Jaws by Peter Benchley
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I was seven when the movie version of Jaws came out. My parents, not having any clue as to what was appropriate for a small child, took me along with them to the drive-in. I was terrified to take a bath for years afterward.
I figured the book would be pretty fun and since it’s offered for free to Amazon Prime members through Audible Channels, I decided to take the plunge. I mostly wish I’d skipped it.
While I absolutely loved all the parts that had the shark involved in the scene, everything else was pretty bad. Well, maybe it wasn’t bad in the early 1970s but yeah, plenty of casual racism and sexism. The biggest thing that made me want to quit mid-way was how much time was devoted to Brody’s wife. I didn’t care about character development, especially not a character who has nothing to do with the shark. But there you go. It was there and I got through it with some eye rolling and grimacing.
Luckily, there was plenty of shark-related carnage at the end that made it mostly worth the time.