Pan Jaws

IT"S JAWS

Book is so interested that I read it in a single sitting ,all the extras give you a better picture of the whole concept, if you watched the movie read the book.

Ok

So before I start this review, I just wanted to talk about the impact of the book and the movie first. As an avid shark lover with a weakness for whites, I am defending this book. When the book first came out, it only created a small scare within people. When the movie was released, people went on long shark hunts, causing many shark species to go on the endangered list. Peter Benchley was horrified when he learned of this and went on to devote his life to the protection and conservation of sharks, mostly great whites. Please, my fellow shark lovers, before you condemn this book, do your research. 'Twas not the book, 'twas the movie. I was four years old when I first discovered my passion for sharks, watching a shark programme with my dad one night when I couldn't sleep. A few weeks later, I saw Jaws on my Mother's bedside table and saw the shark on the cover. I picked it up, sat down with a dictionary, and taught myself how to read at the tender age of four with this book. I read it twice that day, and then my mom, too late to fix the damage of me reading it (the problem when you're left with your siblings to babysit and they just wanna play Crash Bandicoot), read a chapter at bedtime with me one. I have read it twice a year since the year 2000. I read it once before Shark Week, and once after Shark Week, and other times during the year if I feel particular to. It's been a part of my ritual since I was five years old, and this book is heavily one of the reasons I love sharks so much. After reading it for the 31st time this year, I finally felt like adding a review to it, and finally adding in how much I've read to my good reads. I finally own my own copy, rather than my mom's almost falling to bits copy that I think she chucked in the recycling recently. So we all know what Jaws is about, I'm sure. A shark attacks a young girl on the shores of the Amity beach town and Chief of Police Brody has to take down the shark and keep his town safe. I think the thing I love most about this book is just how much love Benchley obviously has for sharks. His descriptions stunned me as a child, and stun me now, almost 20. I could not put this book down at all even reading it this many times. Exhaustion won out a few times but in the space of just three hours, I had this book marked as complete once again (and only because I paused to message my boyfriend whilst reading). Of course, there are problems within this. This was written in the seventies, so there are tones of racism, anti semitism, and the such. It is unfortunate to read, and reading it now, I see how many problems there are, which really makes my heart bleed. Unfortunately, I understand why they were included in the text - it's how the seventies was. Please remember to take these with a pinch of salt. I'm more than sure if Benchley had written it today, these would not have been kept in the book. Benchley writes with the preciseness of a great white shark moving in for the kill on a whale. Truly, his writing is delicate, shocking, horrifying and it created one of the best novels known to man today. Tension and description are Benchley's best weapons by far in this book. He creates images in our mind that we are left breathless and in awe at. I don't even really know how to review this because I just love it so much. I could layer praise on it for days, honestly, but. Just read this. Skip the movie and read the book. Benchley wrote a masterpiece. His death was a loss to the book world. Rest in peace. Don't forget to protect the sharks!

If you loved the movie, stay away from this book. The characters are nothing like Spielberg's. Too much dialogue and not enough action. I hated Matt Hooper and Ellen Brody. I won't spoil it, but they ruined the whole book. Stick to the film on this one