Ring

Rating:
Summary: ...Psuedohermaphroidic...
Review: First of all, I'm sure everyones given a synopsis so I'll just get to the cons and pros of this novel. To begin with, it is excellent. Definately worth reading, even if you have seen all of the movies. There are pieces the Japanese, English, and Korean version CERTAINLY didn't cover. I was caught off guard at several points in this book. This is one of the better translations I've read and I can't wait to pick up Spiral.

Unfortantely only two characters are really explored. Every other character is barely two dimensional. Of course I was fond the two main characters and found myself in love with the characterization of Ryuji. Even after I had finished the book I was trying to figure him out. Ah, but I loved him.

I also didn't find the book quite as frightening as the movies. Only a few parts set me on edge and I'm afraid that was only because it was the middle of the night and I was home alone. It does manage to keep an eerie tone however and contains some excellent, occasionally trivial, imagery.

I literaly devoured this book. I am a high school senior and, well, naturally I don't have a lot of free time. To say I finished this book in a matter of days is certainly saying something. Koji Suzuki is simply genius. Read it, if for nothing else than to read the word "Psuedohermaphroidic"(sp?) in a sentance.

Rating:
Summary: Different enough to be interesting
Review: Having thoroughly enjoyed all three Ringu movies I couldn't help but be curious about the book they were based on, so when The Ring by Koji Suzuki became available I bought a copy and read it straight through the same night. As this implies, it's a good read. The book is different enough from the movies to be interesting (e.g. Asakawa is a man), there are several surprises and some points are explained in more detail than in the films, so it was definitely worthwhile. Can't really tell how closely the translation captures the spirit of the original, but it reads as if it had been composed in English, so the translation is, at least, effective.

Rating:
Summary: A great thriller
Review: I am happy to see that some people agree with me, and have given this book good reviews. This was an incredible book. Although not very scary, it's a great thriller.
The book does not follow the movies very closely, other than the fact that it has to do with a video tape that kills people. The characters are different than the movies and much of the story goes in a very different direction than the movies. But enough comparing.
"Ring" is the story of Asakawa, a reporter, who's neice dies a strange death, on the same night and time as her friends do. Asakawa is determined to find out how their strange deaths occured. His research brings him to a cabin high in the mountains of Japan only to find a video tape with a terrible scenes shown and a message at the end saying "you will die in one week unless....." then the tape cuts off.
Throughout the book Asakawa teams up with his best friend Ryuji to find the meaning behind the tape. This book is a major page turner. Plus for those of you that liked the movies, this book gives more details on where the video came from and what exactly it is.
Koji Suzuki really is the "Stephen King" of Japan. And "Ring" is only the first book in a trillogy. I really hope we get blessed by having the other two books published here as well. Don't miss out on this suspenssful, thrilling novel.

Rating:
Summary: Only for Real Fans of the Movie
Review: I am huge fan of the movie The Ring. I cannot think of a movie I've seen in the past few years that is as eerie. Because of this, I wanted to see Ringu, the Japanese movie the American movie is based on and read this book, which started the whole process. I have to admit, however, that I was disappointed.

Though I am usually a fan of linear storytelling, I was engaged by the American movie's visual power and near surrealism in spots. Unfortunately, that was clearly an invention. Suzuki's book and the Japanese movie were both very neat packages with the book being the neatest of all. There was little mystery and when I finished the novel, I felt I understood everything that had happened. And I felt a loss.

I also was disappointed by the prose. It's difficult to blame Suzuki for this because, not being able to read Japanese, I don't know what's been lost in translation. But the way we have been given this story in English is very bland, offering little in the way of fear or excitement.

Still, I'm glad I read it. It is interesting to see how the story developed from novel to Ringu to The Ring. The fundamental piece is there--the video that kills viewers after seven days--but much is developed and changed before the final form. And I do feel reading this novel has deepened my understanding of The Ring. For that I am grateful. But only a real fan of the American movie will find much in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Why the bad reviews?
Review: I bought this book after seeing both the American and Japanese movies. I was very surprised. I was expecting to be different than the movies, but i was IMPRESSED. SOME of the writing was a little off just becuase of the translations, but it was still excellent. It still has the same basic premise of a cursed video tape and a girl named Sadako (samara in the american version). Many plot twists, very scary and a quick read. I definately recommend this book to people who like: horror, thrillers, mysteries, etc. One word describes this book for me EXCELLENT.

Rating:
Summary: Read it for the ideas that didn't make it into the movies.
Review: I bought _Ring_ after watching _Ringu_ in the hopes that the book would explain some of the things that I didn't understand about the movie. Although the premise--a cursed videotape kills any watchers within seven days--remains the same, the main characters, the general feel, and a few major elements of the mystery are very different. If you were taken with the plot of the movie and would like to see it from a different angle, you may enjoy this book.

