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Summary: In The Family
Review: Charles Vansant was my uncle. My mother the middle daughter of Eugene Vansant...Louse. She never would talk about this awful event and even made sure I would never learn about it. My cousins told me about this(Eugenia's kids)and we just never discuss it with my mom or aunt. My one brother Charlie was to swim one time with friends up at the Jersey shore that took my uncle's life and my mother was very upset that he swam there. I appreciate the author's gifted research and the look into life in the early 1900's United States and the shark's history.
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Summary: Read like a suspense novel!
Review: I disagree with the reviewer who felt that this book wasn't as compelling as Twelve Days of Terror, the other recent title on this subject. I read both books, back to back, and found Close to Shore far better for the very reasons another reviewer didn't like it as much as Twelve Days. I'm a female reader in my mid-thirties, and was far more interested in the human aspect of the 1916 New Jersey than in any technical or scientific information about sharks and marine biology. I wanted to know what life was like on the shore in 1916, what the victims were like, how their families and the locals reacted to the horror, and what happened to them before, during and after the attacks. Close To Shore provides all of this detail. It's extremely atmospheric, and treats the victims and other players in the drama as three dimensional characters. This almost read like a novel, in my opinion, while Twelve Days was too dry and almost textbook-like for my taste. In fact, I found myself skimming much of Twelve Days. I read both books on a sunny Atlantic Beach and Close To Shore was so effective that I thought twice about going into the water. The author allows the reader to see, hear, feel, and taste the victims' horror, and it was all too easy for me to relive the attacks in my imagination after reading this book. I strongly recommend it for anyone looking for a fast-paced human interest drama.
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Summary: I'm afraid to go back in the water.......AGAIN!
Review: This book will leave you breathless and cautious, especially if you're a lover of the sea.........like me! Its colorful descriptions of life in the early twentieth century and its smorgasboard view from the eye of the shark make it a non-stop read. I was a little disappointed at the ending and thought the author, who builds his narrative at an incredible pace, sort of left us a little flat with a somewhat deflated climax. Regardless, this book will leave you afraid to go back in the water.......again! Enjoy.............
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Summary: Shark Attack
Review: This is definitely not the book you want to take with you to read on the beach this summer. Wisely, I put off reading it until I returned from my week at the Jersey shore, the site of the shark attacks outlined inside. Many of these places are familiar to me, and it gave me goose bumps to read about how frequently sharks come close to bathers along our coasts. I don't remember seeing a shark in Jersey for the past 15 years or so, and that one was rather distant from shore, but the terror still remains, since I was in the water at the time, and hustled back to shore at the call of the lifeguard. The author does a very credible job at evoking a vanished time and place in our history, and I salute him for that. There is a bit of overwriting in this work, which is why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, but it's a very good book, in my opinion, and it told me something about our history that I hadn't known. For that alone I wish to commend the author.
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Summary: Good Beach Book
Review: Want the perfect beach book? Take this one then go into the water if you dare. I liked the way the book is laid out, first we are introduced to the likable characters then we learn their fate. The author does a great job evoking the feeling of the pre-World War I era. Follow the shark up the New Jersey coast to include the incongruity of a salt water fish swimming up a fresh water stream wrecking mayhem along the way.
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Summary: Don't Go In The Water!
Review: At times slow, especially when Capuzzo is giving background material on the shark's victims. However, the book tells the terrifying story of the attacks of 5 people that griped the Jersey shore in July 1916. I was disappointed by the absence of any photographs of the victims, or of the shark caught on 7/14/16 in Raritan Bay that had human bones in its stomach. Since this shark was displayed in the window of a newspaper building, one would think that photos of it exist. I now look forward to reading Dr. Fernicola's book on the same topic to compare both authors' treatment of the subject.
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Summary: LONG BEACH ISLAND WILL NEVER BE THE SAME TO ME AGAIN
Review: I go to LBI regularly in the summer, and I now have second thoughts of swimming in the ocean. This story started off slowly with a lot of info from the period of time but, it seemed necessary to set up the chapters for the attacks. The first 80 or so pages is the time period pieces, then the attacks happen. It is superbly writtne and telling and you get a feeling of being experiencing this horrible act against human's from a sea creature. I HIGHLY recommend this book to anyone who has seen JAWS or lives in Jersey for it is fascinating and intriguing and scary all at once. VERY RECOMMENDED....
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Summary: The Real Jaws
Review: It's hard to imagine a time when people thought that sharks were more or less harmless creatures, but as Michael Capuzzo details in his excellent book, Close To Shore, in 1916, they thought just that. Swimming in the ocean was a relative new thing at that time as people on the East Coast were starting to take advantage of new found leisure time and easier access to the Shore thanks to the railroad system. It was a badge of honor amongst men to see how far they could swim in the ocean. With no fear of the known undertows of the waters off the Jersey Coast or the creatures that live in it, men swam with a wanton disregard of danger. The first known attack on a swimmer by a shark was a young Philadelphian of means, Charles Vansant. Despite the reports that it was a shark, the experts of the day declared that it was not a shark as there were no documented reports that sharks ever attacked humans and that it was probably a killer whale or swordfish. People were not deterred from going into the water after the attack, but after a couple more attacks, a reign of terror began to grip the Jersey Shore communities. Mr. Capuzzo alternatively takes us through the lives of the victims and the shark's. It is the detailing of the great white that is extremely interesting and insightful. Mr. Capuzzo is able to reconstruct the shark's movements and thought in chilling detail. The cavalier attitude of people towards the water and their lack of knowledge about sharks in general is stunning considering these events occurred less than 90 years ago. Much like the book and movie it inspired, Jaws, Close To Shore will make you think twice about going in the water.
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Summary: Too much exposition, not enough carnage!
Review: I don't want to sound morbid, but when you buy a book about shark attacks, it should not take 93 pages for the first person to get eaten. Capuzzo spends an enormous amount of time describing buildings, clothing, towns. Every time a new character is introduced, the author has to go back a generation or two, with endless descriptions. Because the setting is 1916, a time unfamiliar to many, it is understandable that Capuzzo has to set the stage for the drama, but endless description and exposition gets extremely tiresome. The shark attacks are described in a very compelling way, but the author also uses the tiresome strategy of teasing us by introducing some character who goes in swimming, but then does not get attacked, just like those murdered teenager movies, where the scary noise turns out to be the cat. Also, the book claims to be extremely realistic, with no conversations recreated, but then the author tells us exactly where the shark was swimming, and what it was thinking! How is that realistic? This book would have been a lot more compelling if it was about 150 pages shorter. It might have even made a better lengthy article, since there really wasn't enough to fill a whole book. For those who like ocean-adventure-survival stories, I would recommend you read In Harm's Way, about the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis, and the resulting shark attacks. Much better written. I couldn't put that one down.
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Summary: Hold on to your nickers....
Review: Simply put; one of the best reads of the summer. Evocative, arresting, wholly engaging and breathlessly exciting, it's a rich, textured and harrowing read from the opening page to the last. And the final showdown between man and shark... comes like a bolt from the blue and leaves you gasping. As a child, I swam the waters of the locales described and walked over the dunes where the hotels once resided and the turn of the century bathers frolicked. And Capuzzo's book was a rich combination of memories and lost history. I loved it - and suggest it as a gift for anyone who loves history, adventure and the chill of the unexpected but true. This is one nasty shark. And one terrific book.
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