Jaws

Published on July 25, 2025

Reviewed by Marybeth Ginsberg

Just in time for Shark Week, the Tuesday Book Club at the Morris County Library recently discussed the 1974 thriller, Jaws. Set in the fictional Long Island town of Amity, Jaws, the novel, would go on to become a major motion film, produced and directed by Steven Spielberg. The film won 3 Academy Awards and became a “super-blockbuster” when it was released in the summer of 1975. The film is now celebrating its 50^th anniversary. 

While Jaws (both the novel and the movie) drew attention to the predatory nature of sharks, it would later lead to a better understanding of the importance of sharks and the vital role they play in the ocean’s health. In 2002, Peter Benchley, the author of Jaws, would go on publish Shark Trouble, a non-fiction book in which Benchley debunked the many myths about sharks and discussed his work as a marine conservationist.

While both the novel and the movie address hypocrisy and greed over public safety, revealed through Mayor Vaughn’s insistence on opening the beaches, the novel contains more detail, and differences in the plot and the characters are apparent. The organized pursuit of the shark is slow to be rolled out in the novel, while the action moves swiftly in the movie. In the novel, Hooper and Ellen become involved in an affair. As the novel unfolds, Ellen spends time reflecting on her life in Amity, as the wife of Police Chief Brody, and contemplates on the way things might have been. By the end of the novel, the reader sees Ellen mature and evolve.    

In terms of its cultural impact (the town of Martha’s Vineyard where the movie was filmed would never quite be the same), Jaws, the movie, captured the imagination and fear of a generation. It had much greater reach than the novel and became instantly iconic. It also portrayed the great white shark as a man-eating monster and created a great deal of hype surrounding the perceived threat of sharks. In 1988, The Discovery Channel began promoting Shark Week, an annual week-long programming block on the Discovery Channel that is dedicated to sharks and provides education, entertainment, and conservation. To this day, it helps to dispel some of the misinformation about sharks. 

While there is still plenty of time to get to the beach this summer, consider taking a copy of Jaws ~ the original novel ~ to enjoy reading on the beach. As you get caught up in your reading, just don’t forget to steal a glance at the sea every now and then. 

Star Rating:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