Ring, by Koji Suzuki

[charmian]

I've never seen the movie version of the Ring (the movie is based off of the book), so I can't really speak to how it's different; however, I'm informed there are quite a few changes.

Anyway, it takes awhile for the story to heat up (around a hundred pages before things start getting truly interesting, IMHO). There is little point in recounting the story, as we all remember the iconic image of Sadako, and the secret of the videotaped curse; the really interesting parts of the story are the recounting of the past of Sadako (which remains unclear in many ways), and the detective work. IMHO it might be better SFF than horror, although I think there is a certain eh, unoriginality in the forms of the ESP powers? And the stuff about the virus is somewhat confusing and 'wait, what?' The translation also felt odd/awkward at certain points.


I guess all of this needs to be cleared up in the sequels, but just what happened with the smallpox virus? And to what extent did Sadako plan this all? It's all rather confusing. Sadako's powers are at once a bit too specific and somewhat generic (why should psychic powers specifically apply to photographic films and videotapes? Also, when Sadako died, had videotapes been invented? So how would she know how to lay that trap?

What is the significance of En no Gyoja? He is implied to be the source of Sadako's mother's powers. (In Japan I visited some of the religious sites where he was said to have trained, so I feel a certain fascination with this personage)

Comments

[torachan]

The movie is quite different. For one thing, the main character in the movie is a woman. (And of course the US adaptation is even more different from that, like a game of telephone.)

I read the book in Japanese and then picked up the English translation out of curiosity, but the translation was so clunky I stopped after a couple pages.

I have the rest of the sequels, but at this point I wonder if I should reread the Ring before starting on them to refresh my memory...

[charmian]

Yeah, I perused wikipedia and found that out.

Oh good, I'm not the only one. I admire Vertical's mission, but I was rather disappointed in the translation. It felt stilted, and there were one or two places where I was just like "wait, you shouldn't have translated it that way..."

I'm a bit too lazy to read it in the original, so I guess I'll just read the rest in English. (Although now I'm thinking, since it's not that long, I should see how the original prose is)

[keelieinblack]

Also, when Sadako died, had videotapes been invented? So how would she know how to lay that trap?

There's a scene in one of the films--I think it's in the Ring 0 film, which is based on the prequel story "Lemonheart"--in which Sadako imagines/foresees videotapes being invented. Which is a pretty clumsy way of covering up that plot hole, but at least Suzuki made the attempt?

[charmian]

Haha, I see. It's good to know that they figured it out, but wow, did Sadako realize she had the power to create viruses and such? Sadako's powers are a bit overbroad.