Ring - Koji Suzuki; Vertical Press, Inc. 2006 (originally published 1991)
Sadako in prose is frighteningly real than the Sadako in film. Koji Suzuki's attempt at horror fiction is Japanese gothic. Nakata's storytelling is eyecandy. No wonder, many say the book is better than the film. Pop-culture tastes like Matheson casserole. Film is particularly faithful, though the tickle in the frightbone is purely visual. Kills the thinking. Numbs the imagination. Leaves no room for the mind to function. Suzuki's narrative arrives straight. No chaser. Omits the tv monster for plausibilities. Suzuki's moniker as the Japanese answer to Stephen King is overrated. Blurb cliches read compelling and well-written, save for minor translation glitches and redundancies. Plot twists on Sadako revolves on noirish similiraties, trudges crime and science fiction with rooms to maneuver and think horror. Read with the lights on, I advise.
