Historical background: As a child growing up in the mid-to-late seventies, I was certainly aware of both the book Jaws and the movie of the same name. According to family legend, when my parents went to see Jaws in the movie theater, my father became so frightened at one point in the film that he stood up and shouted "WATCH OUT" at the screen. I also found the movie to be terrifying when I finally saw it on television, although not as terrifying as Jaws II, which I saw in the movie theater in 1978 when I was ten years old-- for some reason I slept by myself in my sister's room later that night, and I was unable to sleep because I had become convinced that the twin beds in her room were actually a pair of killer whales.
The book Jaws was also the first book that I ever read cover-to-cover that I thought I probably shouldn't be reading-- after all, it had a woman swimming naked on the cover and at least one scene in which people vomit. I can clearly remember hiding in my bedroom closet while reading Jaws, only to be caught by my father. Much to my surprise, rather than taking away the book or telling me not to read it, my dad was fine with the whole thing and even went so far as to tell me that I could read any book in the house whenever I felt like it.
Review of the book: Peter Benchley's novel has all the main elements-- the shark, the ocean, the greedy town fathers, the police chief, the young marine biologist, the crusty, old fisherman-- but it isn't very good. Despite the fact that the book is really just about a big fish that terrorizes a town, Benchley manages to also work in some marital infidelity, the specter of the mafia, and a surprising amount of horrifying sexism.
Review of the movie: The movie, on the other hand, is still great.
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