Jaws by Peter Benchley review + Book vs Movie (spoilers)

I’m pretty sure by now everyone knows about Jaws. If not it’s basically about a Great White Shark that eats people 🦈🤷🏻‍♀️

I watched the movie growing up. But never knew it was a book until a couple years ago. I’m really enjoying finding out that movies I loved growing up are books as well! So I’ve been finding them, reading them and rewatching the movies. So as far this goes let’s get into this review…

So the book started out with a bang! A person dead in the first chapter. Then 2, 3 people dead in the first 60ish pages. I was so excited…..then we dove into the marriage/relationship of Chief Brody and his wife. Ok no biggie. Books usually have more substance than movies. It was great to see the relationship between the characters but then Hooper shows up. And apparently Brody’s wife (for the life of me I can’t remember her name 😂) knows him since she dated his older brother when they were teenagers. Ok cool. No biggie, but then something completely out of character happened. Something I felt didn’t need to be there. Didn’t add to the story and from what I got of the Hooper and Brody’s wife they didn’t seem like those kinds of people. Brody’s wife invites Hooper to lunch in a town 20 mins away. While there they describe their fantasys (ummm ok. They haven’t seen each other in many many years, she barely remembers him, he was in love with her at the tender age of 10 when his brother dated her). So she starts in with her fantasy and I became very uncomfortable. I get people have this kind of fantasy. Nothing wrong with I guess as long as both parties are consenting adults but it totally didn’t fit the character or the story. Her fantasy is being rapped 😮😕. Then from what I read they went off to a motel and had lots of sex. Then that was it. There was an awkward dinner party scene but that I could handle better than this. Anyway totally not needed in the book at all. The story fizzled out in the second half of the book. Brody and Hooper fought all the time. Quint was annoying and an asshole and then Hopper dies and the shark just sinks to the bottom. Or so think 🤷🏻‍♀️ who knows if it actually died or not. It just ends….opening for Jaws 2 I guess. Which he didn’t write. Someone else did. 

So I gave this a 3/5 🦈. Would have been 2 but I felt it needed an extra shark just because it’s Jaws! 😂 oh yea and there’s Mafia people in the book 🙊

Now for the movie! It’s been 10+ years since I watched it. So didn’t remember a whole lot to be honest. So I just finished it like 30 mins ago. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 oh man! It’s funny how movies that scared you as a kid makes you laugh as an adult. Specially when 1970s  movie technology is involved. Still loved the movie! Scared my 5 year old! 🙊

There were definitely a lot of differences between the book and movie. Characters the same, location the same, shark the same and name of movie/book that same. Everything else is WRONG! The movie has the beaches crowded as hell and people from all over the USA there. The book, nada! Barely anyone on the beaches. It’s never that crowded. In the movie everyone wants to be a fisherman and go catch the shark, in the book no one wants to go out there (except Quint, but he’s a mental case). In the book the marriage between Brody and his wife is talked about and well there is that ugly fantasy scene, in the movie they are a loving couple, no uncomfortable fantasy lunch scene and she doesn’t know Hooper. In the book Hooper and Brody hate each other, in the movie they are BFFs. In the book there is an awkward dinner party, in the movie it doesn’t happen. In the book the editor of local paper digs up a connection between Mafia and Mayor, in the movie we don’t mention the editor or mafia. In the book Hooper dies at the end, in the movie it’s Quint. Which I’m totally on board with cause I hate Quint. I’m sure there is more I can say about the differences but I think you get the point. 

Movie: 5/5 🦈

Movie is better than book! 

Have you read the book? Seen the movie? Let’s discuss!