Jaws (1974) By Peter Benchley

"The great fish moved silently through the night water."

Being an avid film fan, I was pretty excited to read the novella that spawned one of cinema's most classic horror films. Peter Benchley's story is perhaps overshadowed by its iconic film adaptation, but that did not stop me from taking the time to explore its pages.

"He felt at once betrayed and betrayer, deceived and deceiver. He was a criminal forced into crime, an unwilling whore."

Benchley's writing style was adequate, maybe a little on the nose at times, but I didn't find myself overly unhappy with the way he wrote anything. There was a frankness to his writing that served the shark scenes well - less so the human ones, I think. I would have appreciated a little more subtlety for those scenes.

"There's nothing in the sea this fish would fear. Other fish run from bigger things. That's their instinct. But this fish doesn't run from anything. He doesn't fear."

I loved the main arc of the story, surrounding, of course, the shark and its horrifying exploits. I thought it was very sinister, and the suspense Benchley built in some of the attack sequences, especially the infamous opening, was marvellous. It made the reader nervous, excited and fearful for the poor, doomed victim.

"Look, Chief, you can't go off half-cocked looking for vengeance against a fish. That shark isn't evil. It's not a murderer. It's just obeying its own instincts. Trying to get retribution against a fish is crazy."

However, this is where the book began to unravel for me, because I truly, unabashedly, hated the subplot. It made me want to skip pages, and to get the book finished as quickly as possible, not from enjoyment, but sheer distaste. I'm sure that it was a personal taste issue, and others may indeed enjoy it, but I certainly did not.

"The past always seems better when you look back on it than it did at the time. And the present never looks as good as it will in the future."

The ending left me divided. The climactic scene was, for the most part, pretty well written. However, I found myself let down by the abruptness of the ending. I felt like there was still a lot of narrative that was left unresolved. It felt purposeful, but it did not work for me, I was pretty unsatisfied.

"At this point, if someone came in here and said he was Superman and he could piss that shark away from here, I’d say fine and dandy. I’d even hold his dick for him."

Ultimately, this was a book that I had relatively high hopes for, but I think it fell short thanks to a very jarring subplot and some irritatingly unresolved narrative arcs that left the story feeling empty and disappointing. It's such a shame, because the actual shark related narrative was strong.

"The people of Amity would demand the death of the fish. They would need to see it dead before they could feel secure enough to resume their normal lives."