Psycho: A Novel by Robert Bloch (Epub)

Description

The story was all too real-indeed this classic was inspired by the real-life story of Ed Gein, a psychotic murderer who led a dual life. Alfred Hitchcock too was captivated, and turned the book into one of the most-loved classic films of all time the year after it was released. Norman Bates loves his Mother. She has been dead for the past twenty years, or so people think. Norman knows better though. He has lived with Mother ever since leaving the hospital in the old house up on the hill above the Bates motel. One night Norman spies on a beautiful woman that checks into the hotel as she undresses. Norman can’t help but spy on her. Mother is there though. She is there to protect Norman from his filthy thoughts. She is there to protect him with her butcher knife.

User’s Reviews

Review “Psycho all came from Robert Bloch’s book.” -Alfred Hitchcock “Icily terrifying!” -The New York Times “Robert Bloch is one of the all-time masters.” -Peter Straub

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ Roughly three decades after my first viewing of Hitchcock classic cinematic adaptation of Psycho, I finally managed to get around to reading the original source material. Having lived through so many sequels, prequels, remakes, and re-imagined takes on Hitchcock’s original film, it’s almost a struggle to read Robert Block’s novel without letting the cultural impact of what is now an entertainment franchise influence the experience. Luckily, Bloch’s Psycho has an inherent timeless built into the deviant catalyst of its story, despite how dated other elements of it might be over a half-century later.The Norman Bates of the novel is different than the lanky, awkward cinematic persona made famous by Anthony Perkins, but many of the differences are understandable when translating informative text into informative visuals. Bloch’s Norman is overweight and middle-aged, potentially an alcoholic (his alcohol consumption is actually linked to violent appearances of “Mother”) and in addition to his taxidermy hobby he is an avid reader. In fact, Bloch uses Norman’s library comprised of metaphysical, historical, pornographic, and occult tomes to paint a more complex psychological profile that doesn’t necessarily replace his oedipal issues with his mother, but at the very least lends a bit more reasoning to some of his delusions and behaviors.Of special importance to any true crime fan is Bloch’s two references to Ed Gein, whose grave-robbing, necrophilia, and eventual killing of a local woman five years earlier inspired countless horror novelists and filmmakers, Bloch included. First there is the opening of the novel, in which Norman is reading about native tribes turning a corpse into a weird kind of body drum, which is a spin on Gein’s fascination with stories of shrunken heads. Then there is the direct mention of Gein at the end, in which it is stated that news coverage of the events at the Bates Motel were fueled by comparisons to Gein’s crimes.Reading a book you already know the details of can be a challenge, but Bloch’s writing is straightforward and engaging, and there are enough differences between Bloch’s text and Hitchcock’s vision to keep the narrative fresh for those of us looking back. The most intriguing aspect to me of Bloch’s novel was the inclusion of an epilogue that involves an evolution of Norman’s psychosis that would have resulted in a totally different franchise if Hitchcock had used it in his film.Long story short, it takes a great literary work to withstand the effect that cultural awareness can have on a reader already familiar with the story, and Bloch’s Psycho easily withstands this test. If you’ve seen the film but never read the book, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot.

⭐ I can’t say that the book was better than the movie, and I can’t say the movie was better than the book. Each is its own thing and stands on its own, but the more rewarding way to appreciate the story of Norman Bates is to consider the book and the film(s) together.I think Hitchcock’s Norman Bates is more sympathetic than Bloch’s. The additional insight Bloch provides on Norman’s state of mind is surprisingly unsatisfying. However, Bloch gives the other characters (Sam, Lila, Mary/Marion) far more depth than they have in the film. I liked that.Pacing is something of an issue in this novel; it slows down a bit in the middle, but the “end” is page after page of narration in the guise of “dialogue.”On the other hand, I very much enjoyed the way Bloch masterfully laid out all those little clues about the true nature of Norman and his mother. Some of them almost read as puns, if you already know what Norman’s deal is.So I’d say, if you’ve always liked the original film and want a little more (besides the Gus Van Sant remake, the additional Psycho films, and the Bates Motel TV series) or just want to see the novel that started it all, I recommend this novel highly. If you are not already invested in the Norman Bates universe, I’d recommend seeing the film first, because knowing the truth about Norm and Mother actually makes reading the book more entertaining, not less.

⭐ Right. You know this book because you know the movie by Hitchcock. This is a STRANGE one! Not because it’s a murder mystery or something unusual. It’s almost TV-like, as one of the film reviewers said long ago. This book is one of the only ones that still command a good price even though it’s over 60 years old. That’s because the writer KNEW what and when to dispense with logic, movement and denouments.The funny weird part is that he isn’t a very good writer! The writing is sometimes even silly. The part of Norman, one of the most recognizable characters in film history, is said to be a FAT man in the book. SUCH a good change made when skinny Anthony Perkins was cast, god knows, instead of say, Lou Costello. FAT? Weird.So, strangely, it isn’t a great book. But it hit ALL the marks. That’s why it’s a classic.

