“Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard” Book Review

The paperback Expanded 2 Edition of Jaws: Memories from Martha’s Vineyard, written by Matt Taylor, is released today, and we have our review after the break.

At 312 pages, you may not think this account of the making of a clasic is particularly in-depth, but you’d be wrong. The coffee table book’s 12″ x 10.5″ page size makes for a massive canvas on which a bevy of photos, maps, and newspaper clippings can truly shine.

Steven Spielberg directed the 1975 Universal Pictures thriller Jaws from a screenplay by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, based on Benchley’s novel of the same name. Roy Scheider plays a police chief of the beach resort Amity Island. When a Great White Shark picking off people, he leads an exposition to hunt the shark down. The film became the first Summer Blockbuster, putting Spielberg on the map, and generating a legacy that included people being afraid of going into the ocean. The problematic production has been chronicled a number of times, particularly the struggles with the mechanical shark. Filming took place on location at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.

Memories From Martha’s Vineyard goes into all of this with an economy of words, letting the photos and other imagery to tell the story. There are also first hand accounts from crew members that give you an insight into the true experience of making this American classic.

Simply put, this book is a must-have for any cinephile. Take away the film’s legacy, the fact it’s in the Library of Congress and AFI’s Top 100 Movies of All Time, and even that it’s the first major film from the most accomplished filmmaker of all time. At the end of the day, it’s just a great movie that sparks conversation, this is the perfect kind of coffee table book to help make those conversations epic.