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theoreads2 's review for:
Ring
by Kōji Suzuki
Thank god i’m finished with this book. Regret buying it. The only time I enjoyed it was the beginning -I was intrigued by Asakawa’s nieces death and had high hopes for the book.
After that…I don’t know. First of all, the minute Ryuji mentions rape and Asakawa is like “huh that’s not great but oh well” I just didn’t give a fuck. I know a lot of Japanese fiction has a lot of misogyny -I like Haruki Murakami but still struggle with the themes in there. But I don’t think Suzuki’s writing redeems itself enough to overlook the problematic themes. From the minute Ryuji says that, I knew that I didn’t care about these characters and did not care if they died. And as the book continues, they have no redeeming qualities. Asakawa is not confident in himself and looks up to Ryuji like a little boy -not a terrible quality to work with and develop, but it isn’t developed. And he also treats his wife like shit. So. His love and devotion for his family is never really shown to us and I have a hard time believing it’s really there. Ryuji could have been an interesting character, but again, he sucked. I was quite glad he died. And what was that at the end? With the whole “oh he’s never been with a woman” “he lied about raping” what was the purpose of that?
Aside from that, I was just so terribly bored. I think if this book had been any longer I would not have finished it. It is described as a horror book so I thought it would be horror, and it really isn’t. It’s just a mystery rabbit trail type of novel. And there really isn’t any urgency for me because I don’t care if the characters live or die. I thought figuring out the charm at the end was pretty cool. I was enjoying learning about Sadako. But what was the point of adding her being intersex and then randomly being transphobic? I’m so tired of just having to randomly come across pointless transphobia and misogyny, and anything to do with being okay with rape -no. I’m immediately turned off from a book.
I can realize I may not be judging this book in an unbiased way, but I truly hated so much of this experience. I didn’t care about the characters. I was bored. The writing did not captivate me. I thought it was a cool idea that didn’t live up to itself. And I’m angry that I wasted my money. I know it’s hard with translation, but I think there are a lot of translated works where you can still tell how beautiful and well-written it is. I thought Suzuki’s writing was very basic, the dialogue uninteresting, the characters not developed and difficult to care about. I’m just so relieved to be done with it
After that…I don’t know. First of all, the minute Ryuji mentions rape and Asakawa is like “huh that’s not great but oh well” I just didn’t give a fuck. I know a lot of Japanese fiction has a lot of misogyny -I like Haruki Murakami but still struggle with the themes in there. But I don’t think Suzuki’s writing redeems itself enough to overlook the problematic themes. From the minute Ryuji says that, I knew that I didn’t care about these characters and did not care if they died. And as the book continues, they have no redeeming qualities. Asakawa is not confident in himself and looks up to Ryuji like a little boy -not a terrible quality to work with and develop, but it isn’t developed. And he also treats his wife like shit. So. His love and devotion for his family is never really shown to us and I have a hard time believing it’s really there. Ryuji could have been an interesting character, but again, he sucked. I was quite glad he died. And what was that at the end? With the whole “oh he’s never been with a woman” “he lied about raping” what was the purpose of that?
Aside from that, I was just so terribly bored. I think if this book had been any longer I would not have finished it. It is described as a horror book so I thought it would be horror, and it really isn’t. It’s just a mystery rabbit trail type of novel. And there really isn’t any urgency for me because I don’t care if the characters live or die. I thought figuring out the charm at the end was pretty cool. I was enjoying learning about Sadako. But what was the point of adding her being intersex and then randomly being transphobic? I’m so tired of just having to randomly come across pointless transphobia and misogyny, and anything to do with being okay with rape -no. I’m immediately turned off from a book.
I can realize I may not be judging this book in an unbiased way, but I truly hated so much of this experience. I didn’t care about the characters. I was bored. The writing did not captivate me. I thought it was a cool idea that didn’t live up to itself. And I’m angry that I wasted my money. I know it’s hard with translation, but I think there are a lot of translated works where you can still tell how beautiful and well-written it is. I thought Suzuki’s writing was very basic, the dialogue uninteresting, the characters not developed and difficult to care about. I’m just so relieved to be done with it