⭐ “I think perhaps all of us go a little crazy at times”. These are the actual words spoken by the infamous Norman Bates in Robert Bloch’s classic novel. I am impressed with Bloch’s work. His writing is stellar as he showcases the odd-intentions analytical mind of Norma, and crafts characters who are obviously memorable, specifically Norman and “Mother”. And what also impresses me so is Hitchcock’s faithfulness to the story, with two major exceptions: 1) The specific way in which Marion Crane dies and 2) Norman is actually an overweight balding man (hard to imagine Anthony Perkins in the narrative), but the Bates man is there in every other way in all of his eccentric I-need-Mother-and-Mother-needs-me glory. You get not only his disturbing brain power, but the important viewpoints of Sam Loomis and Lila Crane as well. The plot of the movie compliments Bloch’s novel marvelously; it was a pleasure to read about how the stealthy mind of a motel owner, a person no one would ever suspect, quietly unravels.

⭐ I found this story to be surprisingly interesting and compelling. For one thing, I was fascinated to see how you could write such a story- where so much of it takes place inside someone’s head, as opposed to an actual event occurring.But the characters were also interesting and very real. Except maybe, and hopefully, for Norman Bates. I like to think and hope that they’re aren’t too many people out there as mentally ill as him.And that gets back to my original point of how good a job the author did at expressing and detailing that mental illness, without being too stuffy, clinical, boring, or juvenile.This was essentially a very interesting, if not disturbing, case-study of a Paranoid Schizophrenic/Multiple Personality Disorder.And, yet, it also succeeded in being a compelling small-town mystery, in its own right.This is excellent writing, without a doubt.

⭐ SPOILERS ALERTMost everyone has seen the classic Alfred Hitchcock film version of Psycho, and after many years I decided I wanted to go to the original source and see if I actually would enjoy the book.I have to say the film is pretty faithful to the book. Bloch’s writing style has a nice flow to how he unfolds the story. There are no gruesome graphic details, this of course could have been due to the fact it was published in 1959. A time in America where everything was still a very “Leave it to Beaver” world. However, he gets his point across without having to stoop to writing in a manner that is salacious just to be salacious.There are minor differences in the book that were changed for the film but all in all a great read. I wish of course I didn’t already know the ending as I would have liked to see if I would have been surprised by the twist!Regardless, I think this book still holds up very well for being sixty years-old. 5 stars for sure

⭐ It was a great book and a short read. Recently a friend got me into watching “Bates Motel” on A&E, and I was mesmerized by the life of Norman Bates. I came to learn that this show was the prequel of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” and realized that I was very interested in understanding how “Norman Bates” was gonna turn out. So, I read the movies, and picked up this book, which I was able to read in a day. What was awesom eabout this book, is that it gave considerable detail about Mr. Bates psyche and also the thoughts of the other characters – his mother, the victims, etc. It made the movie more understandable. Watching the movie alone didn’t provide enough context. In short, this is a classic and must read if you are into understanding the mind of a psychopath — this one is classic.

⭐ 5 of 5 StarsWhy did is take me nearly 57 years to get around to reading Robert Bloch’s Psycho? Maybe it was because I was a mere seven years old when it was first published and I was still reading such classics as Fun With Dick and Jane and it would be a number of years before I learned of the fun to be had with a good horror book and by then it just became lost in the all the new material released in the intervening years.So what made me decide to read this essential work now? Well, this Monday will see the release of Robert Bloch’s Psycho: Sanitarium, a new novel written by Chet Williamson. Set in the years Norman Bates would spend in a mental institution following the events in Bloch’s original Psycho. Thus, now seemed like an excellent time to catch up.By now, everyone knows the story, even if they’ve never read the book or seen Alfred Hitchcock’s film adaptation. So it’s really not necessary to provide much of a synopsis here. Let’s just say Psycho was pretty perverse for it’s day and writer, Robert Bloch did a wonderful job in expressing the relationship between Norman and his mother Norma which lead to his being the person he is in the book.Reading Psycho has even given me a new appreciation for the A&E series Bates Motel which I’ve enjoyed for four seasons now. While not exactly a retelling of the book or the movie, it certainly captures the underlying themes of the author’s original story, particularly the way the Bates family put the “fun” in dysfunctional. Norman Bates is a wonderfully complex, broken man, and is one of my favorite flawed literary characters of all time.As a result of reading Psycho I’m looking forward, more than ever, to Chet Williamson’s new work of which Publisher’s Weekly says, “Horror author Chet Williamson ably succeeds in the tough task of creating a sequel to Robert Bloch’s masterpiece, Psycho; a prequel to the less effective Psycho II; and a solid story in its own right…The novel shines. Whenever Norman gets the spotlight, the novel feels like a lost Bloch work.”The original Psycho is available through The Overlook Press in every format imaginable.Recommended.Robert Bloch was an American fiction writer, primarily of crime, horror, fantasy and science fiction, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Best known as the author of Psycho. Bloch wrote hundreds of short stories and over 30 novels. He was one of the youngest members of the Lovecraft Circle. H. P. Lovecraft was Bloch’s mentor and one of the first to seriously encourage his talent.

⭐ Psycho never grows old. Only a person who lived most of their lives in a cellar doesn’t already know the plot twists. This writer uses sub-plots to the fullest and a false protagonist. Psycho is the creepiest novel since The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Robert Bloch novels are hard to put down they are so bizarre, especially Psycho.

⭐ I liked the book because had a slightly different take on the story. Hitchcock emphasized the Mary character and her murder. The book presents a fuller picture of Norman Bates and Sam and Lila. The insurance adjuster was portrayed as more menacing in the book. Don’t get me wrong. Psycho is one of Hitchcock’s best movies. The book and the movie are both good. Just different.

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