If you liked the movie's intrepid Ms. Asakawa and her surly-but-charismatic ex-husband Ryuji, you may be sorry to see them as very dull Mr. Asakawa and his unpleasant (and probably criminal) friend Ryuji. I got over my initial disappointment because their dynamic is intriguing. It seems their friendship is based on a horrible confession Ryuji made to Asakawa some time ago--something so awful, Asakawa knows he himself is capable of nothing worse. Because of this, they can be very open with one another. It also enables Asakawa to quell any feelings of guilt over showing Ryuji the tape and asking for his help breaking the curse. Ryuji, it seems, may well deserve to die.

The images--even those on the videotape--are different from the ones in the movie, keeping things fresh and a little more mysterious than they might be otherwise for someone who came to the book after watching the movie. The writing (or perhaps the translation) struck me as a bit clumsy; it reminded me more of Dean Koontz than of Stephen King. The supernatural and psychic elements of the story remain very creepy.

_Ring_ is a light read that delivers a feeling of dread and faint queasiness, but little in the way of scares. Overall, I preferred _Ringu_'s treatment of the story. For Japanese horror books, I'd much rather read a Junji Ito _manga_. If other books in this series were translated into English, I might read them, but I'd wait until they were in paperback to buy them.

Rating:
Summary: Great Plot
Review: I have read this book, but I haven't seen either the recent American film or its Japanese and Korean predecessors. Two recent conversations with friends who have seen the American movie convinced me that the book doesn't contain anything that might spoil one's experience of the movie or vice versa. The movie and the original Japanese novel have much less in common than you might suppose.

The novel is translated from a language with different conventions for horror/thriller writing, so some readers may be distracted by expository lumps, authorial intrusions, and some odd phraseology, e.g. "wordless shadows" (p.3). These unusual things did not bother me. I simply relaxed and let the rapid and smooth plot carry me along.

The character Ryuji, who acts as a foil to the protagonist Asakawa, almost prevented me from enjoying the book. Ryuji is a lecturer at a college and a self-described serial rapist, an intellectual brute. Asakawa is timid and sensitive. I found Ryuji extremely repellent and Asakawa dull and vacillating. The relationship between the two men is unusual: "Asakawa could cry in front of Ryuji. Ryuji was the outlet for all their emotions he couldn't break down and show his wife" (p.143-4). With a protagonist and a buddy like these guys, clearly you need a strong, interesting, and unusual antagonist, which is exactly what Suzuki gives us--but in a very strange way.

Rating:
Summary: ------7 DAYS!------
Review: I loved The Ring, the movie. It remains, along with The Exorcist, the two scariest films in the world to me. I enjoyed the japanese version too. But what gets under my skin is how they turn a great book, into a great movie, but yet makes it a lot different.
Now I'm not going to spoil anything, but the ending of the book is different to the endings of both the japanese and american films.
Anyway, the book is fantastic! Koji Suzuki is a pretty good writer, and the suspense, horror and philosophy of the book is amazing. As in the films, there's nothing too terrifying all the way through. Bits here and there, but nothing heart-stopping. (Excuse the pun!!!)
But for some reason there's an eeriness the whole way through, building you up for the end. whether that was the whole technique, i dont know, but it is most definitely a scary, satisfying book that leaves you slobbering for the sequels! ;-)

Rating:
Summary: Different than the movies
Review: I saw The Ring back in October when it premiered in theaters, and fell in love with it. Since then, I've seen the movie several times, as well as viewed Ringu multiple times. So it was with great anticipation that I awaited the release of the novel that started it all. I can't say much for the writing quality of this novel, but maybe its more due to the translation than the author's style. There are several differences between the movies and the book--namely the main character. It's a woman in the films, but in the book it's a man. There are other differences as well, but I'm not going to belabor them here. Despite the quality issues, I still enjoyed this book very much. A must-have for Ring fans

Rating:
Summary: Don't trust the reader from Tokyo, JP
Review: I wanted to read the original novel ever since watching the Japanese version of the movie as I was told it was much better. This version is to help those who cannot read Japanese to enjoy the original version (not that I cannot read Japanese! I CAN!). I read through the first few pages and the authors have put in real effort! Having tried to translate Japanese novels into English, I know it was not easy, especially with the words that do not exist or have an exact word in English. If you are interested to know the original story, by all means, try this book. My 4 stars is not to over-rate this as I have not finished the whole book.

A word to Reader from JP, Tokyo - why don't you try to translate the continuation? Your English looks fantastic enough! I am sure your version will be seriously comprehensible!