Ring (Suzuki novel)
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Image:TheRingnovel.jpg Ring is a horror novel by Koji Suzuki set in modern day Japan. The film adaptation is more popular, and was subsequently remade into an American version.
[edit] Story
After four teens mysteriously die simultaneously in Tokyo, Kazuyuki Asakawa, a reporter and uncle to one of the deceased, decides to launch his own personal investigation. His search leads him to "Hakone Pacific Land," a holiday resort where the teens were last together, exactly one week before their deaths. Once there he happens upon a mysterious unmarked videotape. Watching the videotape he witnesses a strange sequence of abstract and realistic footage that ends with the warning "You, who watched this tape, you are going to die in one week from now in this same time. There's only one way to survive. And that is-" but the end of the tape has been taped over by an advertisement. The tape has a horrible mental effect on Asakawa and he doesn't doubt for a second that its warning is true - the only problem is he has no idea how to avert his fate.
Returning to Tokyo, he enlists the help of his curious friend Ryūji Takayama, a self-professed one-time rapist who apparently (most likely due to some psychotic defect) has no fear. As soon as Asakawa explains the story Ryūji believes him, and wants nothing other than to see the tape. Asakawa shows it to him, and although Ryūji remains cool and nonchalant he agrees there is a powerful aura around the tape, and asks Asakawa to make him a copy to study at home, which Asakawa does.
Now both men share a seven day deadline, and must fight against the clock to unravel the mystery of the tape, Sadako Yamamura, and the potentially life-saving riddle.
[edit] Characters
- Kazuyuki Asakawa: The book's protagonist, he is a Tokyo newspaper reporter whose reputation was somewhat tarnished in the past in connection with a fad for UFOs and ghosts. He has a wife, Shizuka (the Vertical, Inc. English translation of the novel incorrectly renders her name as Shizu), and daughter, Yoko
- Ryūji Takayama: Asakawa's friend whom he enlists to help him solve the riddle of the tape. Ryūji claims to be a rapist (although whether these claims are true or not is unclear), is of an odd mental disposition, and is also something of a genius.
- Sadako Yamamura: The book's unseen antagonist who vanished 30 years ago.
[edit] External links
- the ringworld - a fansite covering all aspects of the Ring series and movies.
- the Ring AREA - Contains of the cursed videos of the Ring cycle and their scene-by-scene analyses, as well as lots of other useful information.
- Vertical Inc. - Publisher of English translations of the Ring novels.
| The Ring Cycle |
|---|
| Novels: Ring | Spiral | Loop | Birthday |
| Japanese Films: Ring 0 | Ring | Ring 2 | Rasen |
| American Films: The Ring | Rings | The Ring Two | The Ring 3 |
| Korean Films: The Ring Virus |
| Curses: Samara Morgan | Sadako Yamamura | Eun-Suh Park | The Video | Towel-Headed Man |
| Misc: Anna Morgan | Moesko Island Lighthouse | Hideo Nakata | She Is Here | Koji Suzuki | Terror's Realm
|
