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Jaws

By: Peter Benchley
Narrated by: Erik Steele
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Publisher's Summary

Jaws is the classic, blockbuster thriller that inspired the three-time Academy Award-winning Steven Spielberg movie and made millions of beachgoers afraid to go into the water. Experience the thrill of helpless horror again - or for the first time! 

Jaws was number 48 in the American Film Institute's 100 Years...100 Movies, and the film earned the coveted number-one spot on the Bravo network's 100 Scariest Movie Moments countdown. 

This timeless tale of man-eating terror that spawned a movie franchise, two video games, a Universal Studios theme park attraction, and two musicals is finally available on audio for the first time ever!

©2002 Peter Benchley (P)2009 BBC Audiobooks America

What listeners say about Jaws

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

Classic but Dated

A great book, if you ignore the weirdly sexual sub-plot and odd use of words here and there. Skip chapter 8 if you don't want to be cringing the whole time. Otherwise an excellent reading by Erik Steele who I don't envy for having to read some of these gross sentences out loud. I would suggest if you are interested in the main plot of a man-eating shark, watch the movie, just trust me.

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3 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Classic in its own right.

This book was fantastic, mainly because I successfully read it as it’s own story, instead of comparing it to the film.
As a monster story it is unparalleled, & really is thrilling to read.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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classic

As a teenager of the 70's I couldn't wait to listen to this book. I was 12 when the movie came out and living close to the beach in Australia. What a classic.....loved every minute of the book but it kept me wanting more

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Terrifying

The deaths at the hands of the shark are far more sinister than its movie counterpart, overall a great listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Better than I expected

I was really impressed with the original novel. I know the film well (who doesn't have memory of that?) however the original text is by far superior. The first two thirds of the novel is not even about the shark. The shark is more like a catalyst or bogeyman that sets in motion several events amidst ithe dire economic conditions of a holiday town that is so dependent on the cash injection it receives from upper crust holiday goers who stay and spend for three months of the year. The mainly blue-collar service people who live in the town make do for the other nine months living on any scraps they have gathered from the ‘on’ season. Bad media publicity from shark attacks thus sends several shockwaves through the delicately balanced town which is so eager to keep face with the holiday goers. One bad year could equal the ruin of the town. The shark attacks which can’t be kept secret for long unravel all sorts of sub-plots with media cover ups, corrupt town people and mafia property scams. This is pulp fiction at its page-turning best. The final act is a modern-day Moby Dick type story resplendent with an Ahab-type captain called Quint. The characters including our main protagonist Brody are all seriously flawed which imbues a realism we don’t get from Hollywood all that often.

The audiobook presentation is first class as the narrator has a great repertoire of different voices for each of the characters giving the story an extra level of life. I really loved this text. It’s not highbrow literature by any means but is great story telling and exceeded my expectations.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointed is an understatement!

I haven't the vocabulary to describe how unbelievably disappointed I am with this book.
Terrible, awful, boring, tedious, stupid, ridiculous..
The story went off on tangents that had absolutely nothing to do with the big picture, it dragged on so slowly in parts that it was almost painful to listen to.
I tried to give it the benefit of the doubt by listening all the way to end but was severely let down every step of the way.
100% DO NOT RECOMMEND this book..
How it became a popular movie, I'll never know, but thank goodness it was rewritten for the screen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Better than movie

I read this decades ago and was interested to see if I still enjoyed the story especially in light of some of the Audible reviews... Although a WOKE author today would not express the misogyny and other politically incorrect storytelling and characters... I believe they still run true of current American privalaged small town attitudes ... Never been a fan of Speilberg I find him usually too sacherin and one dimensional for my taste... soo I enjoyed the 'sharks perspective ' rather than just the monster from the movie..I enjoyed the sleazy furtive gropings of the sex and the characters mindsets. and politics... definitely worth a listen in my opinion

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Very different

Naturally differ to movie but more than expected. Great story though the ending could of been longer

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Jaws

OK. Years after seeing the movie more times than I should, my feeling after finishing was thank heavens for the screen writer. It isn’t often the movie is better than a book. It was written in the past and it was evident. The narration was good.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Great!

Great listen. The movie adoption was very different, it book was better than I expected it to be!

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