Play Book Tag discussion

Jaws had me spellbound with fear when I read it in 1974. Gory and supernatural, the book Jaws is a far different feel and story than Spielberg’s cult movie classic. In the novel, the good-guy, easily swayed Chief Brody, is pitted against a cast of selfish characters. We have the corpulent opportunistic Harry Meadows who runs the local paper, ‘The Amity Leader’, the sleazy ichthyologist Matt Hooper, and the wholly self-obsessed Mayor of Amity with mafia-connected debt problems, Larry Vaughn. And of course there’s the transparently Melville-inspired ‘Quint’. The only person Brody expects in his corner is his wealthy and connected wife who is more interested in rekindling her youth and social standing with the visiting ichthyologist.

In the novel, the mob theme and Brody’s wife’s affair are two of the main points of tension, the shark an instigator which ruffles seemingly calm waters. In the movie, however, the shark is everything and the characters and town second to the mayhem. Benchley had the ability to give a personality to the shark; the scenes where the shark is stalking, lurking or attacking people are exquisitely accomplished and help the reader gain an insight and they even are able to feel something for the shark.

It’s difficult to re-read this novel without having the movie version repeatedly pop into your mind. I've always believed that Jaws, the movie, was much better than Jaws, the novel and reading it again forty six years later has reinforced that feeling. The producers made a great choice in streamlining Jaws into an action packed, roller coaster movie but the novel can add some interesting background if you've never read it before.

I now have the creepy shark music in my head......never read the book but my friends convinced me to see the movie when I was young. Big mistake-

I have never seen the movie. My dad wouldn't let me watch it, and I had no desire to, because I was learning to scuba dive that year (I was 12) and neither of us wanted me to have irrational fears of the sea. Haven't read the book either - I picked it up when I was a young teen, and the first chapter opens in a sex scene which turned me off of it completely, and I've never revisited it.

Never saw the movie...don't like those types of films as they haunt me and give me nightmares for months. Never inclibed to read the book.

I really enjoyed this when I listened to the audio a few years ago. It had been too long since I'd seen the movie (and I would have been a kid at the time), so there wasn't much of a comparison. I think I gave it 4 stars.

I did have the theme music in my head as I listened, though. :-)