Jaws

Full disclosure for this one, the movie is my grandfather and father's favorite movie, I grew up on it, so the movie and its plot line have a very nostalgic pull for me. We used to rent the same house in Lavallette, New Jersey every summer, and watching Jaws on the first night we arrived was always the tradition. 

With that being said, the opening of the novel felt like a very straight forward and true adaptation. The shark descriptors and kills were perhaps more gruesome, but the general feel was the same. I was very into it at this point. It was around a quarter in or so, where the differences started to show themselves, where I started to pull away. 

To me, it feels like the author said...'well, how do you make a novel about a shark interesting??? You could simply stay out of the water right?' This is where I feel like the movie simply made them enter the ocean sooner to do away with that point. Instead, the author added strange somewhat mafia-fueled political intrigue. The author also includes a subplot including main characters and adultery, toxic masculinity, and a REAL weird conversation about rape fantasies...seriously wtf. 

Part of me still really enjoyed the shark stuff and the nostalgic feels they brought with them. Although they don't get on the boat until literally 75% through the story, I feel like the Orca, Quint, and the climax salvage the novel somewhat. Sharks are scary. Personally a 3/5* for me still, a very rare ‘the movie is better' here.