Psycho

Rating:
Summary: a curious piece of 1950s pulp fiction..
Review: 'Psycho' by Robert Bloch would most certainly be long forgotten and probably out of print if it weren't for its brilliant film adaptation. Actually it is one of those unusual cases where the film is actually better than the book; the film's screenwriter (Joseph Stephano) did a great job. So what does the book offer?

While all the major elements found in the film 'Psycho' are also in Robert Bloch's original novel I found the book to be relatively poorly written. Great premise with a not-so-good execution. For much better psychological/criminal character studies I recommend 'The Killer Inside Me' by Jim Thompson, or one of the many early works of Patricia Highsmith. Robert Bloch simply doesn't have the same literary strength, and the characterizations are fairly thin.

However it is very interesting to note key differences between the film and the book, and so I believe fans of Hitchcock's film will enjoy reading Robert Bloch's novel. At least it's a short read, the perfect sort of book to carry on business trip.

Bottom line: the book that spawned Norman Bates. Somewhat disappointing but most will find some reading enjoyment from it.

Rating:
Summary: Good read !
Review: I bought this book to see how close the film was to the original story. In fact it was a very faithful interpretation, so there was absolutely no surprises.
One plus. The author is better able to get us into Norman (or is it Norma ?) Bate's mind than Hitchcock could do in the film. Otherwise it's a great story (derived from a real news event). It's too bad I already knew the end. Good read, though...

Rating:
Summary: Average rating, but it's still good.
Review: I've always wanted to read this book ever since I saw Hitchcock's famous thriller movie that created the slasher film genre (true fact!). Hitchcock was faithful to the story, but made a couple of changes here and there with the characters (such as the description of the infamous Norman Bates). I highly recommend this book to those who have enjoyed Hitchcock's movies and to those readers who love classic thriller novels. I'm not a fast reader, but this book was so good and interesting that I finished reading it rather quickly. Part of the contribution to the fast reading may have been that the book is only 223 pages and looks like a book you would read in elementary.

Rating:
Summary: Psycho the book compared to the movie.
Review: In another review of this book someone said that this book was exactly like the movie. It is not. Not to say it is any better or worse. Any fans of Psycho the movie should read the book. It gives many insights into the true nature of Norman Bates' frame of mind. It is also more involved in the relationship between Sam and Marian. I personally liked the movie better because it is easier to think of Norman Bates as being good-looking (as in the movie) than fat (as in the book). I also think there are more and better quotes in the movie. It is very interesting seeing the psychological comparisons between the two. I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: overrated
Review: it is certainly not my fault this is considered a classic. horror. thriller. not great, but good, either way. simple plot. superficial descriptions. don't really believe some of the characters. the turn of events are sort of...kitchy? the really great thing here are the story about the mother.

Rating:
Summary: I saw the movie first read the book second
Review: Like my title says and I thought the movie was better,mostly because I expected what Norman Bates looked like on screen and in the book,he's totally different.A 40 year old short balding drinker and in the movie we know what he looked like and I couldn't feel sorry for the character in the book when I felt so sorry for Norman in the movie.Other then that,the book is pretty good,it's good to read alone on a scary night.Even though I give this book a so-so review,recommend reading it

Rating:
Summary: Third Rate Pulp Trash
Review: My recently-purchased copy of Robert Bloch's PSYCHO features a cover photograph of Janet Leigh screaming and a quote from film director Alfred Hitchcock: "PSYCHO all came from Robert Bloch's novel." Not surprisingly, however, no mention is made of the fact that Hitchcock considered the novel third-rate pulp trash.

And that, unfortunately, is exactly what this novel is. First published in 1959, the Bloch novel is everything you would expect from a bad 1950s pulp writer: it is lurid without being shocking, the characters are superficial, and the whole thing is somewhat less frightening than a baloney sandwich. True, the story and characters that Hitchcock would so successfully elaborate upon are all here--but if you're expecting something more in-depth than the film you are out of luck. The famous shower scene is all of four short paragraphs; the murder on the stairs gets even less attention; and it isn't until the final chapters that the novel builds up any steam at all.

The problem isn't so much the story--certainly Hitchcock's version proves that much--as it is Bloch's style. Or, more specifically, Bloch's lack of it, for he has none. And his characters are even less interesting than his prose, so it should come as no surprise that Hitchcock did not invite Bloch to work on the film. It is a bit unusual to find a film that equals the book on which it is based; it is rarer still to find a film that bests it. But that is precisely the case here, and quite frankly the spill-over audience from the film is probably the only reason this novel remains in print. Diehard fans of the film like myself can probably motivate themselves to read it through to the end, but even I regretted the time wasted on it. Give it a miss.

--GFT (Amazon.com Reviewer)--

Rating:
Summary: "I think perhaps all of us go a little crazy at times."
Review: Psycho is a great read, made even greater by the fact that the book is 40 years old! Extremely groundbreaking in the use of a pathology for the killer, it seems that Norman Bates is as much a household name in American culture as Ronald McDonald. The Alfred Hitchcock film version seems to have used the book for the script, with only minor deviations. A short read, it's impossible not to finish this in one sitting. While reading I took down four pages of quotations from this book, it's that good and inspiring. I do think this book could have been longer and bloodier provided it had been written 10-15 years later. The ending was great and overall the book was awesome. Reading it was like watching the Hitchcock version of the movie, and vice versa. A must read Horror novel. On a scale from 1-10 I'd rate this novel a 10, for its historical significance, the intensity of the story, the quote factor, and characterization.

Come on, everyone knows Norman Bates!

Rating:
Summary: Just another opinion
Review: Some people say the movie was better, some people say the book was better. I'd say in terms of quality, they're about equal. The book is a bit different (for example Norman being a fat sweaty nervous guy and not a tall, thin, nervous guy). There is a little less about Mary in the novel, but I think there is more about Sam and Mary's sister. Unfortunately, as I was born long after Psycho become engrained in our culture, the end didn't surprise me, or really even disturb me, though I liked the way it was presented in the book more than the movie. It's a good, quick read if that's what your looking for, but I admit that watching the movie gives you the same disturbed feeling.

Rating:
Summary: Awsome book!!!!
Review: This is a really cool book about a crazy gut who thinks he is his dead mother some times. It's a cool book. Shower seanne is awsome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!