I’ve been keen to get my hands on the books that started off Hideo Nikata’s foresight to turn the stories into a film, and so I finally got what I wanted.
The Ring is the first of a trilogy of titles which include Spiral and Loop. The first story opens with a mysterious death of a teenager, who seemingly died of heart failure. On the same day, a cab driver collides with a student on a motorbike. Seemingly fine one moment, the student suddenly has a fit of convulsions, and tries insanely to tear off his helmet, and his head with it. The boy too dies of heart failure.
On one particular night Asakawa, a journalist, decides to take a cab home. The cab he takes belongs to the same man who collided with the student on the motorbike. These days he feels inclined to tell anyone who’s awak in his cab the tale of what happened. Asakawa’s journalistic instinct picks this up as a possible story, and he soon begins to investiage the oddity of this death, eventually discovering a link between three other deaths of similar circumstance, one of whom happened to be his niece.
Asakawa’s journey takes him to a cabin where he discovers a tape. Filled with what seems to be random images, violence and abstract art, part of the film is erased. When the film ends, the final message is chilling: whoever views the tape will die in exactly seven days. Asakawa hears the phone ring and picks it up, only to feel a ghastly presence which confirms the truth about the tape; and so his journey to save himself begins with only seven days to his existence remaining.
The Ring has been translated pretty well, considering some of the complexity of the messages, though at times it does seem to lack character or a voice. Just to clarify, the only similarities between the film are the situation (someone will die in seven days), the evil spirit and of course the tape. The locations are similar also, but much of the film seems very much different. The choice to have a divorced mother, with a psychic son and psychic ex-husband adds some degree of melodrama to proceedings.
In the book we have an overworked husband, who wouldn’t be able to find his head if were to fall off. Desperate for help, he calls upon his distant friend and scientist Ryuji – a most vile example of a man, who uses human suffering as a means for observation and study. He seems to take life by the horns, living without fear, and harbouring a dark secret that Asakawa has kept to himself since his days at school with Ryuji. Together the two embark on a fascinating journey to save themselves from a possible death. Possible as the only lead they have are the deaths of four teenagers who happened to see the video tape too.
Two lead male characters certainly adds a different dynamic, and yet their friendship is almost romantic in a sense – that of strong brotherhood that develops and as the trust builds between them. Even Ryuji, who is a loathesome character at the start of the book is someone who starts to show his true colours, and he’s not as bad as he makes out to be it seems.
The Ring covers subjects and issues that the film would have been unlikely to follow and it certianly would have scuppered the popoularity of the film, and it’s wider appeal. Nikata made the correct judgement call considering the audience for which the film was aimed. The book, however, is less generous with being polite and certainly pulls no punches either with its language or its choice to tackle taboo topics without kid gloves. It’s refreshing and also odd to read a ghost story which contains rape, abuse and adrogyne. Not your typical mix for a Japanese horror story. The shocks, twists and turns the story takes on a human level are engaging – the fear element is, however, distincly lacking.
Perhaps it’s down to the translation, but you get a sense that the book reads more like a murder thriller than a ghost or horror story. Even the evil spirit is less sinister and given a more logical explanation, and the reason for death is also explained. On the one hand it’s perhaps more frightening as you reach the end and discover that the threat could be through a physical suffering rather than a psychological one.
The addition of even more probable tragic consequences adds to the thrill of the reading. The final conclusion is a sick moralistic climax of others having to die, to save the lives of those accidently infected by the curse. A race against death, to save lives by infecting others.
I was cautious about how I would take to the book having originally seen the Nikata film previously, as well as the Korean and US remakes. Fortunately my caution seems to be unfounded as the depth of the mystery is dug even further than the film, which seems to have stretched this one story across three films with added fillers. The book is certainly different enough to be worth a read, and I really did enjoy reading it. As page turners go, I couldn’t put this one down; the teaser chapter for Spiral (the second book) has only added to the need to complete the trilogy.
As I mentioned, the translation works for the most part, but does falter on occassion, based on this Suzuki’s writing is still really entertaining. Both energetic and vibrant, as well as taking a metaphysical slant on the entire subject of mortality as well as a philosophical take on the moralistic implications of what the characters are about to undertake.
Overall I found this a positive read, which I wish I had read years ago and it’s unfortunate it’s taken me this long to find a copy of the translation. The book itself was not translated until 2003 in the US – a full 12 years after the original was published in Japan. If this is any indication of the richness of the following books, then I’ll certainly be looking forward to them.
The Ring manages to build tension and drama around two unlikely characters that are both flawed and at times ammoral in their behaviour. It would serve you best if you haven’t seen the film, but as someone who is a fan, this did not deter nor hinder my reading experience. Don’t expect the expected.
Verdict: A solid, entertaining, at times shocking, and gripping thriller. Bring on the second book.