June Selection

Jaws

Peter Benchley

   

Okay okay, it's a crappy horror book from the 70s, but it did spend 44 weeks on the best seller list and sold an impressive 20 million copies in the US. To be completely honest, the movie is undeniably better, until you actually get a good glimpse of the shark and then it looks pretty dated. Overall, this book is not horrible, it just has less to do with the shark than I remembered. As a former fatty, my middle school summers were spent sitting next to my mom in a t-shirt at the pool, generally with a book in my hand. My parents had this old copy of Jaws that I read in 7th grade and still have now. The only thing keeping it together is a lot of scotch tape and love. I would venture to say that at some point, everyone in my family has read this very copy. 

The book focuses much more on the people in a small New England town where summer tourism is the only economy. This is covered in the movie, but the stakes seem much higher in this book. While I can't say the prose here is amazing by any means, at least Benchley himself has been quoted as saying, "It took me 15 years to realize I was a bad writer." It's not all bad though, there's a lot of character depth here if you look for it, but it does raise the "why do I care?" question a lot. This is a very quick, and exciting read, which is a kudos in itself. This book doesn't quite villainize the shark as much as it does the Amity Island residents. I re-read this over Memorial Day weekend in about three sittings and I have to say, I was completely enthralled. Maybe without this book there would be no shark-week. 

Discussion Questions

1.) How is Harry Meadows justifiable in keeping the first attack victim out of the newspaper?

2.) Steven Spielberg directed the movie and is famous for saying that he found Benchley's characters so unlikable, he ended up rooting for the shark. What do you think?

3.) Why do you think Benchley includes the affair between Ellen Brody and Matt Hooper?

4.) Do you think that Mayor Vaughan's back story is believable?

5.) Is Quint a good or bad character? Why? 

6.) Why do you think Benchley kills off Hooper at the end?

7.) Do you find the ending satisfying? Why?

8.) How much of the film's success is responsible for the book's success? Would it still be in print if the movie had been a flop?

Sex on the Beach

If you can think of a more fitting cocktail for Jaws, I'd like to hear it. Plus, you barely need anything for this one. 

2 shots vodka 

1 shot triple sec

1 part cranberry juice

1 part orange juice

Shake and garnish with fruit pieces, if you're feeling fancy. 

To Participate: 

In-person book clubs are kind of difficult these days, so what I'm trying to accomplish here is for at least one person to read this book and send me their thoughts on it. I'll publish our mini-interview here on the blog so that other users can comment and begin a dialogue.
I will try to feature a few users' responses per month along with your own discussion questions. The fun part is I will also feature your cocktail recipes and headshots! I will pay you with a homemade cake! Delivered anywhere in the city of Chicago!
Fine Print: Cake rewarded only to first person per month to take me up on my standing offer!