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Motorcycle Book Store > Motorcycle books beginning with R
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Ring |
Author: Koji Suzuki
Published: 2003-05-01 |
List price: $24.95
Our price: $19.96
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As of: August 28th, 2008 09:32:33 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 A complete Ring
A good thriller, those who have seen the movie will not be dissapointed by the book.
However, the two main male characters in this book are very chauvinistic, and one of them not very likeable at all.
This book adds to the movie where the story line fell short. Those who enjoy thrillers will enjoy Ring.
 Ring
I read Ring over the course of three evenings and had I the time, I could have managed it in one go. It was a very tight plot explaining the origins of the tape, the purpose of the tape and the origins of the psychic powers involved in the curse. I don't want to go into the details more and risk spoiling the nuances of the book for those who have yet to read it. I will admit to the first couple chapters giving me nightmares which is what a good horror story should do.
Excellent Book, Eerie Premise
I've seen "Ringu", "The Ring" and "The Ring 2" and I chanced upon this book in a local bookstore. As enough has been said of the book's plot, I'll summarise my thoughts like this:
* The type of story is very different to what I'm culturally used to as 'horror' or even 'detective'
* I found it interesting that I didn't like either of the two protagonaists i n d i v i d u a l l y however I sympathised with their 'mateship' [I'm Australian]
* I never understood why a pre-teen girl would come back to get people even if she had been shoved in a well by her parents - the book's explanation for this course of events makes much, much more sense
Although the translation did seem a little simple in places, I found it added to the atmosphere of the story. Its simplicity allowed me to read quickly to find out who the book's author's Sadako really was.
In the end, I don't think any of the characters really had a 'good' ending...
authentic, surreal, darkly beautiful :)
if you notice, i am not one to write reviews of fiction. but i have collected all three versions of the film and of course - the book :) what makes a great film/book? compelling actors, script, or production! :) i recommend watching both the original Japanese film and Korean versions. read the book. think about the character EunSuh and realize .. conclude what you will, but find compassion in the most suprising places! :)
First you see the Ring...
Koji Suzuki could easily be considered the Stephen King of Japanese horror, with several movies (and remakes) of his bestseller novels -- particularly "Ring." Yes, that one. The one where you die in a week after seeing the cursed tape. While not quite the same as either film, Suzuki's original novel is a quiet, understated horror classic.
Four teenagers watch a seemingly cursed videotape, which will kill them in one week's time. Seven days later, all four die of heart attacks, including one young man simply keeling off his motorcycle. The uncle of one girl, Kazuyuki Asakawa, also finds the videotape and watches it. Now he has seven days to figure out the mysterious instructions, which happen to be missing. If he doesn't, he's dead.
Accompanied by a less-than-pristine professor, Ryuji Takayama, Asakawa goes in search of what is going on -- he suspects a virus that causes a heart attack. As he goes hunting through the woods for the secret to the videotape, he discovers a legacy of death and terror, left behind by the malevolent Sadako Yamamura. Asakawa's time is running out -- how can he unravel the mystery of the Ring?
Don't expect a carbon copy of the "Ring" movies: No TV apparitions, the lead is a man, and despite her beautiful female appearance, Sadako is a hermaphrodite. However, the "Ring" book is far more horrifying, solidifying Suzuki's position as a classic horror writer. It's impossible not to shiver when you look at the TV, after seeing this.
Suzuki's skill is in calmly, coolly describing horrific events in simple words. It packs a more visceral punch than if he just had floods of blood and gore in detail. The scene where Takayama sees the curse working on his own body is enough to make your skin crawl. And as good horror writers do, he creates a horrific plot based on something everyday. It's so easy to set off the curse, and that is what is so terrifying.
As Suzuki often does, he doesn't make his characters all sympathetic and noble. Asakawa is a cynical, rather self-absorbed man -- although this is what the plot hinges on -- and Takayama is a nihilistic rapist. It weakens the book slightly to not care much about either. Though in a way, the book is more about the "curse" -- which is more a virus -- and about Sadako than either of these men.
Perhaps that's a part of Suzuki's subtle cultural critiques in here, as well as Japanese supernatural beliefs -- nensha, for example, which is how Sadako created the lethal tape -- and the male and female roles in society. Finally he takes a hard look at this question: Should you allow your loved ones and yourself to die, or risk contaminating the world with the lethal videotape?
There's an almost apocalyptic note to the finale of "Ring," although it resulted in two more books. And Suzuki's original, deeply creepy novel is a must-read.
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