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Summary: Story of Shark Attacks Lacks Teeth
Review: I really wanted to like this book. Truly I did. I found the premise and subject matter to be brimming with potential; however, after reading Mr. Capuzzo's re-telling of the events of 1916 I must say I was left terribly disappointed. The narrative style was lumbering, and the story unfocused with numerous inexplicable tangents. I also felt the author's style failed to build adequate tension and suspense to bring to life a story which bills itself on the cover as "a true tale of terror." It should've been terrifying but wasn't. It was cold, detached, and slightly stilted--sort of like reading a coroner's report. I'm not suggesting that the author might've embellished to be more entertaining. Far from it. I'm saying the material needed for a truly frightening story was already there and he failed to present it competently. Mr. Capuzzo totally failed to convey the sense of terror the public must've felt at the time. And his description of the attacks themselves really had me thinking this story was much ado about nothing. All that said, it wasn't a horrible read, and was marginally entertaining. If your curiosity is still getting the best of you I'd at least recommend waiting until it comes out in paperback form.
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Summary: Could taste the salt water and see the shark
Review: What a pleasant surprise to find Capuzzo's book featured at our local bookstore... As I boy I grew up not far from the Matawan Creek and often swam in the waters near the creek. Capuzzo writes with such clarity and precision I once again could picture myself in those waters, and could taste the salt water of my boyhood days. But this time the rogue great white was near by.!! Scary notion!!! An interesting story not only about sharks but the culture and society that feared them!!
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Summary: THERE'S A REASON FOR THOSE "IRRATIONAL" FEARS
Review: If "Jaws" made us afraid to go back into the water, "Close to Shore" brings more than a shiver from the deep recounting the real life shark attacks along the Jersey Shore that inspired Benchley's best-seller and the Spielberg blockbuster that terrified us in 1975.Michael Capuzzo has written a riveting narrative about a rogue great white shark that ravages the New Jersey Shore during the summer before America entered the Great War. Attacking at least a dozen men, women and children, killing four and maiming a fifth, this young, eight-foot monster destroyed the conventional wisdom that sharks do not attack man and the 1916 Jersey Shore tourist season in a terrifying week-long feeding frenzy. Capuzzo masterfully recreates the Age of Innocence for those fortunate enough to be able to escape the heat and health hazards of Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington and escape to the cool breezes and clean air of the Jersey Shore. If ever an evil creature invaded paradise, it was this not yet full-grown great white. The paradise lost included the Progressive Era certitude that science knew the answers to all of life's mysteries. The country's leading scientific authorities scoffed at the notion that a shark would attack a man and attempt to eat him. Perhaps there are primordial "reasons" for our irrational fear of the deep. If you were afraid to go back into the water after viewing "Jaws," you may not be able to dangle your feet in the water after reading "Close to Shore."
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Summary: A Real Treat for the Shark-Obsessed
Review: As someone who has been held in thrall by sharks since my first viewing of JAWS, I have read many books on the subject, and found this to be one of the best -- satisfying on many levels. Not only in terms of the stunningly deep research and taut writing, which moved the narrative along at a breathtaking pace, but also in terms of the style. I have to disagree with the review that says it is "too tinged with fiction." As a teacher of writing, I found this book an excellent example of the currently popular (and justifiably so, in my mind) style of journalism known as "creative non-fiction." It uses many techniques of the fiction genre -- deep characterization, setting detail, flashbacks and layered plots and subplots -- to carry the story without much cast of a dry documentary. Having already been familiar with the 1916 attacks, I found this book to be fascinatingly detailed, especially from a historical perspective. Reading the story in its historical context brought so much more texture and reality to the narrative than I've ever experienced. I, too, read the book in less than three days. As someone who lives within driving distance of the Jersey Shore, and who made her last visit two years ago, I can tell you this much: I won't be going in the water again there. Ever.
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Summary: What a great read!
Review: Well written, informative and very, very entertaining. Makes "Jaws" look like a guppie!
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Summary: Jaws Re-write
Review: I am in love with the story of the 1916 shark attack enigma and Close To Shore does add a bit to my Library on the subject, at least as a novelty. The book was essentially a re-write of Jaws with a Ragtime flavor. Jaws was great, but I think the 85 year-old story is powerful enough on it own to take the gruesome thrill of shark attack to a new level. This telling was just too scented with fiction to keep my interest.
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Summary: Where Was This Man's Editor?
Review: While the author does a fantastic job of bringing 1916 America to life, the actual shark attacks seemed almost to be an afterthought. Too many times were you lead down a road to have it end abruptly and without reason. Mr. Capuzzo could have written an interesting short story about the shark attacks and the reader would have walked away with an interesting account of history and terror instead of being greatful the book was finally finished.
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Summary: Abridged recording makes good listening
Review: Not having read the entire book, I cannot tell how well abridged is the BDD Audio version of Michael Capuzzo's <Close to Shore: a True Story of Terror in an Age of Innocence.> What I do know is that for the most part I enjoyed this 6 hour reading on four cassettes by actor Len Cariou. The first section of this reading (no chapter breaks are indicated) is a vivid portrait of life on the Jersey Shore in the year 1916, the rich well-researched details of which are interrupted with increasing frequency by the accounts of a large shark that is eternally seeking its next meal. In the course of this work, we get to meet many ordinary people and some extraordinary ones who are either fated to fall into the jaws of the predator or to become heroes--and sometime fools--in the panic stricken sharkhunt that results from several mutilations and eventual deaths of a few people. These victims are introduced to us in great detail before they meet "the Monster." In this way, the final confrontations with the shark are that much more meaningful to us. On the other hand, Capuzzo's method soon becomes obvious and therefore predictable. The moment we meet a new character who is about to go swimming, we know what is going to happen in a few pages. So what suspense there is lies in our wondering if this person will escape, be only mutilated, or be dragged down to death. Much more interesting are the scientists who are engaged in a constant battle to convince people that sharks do not harm human beings, and their opponents who are not willing to blame killer whales after one person is attacked in water only three and a half feet deep. While some of the details are nauseatingly vivid, they lack that slick treatment that had the author of a more popular work of fiction smiling all the way to the bank. Capuzzo has opted for a newsman's objectivity and it works very nicely. And yet I feel that Cariou's reading is a bit too objective. Perhaps a little more excitement in his voice would have helped, but I am not really sure if that would have cheapened the effect of these descriptions drawn from journals and newspapers. I checked the book, by the way, and there are nine pages of bibliography, and it is a only select one at that. So it works well as a book of social history, of the hunting habits of sharks (which one reviewer finds "erroneous"), and as a jolly good thriller. Good listening in your car for those long drives--but not on your way to the shore for a day of swimming.
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Summary: A real shark hunt changes lives in this unusual true account
Review: Veteran reader Len Cariou lends his smooth and fine voice to Close To Shore, a true story of 1916 when a rogue white shark attacked swimmers along the New Jersey shore. American history comes to life as a real shark hunt changes lives in this unusual true account.
Rating:
Summary: Good read
Review: Close to Shore is a highly detailed account of the shark attacks on the New Jersey shore in 1916. The author does a great job of describing the shark attacks from the shark's point of view. His details of the time period the people and places in that period are impecable. The only complaint I have of his book is that it took way too long to get to the meat of the story (the shark attacks). With a little editiong this would have been a great read.
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