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3.99 AVERAGE
3.99 AVERAGE
I haven't seen the movie yet. Good book. Creepy characters. Great story development. A good quick read if you're looking for "bookertainment" lol. Now let me go see if the movie is on Netflix!
'Psycho', the book, (I listened to an audiobook) by Robert Bloch is a good thriller and well-written. It is such a famous movie I think it would be difficult to find people who are not familiar with this gruesome tale of horror. Of course, author Robert Bloch's fictional story of Norman Bates and his hotel of horror is a classic, made culturally huge by the famous movie director, Alfred Hitchcock. I have seen the movie several times, and I highly recommend it. I must admit, though, by today's standards, the book and movie are PG-13.
Alfred Hitchcock's movie follows the book almost exactly. In fact, it is a pleasant discovery to me that Alfred Hitchcock's movie is better than the book, but only because Hitchcock tightened the book's scenes a bit, and he changed the look of the book's characters. The actor Anthony Perkins was superb in the starring role https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Perkins.
The fictional character of Norman Bates was created by Bloch in 1959, but he based his creation on a real life story - Ed Gein:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein
Ed Gein's peculiar fixations spawned hundreds of horror movies, and some, like Hitchcock's movie, have become not only pop classics, but respectable award winners. Many are repeatedly shown every year on cable TV, bumping up audience statistics.
From Wikipedia:
"Gein died at the Mendota Mental Health Institute due to respiratory failure secondary to lung cancer on July 26, 1984, at the age of 77. Over the years, souvenir seekers chipped pieces from his gravestone at the Plainfield Cemetery, until the stone itself was stolen in 2000. It was recovered in June 2001, near Seattle, and was placed in storage at the Waushara County Sheriff's Department. The gravesite itself is now unmarked, but not unknown; Gein is interred between his parents and brother in the cemetery."
I find it interesting Gein's gravestone had a lot of bits chipped out and taken away - by admirers, obviously. Think about it. Admirers?
Seattle, where I lived most of my life, is the Northern Hellmouth. Ted Bundy lived and worked in and around Seattle https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy and so did Gary Ridgeway https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ridgway.
There have been many many many many serial killers at work near Seattle.
"About 50% of the world’s serial killers seem to come from a 200 mile radius around Seattle: Ted Bundy- 50-80 victims, Gary Ridgway (Green River Killer)- 55, Robert Pickton (Vancouver BC)- 54, Robert Yates-18, Willie Mak-13, Hillside Stranglers-15, Westley Dodd- 3 children, Randy Roth-3 wives, Kevin Coe-raped 42. Most cities have had a serial killer or 2- but Seattle/Washington has had a dozens.".
Quoted from Hammer News.
http://hammernews.us/seasniper.htm
The Seattle P.I did a series on our famous local boys:
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Suspected-or-convicted-serial-killers-in-1107863.php
You know, gentle readers, most of these known guys worked during my lifetime, in the same streets I went to school, where I was employed, partied and dated.
The Southern Hellmouth is only about a 36-hour drive away, if you have two drivers - Los Angeles:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bonin
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grim_Sleeper
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ramirez
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillside_Strangler
Among many many many many others:
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-california-killers-snap-htmlstory.html
Washington State in America is number five in the number of known serial killers. California is number four and Oregon is number six in known serial killers. Number one state is, drum roll please: Alaska!
The West Coast rules! Yay?
Alfred Hitchcock's movie follows the book almost exactly. In fact, it is a pleasant discovery to me that Alfred Hitchcock's movie is better than the book, but only because Hitchcock tightened the book's scenes a bit, and he changed the look of the book's characters. The actor Anthony Perkins was superb in the starring role https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Perkins.
The fictional character of Norman Bates was created by Bloch in 1959, but he based his creation on a real life story - Ed Gein:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Gein
Ed Gein's peculiar fixations spawned hundreds of horror movies, and some, like Hitchcock's movie, have become not only pop classics, but respectable award winners. Many are repeatedly shown every year on cable TV, bumping up audience statistics.
