so glad he did. He turned a badly written book into an iconic, well written and directed movie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body shaming, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Blood, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Lesbophobia, and Gaslighting