Jaws

Just don't mention the awkward cringe-inducing sex scenes ....

Jaws is a 1974 novel by American writer Peter Benchley. It tells the story of a great white shark that preys upon a small resort town and the voyage of three men trying to kill it. The novel grew out of Benchley's interest in shark attacks after he learned about the exploits of shark fisherman Frank Mundus in 1964. Doubleday commissioned him to write the novel in 1971, a period when Benchley struggled as a freelance journalist.

After first publication in February 1974, the novel was a great success, with the hardback staying on the bestseller list for some 44 weeks and the subsequent paperback selling millions of copies in the following year.

The story is set in Amity, a seaside resort town on Long Island, New York. One night, a massive great white shark kills a young tourist named Chrissie Watkins while she skinny dips in the open waters. After finding what remains of her body washed up on the beach, investigators realize she was attacked by a shark. Police chief Martin Brody orders Amity's beaches closed, but mayor Larry Vaughan and the town's selectmen overrule him out of fear for damage to summer tourism, the town's main industry. With the connivance of Harry Meadows, the editor of the local newspaper, they hush up the attack.A few days later, the shark kills a young boy named Alex Kintner and an old man not far from the shore. A local fisherman, Ben Gardner, is sent by Amity's authorities to kill the shark, but disappears on the water. Brody and deputy Leonard Hendricks find Gardner's boat anchored off-shore, empty and covered with large bite holes, one of which has a massive shark tooth stuck in it. Blaming himself for these deaths, Brody again tries to close the beaches, while Meadows investigates the Mayor's business contacts to determine why he wants to keep the beaches open. Meadows uncovers links to the Mafia, who pressure Vaughan to keep the beaches open in order to protect the value of Amity's real estate, in which the Mafia invested a great deal of money. Meadows also recruits marine biologist Matt Hooper from the Woods Hole Institute to advise them on how to deal with the shark.Meanwhile, Brody's wife Ellen misses the affluent life she had before marrying Brody and having children. She starts a romantic relationship with Hooper, who is the younger brother of David Hooper, a man she used to date, and the two have a brief affair in a motel outside of town. Throughout the rest of the novel, Brody suspects they have had a liaison and is haunted by the thought.With the beaches still open, people pour to the town, hoping to glimpse the killer shark. Brody sets up patrols to watch for the fish. After a boy narrowly escapes another attack close to the shore, Brody closes the beaches and hires Quint, a professional shark hunter, to kill the shark. Brody, Quint and Hooper set out on Quint's vessel, the Orca. The trio are soon at odds with one another. Quint's methods anger Hooper, especially when he disembowels a blue shark, and then uses an illegally fished unborn baby dolphin for bait. All the while, Quint taunts Hooper as a rich college boy when Hooper refuses to shoot at beer cans with them. Brody and Hooper also argue, as Brody's suspicions about Hooper's possible affair with Ellen grow stronger; at one point, Brody unsuccessfully attempts to strangle Hooper.Their first two days at sea are unproductive, although they do come in contact with the shark by the end of the second day. Upon seeing it for the first time, Hooper estimates the animal must be at least twenty feet long, and is visibly excited and in awe at the size of it.Larry Vaughan arrives at the Brody house before Brody returns home and informs Ellen that he and his wife are leaving Amity. Before he leaves, he tells Ellen that he always thought they would have made a great couple. After he leaves, Ellen reflects that her life with Brody is much more fulfilling than any life she might have had with Vaughan, and feels somewhat guilty for her prior thoughts of missing the life she had before marrying Brody.After seeing the size of the shark, on the third day Hooper wants to bring along a shark-proof cage, to help take photos of it and then to use it to try to kill it with a bang stick. Initially Quint refuses to bring the cage on board, even after Hooper's offer of a hundred dollars, considering it a suicidal idea, but he relents after Hooper and Brody get into an big argument. Later that day, after several unsuccessful attempts by Quint to harpoon the shark, Hooper goes underwater in the shark cage. However, the shark attacks the cage, something Hooper did not believe it would do, and, after ramming the bars apart, kills and eats Hooper. Brody informs Quint that the town can no longer afford to pay him to hunt the shark, but Quint no longer cares about the money and resolves to continue until he has killed it.When they return to sea the following day, the shark starts ramming the boat. Quint is able to harpoon it several times. The shark leaps out of the water and onto the stern of the Orca, ripping a huge hole in the aft section and causing the boat to start sinking. Quint plunges another harpoon into the shark's belly, but as it falls back into the water, his foot gets entangled in the rope, and he is dragged underwater to his death. Brody, now floating on a seat cushion, spots the shark swimming towards him and prepares for his death. However, just as the shark gets within a few feet of him, it succumbs to its many wounds, rolls over in the water and dies before it can kill Brody. The great fish sinks down out of sight, dragging Quint's still entangled body behind it. The lone survivor of the ordeal, Brody paddles back to shore on his makeshift float.

If you're expecting a novelization of the film then you'll be disappointed. In fact, if you remove the shark what you get is a book about unlikable people struggling with their lives. It is darker and more layered than Spielberg's movie. Benchley doesn't hang around to flesh out his characters in any depth. Even Police Chief Brody remains fairly two dimensional. This is despite the fact that Benchley goes into a extended live-autopsy of Brody's marriage. Benchley spends almost as long on the personality of the shark as he does with the humans. However, what he does do is he fleshes out an absorbing, rich group dynamic. For example, he makes a distinction between summer and winter people in an Atlantic ocean hamlet. And of class immutability. Is this a subtle nod to the sharks among us? Or about those in our culture who reach out and take what they want, regardless of the consequences. Those who think they are superior to others, who are not allowed access to their inner circle.

So, all in all and entertaining read: its safe to go back in the water.