I am reading the book. An impulse buy in March. I need things to read at work because cell phones are too distracting. I need the surface engagement that’s only found in re-reading the same sentence twice. A metaphysical stutter between the times I talk to disembodied guests.  Discovering new worlds with punctuated character studies.  A writer’s paradise.  I have found the patent office I need to uncover genius.  Now I just have to survive. 

I’ve heard rumors that the Peter Benchley, the author, had a falling out with Spielberg about the ending of the movie.  Benchley is credited with the screenplay, so he clearly supports the movie adaptation.  He allowed Hollywood to truncate a complex tale into a thriller about a shark.  The tense music of John Williams combined with Spielberg’s spin on how to make a shark scary created the first Blockbuster hit in history.  The supposed discord between author and director is about the explosive ending to the movie.

I haven’t finished the book yet.  I’m about 50 pages from the end and just got to the scene where Roy Scheider essentially says, “We’re gonna need a bigger boat.”  That actual line is ad-libbed according to IMDb.  So arguably, Spielberg directed the story toward what makes the movie great.  I contend that John Williams is the person to thank for that.  Try watching the last 45 minutes of Jaws without music.  It’s a bad shark week outtake at best.  After that, the novel is certainly to thank for the solidity of the film.

Even though everyone remembers the movie for the exciting shark infested parts, none of it would exist without Benchley’s thoughtful prose.  The characters in the story are very loosely connected in the movie but have a torrid history in the book.  Quint, the boat captain, doesn’t even appear until the last third of the book.  He is a brusque character that adds needed color to the end of the story simply because he doesn’t fear the fish.  I don’t know yet if he actually dies in the book.  He’s enough like Ahab, I assume he does.

The story for the movie wouldn’t exist without the book and so it must be credited.  I also think the movie and book are equally good for different reasons.  Knowing the literary source of the plot, I lament some of the nuances passed over in favor of a shorter movie. I’d love to have seen Brody’s wife seduce Hooper (Dreyfuss).  Attack scenes are less dramatic in the book but hold more weight in the story.  Other plot devices, such as political conspiracy and class struggles, are less compelling but I don’t suppose every detail of A Song of Fire & Ice is that vital to Game of Thrones either.

That said, I’m going to finish reading Jaws and then reread it.  If it holds up that well the second time it might be worth looking at a reboot.  That’s what we do to be creative now, right?  Find something that wasn’t done perfectly and use a new set of standards to replicate it.  Anyway, I’ll need some hobbies after I write the book.  I need to step up production because the world looks like it might fall apart faster than I expected.  All I can tell at this point is Douglas Adams was right – Don’t Panic.