Pan Jaws

I'm a huge jaws fan, seen the movie easily a 1000 times, I've got tons of jaws memorabilia, my body is covered in a few jaws tattoos and I own it on VHS, dvd, bluray and 4k. It's my all time favourite movie. But ive never read the book. I've heard about all the differences between the book and film on YouTube videos and really never liked the sound of the book, so I was put off from reading. But I took the plunge and I've finally given it a shot. And...It's really good, in its own right. Is it better than the movie, nooooo. The movie is way better than the book, however the book is still an enjoyable read. It does play a little like the film but also with a few differences. The intro and first few victims are roughly the same. B characters in the movie have bigger roles to play in the book such as Harry the reporter and Hendricks the police deputy. Quint really isn't in the book till really the end part of the book. Which leads me into what I didn't like about the book.At the beginning of the book it has its shark attacks and politics but then midway through it turns into a exotic thriller with Ellen (Brodys wife) and hooper and their affair. It's needlessly gross in detail to the point I was like when will this part of the story end. Its an uncomfortable read. The book really doesn't paint hooper in a good light. He's an awful character.Also the whole part of the quint, brody and hooper hunting the shark on the orca, in the film is large part of the story, here is basiclly a chapter. Quint and Bruce the sharks demise is literally over in a page and half. I had to re-read it twice to understand what was going on. It all just ends suddenly, which was dissapointing.The film is so much better than the book however, I couldn't put this book down. I did genuinely read it in one sitting, it took me roughly 6-7 hours to finish. But once i started I couldn't stop reading, even though the mid section of the book is pretty bad. Learning more about the characters and their motivations was great.If your a jaws megafan I would recommend it just to see the orignal work the movie is based on. But this is case of the movie is far better than the book.Another note: I ordered this book from amazon in brand new condition. The book arrived in a terrible state, the front cover was creased to wear it looks awful. If I could be bothered I would of returned to amazon. It did not look like a new copy.

This was probably the first ‘grown up’ book that I read, back in the second year of grammar school (what I suppose we would now call Year 8). Of course, we are all familiar with the film (which I think I had probably seen before reading the book), which was one of Stephen Spielberg’s early blockbuster successes.After a gap of more than forty years, the novel seems to have held up fairly well. It is definitely a plot-driven story: Benchley doesn’t loiter to flesh out his characters in any depth, and even Police Chief Brody (the Roy Scheider character) remains fairly two dimensional. Indeed, Peter Benchley spends almost as long on the personality of the shark (Oops … I have just thought … Should I have given a spoiler alert before mentioning the shark? Ah, well, too late now!) as on any of the other characters. Don’t, however, view that as necessarily a bad thing. This is a thriller, and the author unfolds his story rapidly, without unnecessary lets or hindrances. In the same way that ice cubes, straws and fancy adornments might simply represent unwelcome and peripheral impediments to an alcoholic seeking urgently to down a drink and bask in the relief of a decent shot, there are some novels that do need to rely on gushing pen portraits of lovingly created protagonists.There is, however, an interesting sub-plot that was less prominent in the film. Spielberg’s film certainly acknowledged the fact that Amity, the island-based community being terrorised by the shark, was dependent upon the summer holiday trade from wealthy New Yorkers. It did not delve into this financial morass as deeply as the book, though, where the Mayor’s insistence upon opening the beaches to lure the holiday trade has more sinister undertones founded on organised crime.This is a solid, well thought out story that has stood the test of time. The edition I read was also beautifully produced as part of the ’70 Years of Pan’ series.I am sorry if I spoiled it for anyone by mentioning the shark.

It is very rare that a movie surpasses the book on which it is based, and this is one of them. In my opinion the book is good and I'm glad I have have now read it, but I dont think it is anywhere near as good as the movie masterpiece that was made on the novel. I intentionally read this knowing full well that the book focused a lot more on the actual characters and their lives on land, along with the economic struggles of the community, and was not expecting as much 'action' as in the movie, however apart from the few shark attacks at the beginning of the story, the only 'shark action' that occurs in the book is in the final... 20/30 pages..? approx. In the movie, I liked all three of the main characters, even Quint who although portrayed brilliantly by Robert Shaw as a rough and ready no nonsense seaman, still had a certain charm and charisma about him, however in the book, the Quint character is in my opinion a sadistic psychopath with no redeeming qualities about him. The Hooper character in the book looks nothing like Richard Dreyfuss, in the book Hooper is a stereotypical 'beach bum' looking kind of guy... about mid twenties, physically fit, blond hair and tanned.. and he has an affair with Brody's wife, or at least a one off sexual encounter.. to me he doesn't come across a likeable character at all, which is so different to the character excellently portrayed by Dreyfuss in the movie. The only character out of the three that I personally liked and connected with was Brody. I would recommend people to read the book, try not to compare to the movie (although admittedly that will be very difficult) albeit ironically I have done exactly that in this review, and just take it for what it is. My copy had lots of spelling mistakes.. ie: waman, instead of woman.

So I can’t think there are many people out there that don’t know about this film BUT incase there are it’s about a killer shark that terrorises a small coastal town. I bought this purely because I’d lost the copy I had. It’s actually my favourite film and still makes me jump in places after all these years!Brilliant from start to finish.

This is an excellent story. The writer depicts the opening scene with a coolness that is almost merciless, then the fish attacked.It is easy to recognize the amazing style the writer demonstrated for story-telling.Critics did not think much of it but I think the story has a beautiful style and layered content to deliver and that made it a best seller.Yet the reason I did not give a 5-star rating is that I didn't know how to look at and connect the comical extra-marital sex scene with the thrilling closure of the story.