From Wikipedia:
"Gein died at the Mendota Mental Health Institute due to respiratory failure secondary to lung cancer on July 26, 1984, at the age of 77. Over the years, souvenir seekers chipped pieces from his gravestone at the Plainfield Cemetery, until the stone itself was stolen in 2000. It was recovered in June 2001, near Seattle, and was placed in storage at the Waushara County Sheriff's Department. The gravesite itself is now unmarked, but not unknown; Gein is interred between his parents and brother in the cemetery."
I find it interesting Gein's gravestone had a lot of bits chipped out and taken away - by admirers, obviously. Think about it. Admirers?
Seattle, where I lived most of my life, is the Northern Hellmouth. Ted Bundy lived and worked in and around Seattle https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy and so did Gary Ridgeway https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Ridgway.
There have been many many many many serial killers at work near Seattle.
"About 50% of the world’s serial killers seem to come from a 200 mile radius around Seattle: Ted Bundy- 50-80 victims, Gary Ridgway (Green River Killer)- 55, Robert Pickton (Vancouver BC)- 54, Robert Yates-18, Willie Mak-13, Hillside Stranglers-15, Westley Dodd- 3 children, Randy Roth-3 wives, Kevin Coe-raped 42. Most cities have had a serial killer or 2- but Seattle/Washington has had a dozens.".
Quoted from Hammer News.
http://hammernews.us/seasniper.htm
The Seattle P.I did a series on our famous local boys:
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Suspected-or-convicted-serial-killers-in-1107863.php
You know, gentle readers, most of these known guys worked during my lifetime, in the same streets I went to school, where I was employed, partied and dated.
The Southern Hellmouth is only about a 36-hour drive away, if you have two drivers - Los Angeles:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bonin
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grim_Sleeper
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Ramirez
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Manson
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillside_Strangler
Among many many many many others:
http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-california-killers-snap-htmlstory.html
Washington State in America is number five in the number of known serial killers. California is number four and Oregon is number six in known serial killers. Number one state is, drum roll please: Alaska!
The West Coast rules! Yay?
Can only imagine what it must have been like to read this 50 years ago. While the secondary characters were just kinda eh, Norman Bates was incredibly well done and as the plot comes together you can't wait to get back to Norman to see what other nuances will be brought forth.
okayyyy mommy issues, do think the movie is better BUT I will say the book did better at character perspectives (obviously)
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Quite a short book; kept my attention by keeping things moving quickly.
The film was a very faithful adaptation of this book down to the clumsy final moments trying to explain away Norman. I'm more interested in the written sequels that have no connection with the subsequent films and I'll be taking them on next.
“Imagine flaying a man alive, probably, and then stretching his belly to use it as a drum! How did they actually go about doing that, curing and preserving the flesh of the corpse to prevent decay? For that matter, what kind of a mentality did it take to conceive of such an idea in the first place?”
The last question constantly crossed my mind while reading this book. A thought is all it takes. But what kind of process, what kind of person, what kind of background does it take for a thought, an idea like that to be born, and then, executed?
It made me list many inhumane things people have done in the past, things I only knew from history books, and filter them trough that one question.The realization made the knowledge feel worse, it felt heavy. I had never seen it from that perspective before.
The author really knows how to make you dive in Norman's head. What he thought, what he believed he did, or didn't do, and his whole curse of action. He build a very obscure atmosphere in general, and I was very creeped out by the whole thing, so I guess the book fulfilled its purpose.
The last question constantly crossed my mind while reading this book. A thought is all it takes. But what kind of process, what kind of person, what kind of background does it take for a thought, an idea like that to be born, and then, executed?
It made me list many inhumane things people have done in the past, things I only knew from history books, and filter them trough that one question.The realization made the knowledge feel worse, it felt heavy. I had never seen it from that perspective before.
The author really knows how to make you dive in Norman's head. What he thought, what he believed he did, or didn't do, and his whole curse of action. He build a very obscure atmosphere in general, and I was very creeped out by the whole thing, so I guess the book fulfilled its purpose.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced