Reviews with content warning for Animal cruelty - Jaws

Reviews tagging 'Animal cruelty'

meg_demint's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

There is not enough shark in this book. At times, you think maybe some smart commentary is happening but no, this isn’t a particularly smart book.

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ripxreads's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.0

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chelseydagner's review against another edition

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dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

By the end, I wanted Jaws to eat everyone. Brody, Quint, Hooper, Ellen, Larry, EVERYONE.

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hannuhreads's review

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adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

2 stars.

🦈 The vibes:

A classic
Thriller / horror
Unlikable characters
Relationship drama

🦈 My thoughts:

Where do I even begin? Storygraph told me I wouldn’t like this one and once again Storygraph was correct. 2 stars feels generous- but I will say it’s not that this book is written poorly. It’s just that I disliked almost everything in this book.

If this book was written to show how terrible humans are- then it did that. But otherwise- I don’t think this book gave me anything good. I’ve seen online a lot of attempts at explaining the moral of the book; some say it’s about fear, others say it’s about nature, and more say it’s about predators (ie human). For me- the best I can take away from this novel is that it shows just how flawed humans are and how deep greed runs in our blood. Almost every character exhibited deep selfishness and greed. But enough with the philosophical chat. Now onto my unfiltered thoughts.

Theres a shark, sure. But mostly there’s a lot of bad behavior here. The shark is almost the hero compared to the rest of the characters. Sigh.

Ok. So let’s just jump into the various categories (and how they didn’t work for me):

This book is pretty gory and gross. There’s tore up bodies from the shark- limbs, blood, and guts. It’s just nasty. I don’t recommend snacking while reading this one.

The gore is probably the least gross thing to mention. Overall- it’s just gross in all the ways. Like mentioning the police chief Brody dreaming of when he’s in highschool groping a girl in the stairwell or how he’s married but feels things when he sees young blonds in the beach running bouncing around. Or talk about teenage boys grinding into the sand to get their jolly’s. See. Gross.

But ultimately I was disgusted by Ellen’s behavior. She says all girls fantasize about being a prostitute and sleeping with a bunch of men …. And that she specifically fantasizes about being raped. A whole scenario she explains in detail. Gross, guys. Gross. I absolutely don’t want to hear about this, Ellen. Nobody does.

Furthermore - cheating and affairs is something I don’t enjoy to see. Flirting with married people entertaining flings. Bleh.

There’s elements of prejudice/racists comments. I didn’t enjoy this.

There’s mobs, animal cruelty, and almost every other CW out there for this book. It’s just a big yikes in all the ways.

Specifically - amongst others - a baby dolphin and a cat is killed. I really disliked this book. I rest my case.

I don’t know that this would be considered “open door” necessarily but there’s enough explicit descriptions throughout that I’d go ahead and consider it as such.

Note: open/language

Check CW for this. It’s extensive.

Content Warnings

bookishevy's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

As stated in my previous post, I was in the mood for a thriller. What's a bigger summer thriller than Jaws? I listened to the entire book in one go.

I don't have enough space to discuss how many ways the book differs from the film, but I'll draw some comparisons. Chief Brody is not former NYPD who settles in Amity. He's actually a local. His wife, Ellen, comes from a well-off family who vacationed there. After marrying Brody and settling in Amity, she drifted away from the high life. Now, she yearns to be among the more cultured. When marine biologist Matt Hooper resurfaces from her past, Ellen sees him as a chance to recapture what she's lost. Brody takes an immediate dislike to Matt, who represents everything Brody hates about the upper class.

Life for the 1000 residents of Amity depends on the money that the 9000 summer vacationers bring in. The pressure Brody is under to keep the beaches open is more felt in the book because the mayor is mixed up with dangerous people and trying to save his own neck. Matt's a snob, Brody isn't the kindest husband, Ellen's flirting with other men. In the book, the shark isn't the only villain. I now understand why Spielberg initially rooted for the shark and decided to make the characters more likable to moviegoers.

But I loved that the book's characters are flawed. There's more at stake, and the tension between Brody and Hooper adds to the suspense on the boat while they hunt for the maneater with Quint. The attacks are more graphic. A key character in the film dies, leaving me stunned, and the shark's death isn't as explosive as in the film. Spielberg, again, giving moviegoers what they want. To me, the book's ending is more haunting. Erik Steele does a great job with the characters, especially Quint, who, unlike in the film, doesn't have a reason to hate sharks. He just thinks they're dumb. Until he meets this one.

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infinite_finite's review

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

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jordan_duke's review

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4.5

A fun summer read and different enough from the movie that there is some fresh surprises.

edit to add: there are some problematic aspects to this book given its age. They weren’t plentiful or egregious enough to prevent me from being able to enjoy it though. Just a heads up for the more sensitive among you.

Content Warnings