Reviews tagging 'Body horror'

Jaws by Peter Benchley

9 reviews

_whatkatiereads's review against another edition

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tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

2.5

Really mixed feelings on this one. Put me into a slump and had no real drive to pick it up, as it’s super outdated with some awful misogyny and a slur on page 12. When it was about the shark the tension was great and it was compelling, but any and all people related plot lines were not the one. One of the few times I think I’ll ever say the film is better. 
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meg_demint's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

2.5

There is not enough shark in this book. At times, you think maybe some smart commentary is happening but no, this isn’t a particularly smart book. 
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hannuhreads's review

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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. 

🦈 The vibes:
  • A classic
  • Thriller / horror 
  • Unlikable characters 
  • Relationship drama 

🦈 My thoughts: 
Where do I even begin? Storygraph told me I wouldn’t like this one and once again Storygraph was correct. 2 stars feels generous- but I will say it’s not that this book is written poorly. It’s 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 don’t think this book gave me anything good. I’ve seen online a lot of attempts at explaining the moral of the book; some say it’s about fear, others say it’s about nature, and more say it’s 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 there’s a lot of bad behavior here. The shark is almost the hero compared to the rest of the characters. Sigh. 

Ok. So let’s just jump into the various categories (and how they didn’t work for me): 

This book is pretty gory and gross. There’s tore up bodies from the shark- limbs, blood, and guts. It’s just nasty. I don’t recommend snacking while reading this one. 

The gore is probably the least gross thing to mention. Overall- it’s just gross in all the ways. Like mentioning the police chief Brody dreaming of when he’s in highschool groping a girl in the stairwell or how he’s 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 jolly’s. See. Gross. 

But ultimately I was disgusted by Ellen’s behavior. She says all girls fantasize about being a prostitute and sleeping with a bunch of men …. And that she specifically fantasizes about being raped. A whole scenario she explains in detail. Gross, guys. Gross. I absolutely don’t want to hear about this, Ellen. Nobody does. 

Furthermore - cheating and affairs is something I don’t enjoy to see. Flirting with married people entertaining flings. Bleh. 

There’s elements of prejudice/racists comments. I didn’t enjoy this. 

There’s mobs, animal cruelty, and almost every other CW out there for this book. It’s 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 don’t know that this would be considered  “open door” necessarily but there’s enough explicit descriptions throughout that I’d go ahead and consider it as such. 

Note: open/language 
Check CW for this. It’s extensive. 
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czoltak's review

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adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

“Rising at him from the darkling blue—slowly, smoothly—was the shark. It rose with no apparent effort, an angel of death gliding toward an appointment foreordained.”
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I definitely prefer the movie, but I loved getting to experience the original source material and seeing the origins of these characters. I loved the emphasis on the town and its people as it added layers to this and made it more than just a shark story. Also, Benchley’s inclusion of scientific specifics elevated the story and made it that much more compelling.
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bearystarry's review against another edition

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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.
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lucys_library's review against another edition

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adventurous tense medium-paced

3.5

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meaghanelizabook's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense 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

3.0

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megj23's review against another edition

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dark 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

1.75

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anigoose's review against another edition

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thriller list again, idk what to say...just that sometimes you hope something will actually be surprisingly charming. but instead you get a face full of slurs right away 🤷🏻‍♀️
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