Thriller | Book Chatter

Jaws
By Peter Benchley
(Random House, Hardcover, 9781400064564, Originally published 1974, 320pp.)

The Short of It:

Nearly 40 years old and it STILL gives me goosebumps!

The Rest of It:

Last year or the year before, my student assistant told me that she had never heard of JAWS. I was rambling on about movies and when she said that, I stopped mid-sentence, looked the movie up on Netflix and gave her orders to see that weekend.

Did she listen? No. But, it was at that moment that I remembered the book. I had not read the book before and thought it might make a good summer read and boy, did it! As perfect as a book about a man-eating shark can be! The story takes place right before the July 4th holiday, in a small beach community called Amity. The presence of a shark, made evident by the aftermath left behind, forces city officials to close the beach during one of the busiest weekends of the summer. As you can imagine, most of the revenue for such a small town comes from tourists visiting for the summer so the closure of the beach is a big to-do and not a move favored by everyone. As the town digs in to find this shark, a rag-tag group is hastily formed and off they go, in search of the Great White.

The book is actually really, really good. I hate mass marketed copies of anything but if you have a copy lying around, I urge you to dig it out. The pacing is perfect, the tension is just right and there is just enough of a back story to keep you interested.

That said, there are some major differences between the book and the movie and those differences involve main characters. I won’t go into them because I want you to experience the book for yourself. A friend of mine said that the book is all about the shark but I disagree. We get to know the human characters quite well from the book, whereas in the movie… we are only given a tiny bit of their personal lives.

Still, it was the perfect summer read and even though the movie was different in some ways, I still consider it one of the best movies ever and it’s 35 years old!! So, with July 4th just around the corner, I dare you to take a dip!

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

Duma Key
By Stephen King
(Scribner, Hardcover, 9781416552512, January 2008, 624pp.)

The Short of It:

Once again, King pulls you in with his vivid imagination, colorful characters and wry sense of humor. This is “classic” King.

The Rest of It:

I’ve got a thing for King. I like to read him in between my heavier reads, and I always save him for long breaks. I spent my July 4th weekend curled-up with Duma Key, and let me tell you, it was wonderful!

After surviving a construction accident that nearly kills him, Edgar is forced to come to terms with his new life. Left with one arm and angry as all get out, Edgar is not pleasant to be around. His wife has decided to leave him, and his grown daughters aren’t sure what to make of their new dad. On the recommendation of his doctors and close friends, Edgar rents a house on Duma Key’s Florida coast. There, his phantom arm continues to remind him of what was, but he gains a skill which he never had before; he becomes an artist. At first he is startled, but as the paintings begin to tell a story, he becomes frightened.

Why I loved this book:

Memorable characters. This may be my favorite King yet. I fell in love with Wireman and Jack. These are Edgar’s friends on Duma and they make this good read, great.
The setting. The sounds of the ocean, the color of the sunsets all play a role in this story. I had no trouble visualizing Duma Key’s strip of coastline and that’s saying a lot because Duma Key does not exist.
Very little gore. I know a lot of you shy away from King because you have this image in your head that he is all about gore. That’s not true. Yes, he does have a vivid imagination and his stories often have horrific scenes in them, but he plays upon your insecurities and he does it well. That’s why his books have the effect that they do. Given what I just said, the images created in this one are very mild compared to some of his other books. Mild, but still memorable.
There’s supernatural stuff going on. Some ghostly in nature, a bit of intuition and a lot of premonition.
There were no slow spots. This book is a chunkster, weighing in at 600+ pages yet I didn’t notice its length at all. It was steady reading throughout and there were many times where I didn’t want to put it down.
It’s “classic” King. Meaning, it’s the way he used to write when I first started reading him (late 80’s). After his accident in 1999, which involved being struck by a minivan, countless operations and several physical therapy sessions, his books took on a different tone. I didn’t care for that tone. I still read his work because I am a constant reader (what he calls his fans) but I didn’t care for it. Duma Key, was written at the end of that phase (imo) and he returned to his classic style of writing.

When I mentioned that I was reading this one, a lot of you said that you were looking forward to the audio version. I imagine it would be wonderful on audio, but there is something special about reading a book like this and picturing these characters yourself. Yes, I know you can do that with audio (to a degree) but I’m sure my image of Wireman would be completely different on audio. It would be an interesting test, that’s for sure.

Needless to say, I added this to my list of faves for this year even though it’s not literary or considered one of those “must-read-before-you-die” books. I am adding this one purely for the characters. I was so sad to say goodbye to them.

Source: Borrowed.