Reviews with content warning for Sexism - Ring

There’s a good premise here but the explanation was a huge let down for me personally. Some problematic elements too, which decreased my reading enjoyment substantially. Probably wouldn’t recommend.

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inhaledmocha's review against another edition

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Literally a waste of my time.

The main characters "Friend" describes his VIVID recounting of the sexual assault a woman and it goes on for far too long and literally adds nothing to the story. And the main character just ignores is wife's pleas to not let him in the house because she's uncomfortable around him. Like WTF?

And then has the audacity to pick up the plot (Where essentially the movie starts at about 50%) and say okay here's the actual plot now have fun.

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xavz_'s review against another edition

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1.0

boy howdy was this book gross and also bad. completely unnecessary intersexphobia and like WAY too much rape. the parts where i wasn't mad i was sooo bored. i should have dnf'd at the beginning of the book (even before ryuji was introduced and asakawa really said i can excuse SERIAL RAPE but i draw the line at making noises when you chew. absolutely bonkers.) but alas i continued and that was a mistake. no reason this book had to be doin all of that. nasty.

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loganreadshorror's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Ryuji gave me the ick big time. Asakawa is also grotesquely spineless

for overlooking Ryuji’s confession about being a serial rapist

. Despite the sexism, transphobia, and general disgust I felt towards the characters, it was a really good read, imo. Suzuki’s writing style is interesting and while some of the content is offensive, the idea is interesting and well-executed enough to keep me reading through my digust.

After reading Spiral, you’ll definitely see further why Suzuki makes you hate Ryuji so throughly in this book.

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judassilver's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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akira_outofthegravity's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense medium-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

I saw the film (Ringu) recently and really enjoyed it, so I decided to finally get around to reading this.

Much like the film it’s a slow burn that gradually speeds up towards the end. I prefer the book purely because it goes more in depth about Sadako and her reasons for becoming an Onryo, but I prefer the movies version of Asakawa.

That being said This Asakawa is a really compelling protagonist. Despite everything he really cares about his family.

There were various elements that made me uncomfy, such as Asakawa’s attitude towards intersexuality, and generally the way women are portrayed, however I wonder if (for the time) it may have been considered progressive? I don’t know, I think it’d be interesting to research and I like how the story has evolved over the time.

A solid read!

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emmiebee's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

To hit on some of the questions asked. It's lack of diversity being a Japanese book is more or less to be expected it's more that every single person who played a real role in helping move the plot forward was a guy. The women were few and far between and were either character development, obstacles, or motivation.
Very early on in the story we're introduced to MC#2 or main support and he's introduced to us as the guy who broke into a girl's house and raped her. Wtf!? Our MC doesn't like this about him but chooses to remain his friend for decades later. Ok. (It's so the author can justify him seeing the tape) how dark he is is brought up multiple times and supposedly the key to realizing what actually happened to our dead girl. (The use of the word supposedly is explained in the spoiler section). The MC isn't a great person either the only time he expressed any positive emotions for his family was when their lives were at risk. I read this having not read the reviews because a "friend" said it was so good, hah. Seriously don't read the spoiler if you plan on reading the book. There's nothing interesting about this once the why of it all is revealed. It doesn't even do the suspense thing well. I would've been *slightly* more invested if they had added a little something to it like the closer they came to the day the more they were feeling watched, or seeing shadows out of the corner of their eyes, or really anything other than the MC reminding us how many days are between him and a week.

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magalis's review against another edition

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slow-paced

1.5

Not my strongest October read. I have to admit, I didn't actually intend to read this one this year. I had put what I thought was the Japanese movie version on hold at the library, but what came in was the book instead (my bad! You'd think I'd be able to navigate a library catalog, but apparently not). I figured since I didn't have a definite October book this year anyway, I might as well just read this one!

The story itself could have been really good, but the pacing is incredibly slow. It's more of a mystery than a horror novel, which I wasn't really expecting. You would think that since the majority of the book takes place in just a week that things would move along fairly quickly, but I didn't feel like that was the case at all. This could have been a translation issue I suppose, but it made it feel like a chore to pick this up and read it.

I also didn't find the two main protagonists to be sympathetic or likeable at all. Asakawa started out alright, but was just incredibly mean to/about his wife and daughter, and then was transphobic and a rape apologist. Ryuji was literally a rapist who told Asakawa about the women he raped and clearly showed no remorse. I honestly didn't care if either of them survived until the end. The majority of the mystery-solving was also just Asakawa following a gut instinct that turns out to be right, not a lot of legitimate detective-work.

I don't regret having read this, but I don't have much of an interest in continuing this series or reading more by the author.

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