Jaws : Doesn’t Have Quite As Much Bite As One Would Hope

Jaws By Peter Bentley

Another book giveaway. Going to these things are pretty common for me. But at this one I ran across an old water damaged book called Jaws by Peter Benchley. I have never read Benchley’s work before. Rumor has it he’s a good author, but my tastes seem to go against the grain on rumors. (Such as King is the master of horror or Harry Potter is one of the greatest fantasy epics. I will argue with you until the end of time on those issues.) But I like the movie; big time. I’m a Spielberg fan and since it was there, there was no reason not to give it a try.

So for those of you who have not witnessed the 36 year old classic or heard of the book, it is about a shark that terrorizes the beach of the small summer tourist town known as Amity. Chief Brody must face the mayor who insist to keep the beaches open despite the attacks, because the town will only die if there is no business and eventually has to hunt the shark himself with a marine biologist Matt Hooper and seaman Quinn.

So the good? Well that’s a really short list. I have to say detail. The reader knows everything that is going on. You get a real sense of danger.

The bad? Well strangely enough, what make this book bad is what made the movie enjoyable. When I watch Jaws, I don’t watch it for the shark. I watch it because I care about Hooper, Brody and Quinn (well maybe not so much as the others). They are enjoyable, relatable characters and their chemistry is great. It keeps everything going when the shark is not around. But in this book, they all just complete jerks. I mean I wished the shark would eat all of them a few chapters in. There was no need to care are about them in the least. And there was this whole side plot of what the book calls Ellen’s (Brody’s Wife) affair with Hooper. Which I really don’t understand the real issue all that well. Ellen went to lunch with Hooper. But nothing happened. She was a good wife, and he was a gentle man. They knew each other from a long time ago. (Even if they did talk about a dirty topic for a little while, nothing happened) And it’s labeled as a affair? It make me want to look up the word, because if catching up with a old friend over lunch who happens to be a guy is a affair, then I have cheated many times over. Also this relationship between and Body and Ellen seemed like it wasn’t one at all. Up until the last pages the book, one was mad or suspicious of the other for something. It seemed, Ellen, needed to break away from Amity all together. But that’s off topic. Point is, nobody’s likable here The characters are so too dimensional that it’s sad.

Overall it’s not worth reading. I read other sharks books much better than this. So I can’t recommend it to anyone. Just go watch the movie. It’s better and you’ll enjoy it.

1 smoothie out of four.

Overall rating: Doesn’t Have Quite As Much Bite As One Would Hope

P.S. If you like books, check out my book and ebook website. Google Lelue’s Realm or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/

Alan Wake : An Authors Nightmare Supplied With Little Detail

Alan Wake By Rick Burroughs

Once upon a time I was an teenager who had a slight addiction to video games, (Mainly survival horrors and final fantasies) and at that point in my life, I would see novel adaptations of say Resident Evil or Silent Hill in Barnes and Nobles and wonder why would someone read a book when they can get everything they need from the video game. Well fast forward a decade to where I pay bills, go to college, and hold a job. And I have found the answer. I don’t have the money to buy the new spiffy game systems or time to even beat the game. And even though not much comes out the video game world that excites me anymore, I couldn’t take my eyes off of a game called Alan Wake. And story wise, it just seemed so original. So I ended up being one of those weird people who bought the novelization of the game.

Like the X Box title it shares the name Alan Wake, which it was adapted by Rick Burroughs. And I believe this is also his first book. The book involves a temperamental writer suffering from writer’s block who is eventually convinced by his wife to go vacation at a small rural town called Bright Falls. And things seem simple enough until he and his wife get into on argument. And was it that moment when a strange darkness pulls her down into the bottom of the lake and Alan passes out as he tries to save her. He wakes up in a car wreck exactly one week later with no recollection of the week passed. He only knows that he needs to find his wife and at night people are being possessed by the darkness. Alan has no clue of what is happening other than these loose pages of an manuscript he keeps finding that tend to narrate what he is going and predict the future events.

So the good? Well, first of all this is a really really good story. It keeps you guessing because there are so many loose ends. Is he crazy? Did he write this to make it happen? Or is he himself just a character in some other author’s novel. It’s a very interesting concept.

And here comes the bad. The bad is detail. Bland or dull details I can handle. But no detail at all, bothers me. For instance there is a scene where Alan finds a man dying. There is no mention of anything other than him splitting up blood. And then in the next chapter Alan thinks back to that same man and how he had his intestines ripped out. Shouldn’t that have been mentioned earlier? It’s just not written really well. The author should have elaborated more in detail and emotion as well.

Overall, it’s not great. But it’s fair. If you’re looking for a sort of mystery story (and can’t afford a X Box) this is the answer. If you’re looking for something scary, look elsewhere. I’ll give a little better the average grade.

2 1/4 smoothies out of four

Overall rating : An Authors Nightmare Supplied With Little Detail

P.S. If you life books check out my book or ebook website, Lelue’s Realm. Google it or go directly to http://www.freewebs.com/lelue/