Book 48 of 2008: Ring by Koji Suzuki

Book Description:

One night in Tokyo, four healthy teenagers die one after another of heart failure. A journalist, the uncle of one of the victims and intrigued by the coincidence, investigates and learns of a videotape that the four watched together a week before dying. Amid a series of bizarre and frightening images is a warning that the viewer will die in exactly one week unless a certain act is performed. The description of the act, of course, has been erased from the videotape, and the journalist's work to solve the mystery assumes a deadly urgency.

Ring is not only a chillingly told horror story but also a shrewdly intelligent and subversive commentary on the power of imagery and contagious consumerism. Ring spawned one of Japan's highest-grossing films ever as well as the blockbuster DreamWorks remake starring Naomi Watts. The Japanese version of the novel has sold almost 3 million copies.

In addition to being dubbed "the Stephen King of Japan," Koji Suzuki is a respected authority on childrearing. He likes to roam Japan in his RV and has written about fulfilling his lifelong dream of riding his motorcycle across the United States, from Los Angeles to Key West. Suzuki is based in Tokyo.

My Opinion:

I read this book several years back and then went on to watch both the American and Japanese versions of the movie... therefore, I had to read the book again to make myself feel better about the storyline once again. The movies SUCKED!!! On top of that, they really didn't follow the book at all. After having re-read the book I realized just how much worse the movies were than I originally thought. It's like it was a wole new storyline rather than a movie form of the book. I also didn't get why people thought the movies were so scary. Uh... yeah... sur-re!!! Anywho... the book is VERY good and I love the way Koji Suzuki writes. I'm looking forward to progressing further with this trilogy as I've yet to read SPIRAL or LOOP. I will review them as I read them. Oh... and in case you're curious... find below the trailers for the two craptastic movies...

The Ring Trailer (American Version):



Ringu (Japanese Version):