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gunnerjamesx's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
a_chickletz's review against another edition
5.0
Psycho was one of those films I grew up watching due to my sister (older than me) having a crush on Anthony Perkins, and watching clips of movies on Cinemania 95. I knew of the 'shower scene' before anything, and the music.
Most of that comes from Hitchcock, who then indicates that the basis of the movie came from this book.
After reading the book, I'm curious if someone who never saw the film would receive the same pay-off. Does the ending still hold up in both formats?
In my opinion, the answer is - yes. Psycho is one of those books, so simple, so elegantly crafted that it just pulls you in. The style in which it is told plays on your emotions, it makes you believe, it makes you take things for granted. So when you get to that ending, that reveal, it radiates on the page and reflects on the screen.
I think Psycho is the beginning of 'unreliable narrators' in fiction, and if you're looking for a horror book to read for the Halloween season... this is the book. I chose this as my first book to kick off my October 2021 reads and it was a great book to choose!
Most of that comes from Hitchcock, who then indicates that the basis of the movie came from this book.
After reading the book, I'm curious if someone who never saw the film would receive the same pay-off. Does the ending still hold up in both formats?
In my opinion, the answer is - yes. Psycho is one of those books, so simple, so elegantly crafted that it just pulls you in. The style in which it is told plays on your emotions, it makes you believe, it makes you take things for granted. So when you get to that ending, that reveal, it radiates on the page and reflects on the screen.
I think Psycho is the beginning of 'unreliable narrators' in fiction, and if you're looking for a horror book to read for the Halloween season... this is the book. I chose this as my first book to kick off my October 2021 reads and it was a great book to choose!
jessicathedestroyer's review against another edition
3.0
I love psycho the movie and the book is just as amazing. There's even more detail and backstory. Man, I really liked this. If you are a fan of Horror as a genre you should read this.
justreaditalreadypod's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
vacantbones's review against another edition
5.0
"No matter what she did, she belonged here, with him. Maybe she was crazy, and a murderess, but she was all he had. All he wanted. All he needed. Just knowing she was here, beside him, as he went to sleep."
What a wonderful, classic masterpiece. I don't even need to provide a summary for Psycho because not a single person isn't familiar with some aspect of the legacy that this book and its subsequent groundbreaking horror film earned (though, I'm embarrassed to admit as a diehard horror fan, I haven't seen the film all the way through. Sorry, one day!).
Psycho is, honestly, nearly perfect as a horror novel. It's blissfully short and gets to the point, it's gross in the best way possible, and it's twisty in a way that you can imagine being truly shocking at the time of publication. Bloch maintained that he was not 'inspired' by the antics of Ed Gein, that Norman Bates was a product of his imagination, and that he threw in a little reference to this real-life monster only at the end of his writing process when he realized that he'd somehow conjured up a character so similarly evil. Regardless of what the truth there is, it's almost impossible to imagine that there was a time where such subversive art wasn't part of the mainstream.
Perhaps it's fair to admit that this book isn't necessarily kind by today's standards - like other works that portray a mentally-ill, sadistic killer as someone who crossdresses (รก la Silence of the Lambs), Psycho is a product of its time, one where transphobia and homophobia are par for the course. I do believe that it is possible to appreciate the way this book charted a course for modern horror while decrying certain aspects of it. We shouldn't pretend that Bloch's inextricably tying together gender experimentation with psychosis doesn't exist, but take it as a lesson of where we go from here.
I am going to pretend that this is a standalone because I have no interest in watching the story unravel before my very eyes. A must-read for students of the genre.