Rosemary's Baby

Incredible. Horrible. The last few chapters I was holding back tears. The worst feeling in the world, to be a vulnerable pregnant woman, being taken advantage of and lied to for nine months straight. This book is not horror because of Satan, it is horror because of powerlessness. And the last chapter, the mothers twisted acceptance, her sanity all but gone.... I feel heartbroken. I feel angry. I feel relieved...

I have read and re-read this book too many times to count. It is a small masterpiece of horror. I love the everyday casualness of the story-telling, topped off by the uneasiness you feel while reading.....Rosemary is just going about her life, unsuspecting that something bad is in store for her.

Then she starts to figure it out and she has no one to help her...

It is an interesting story to read from the viewpoint of comparative religion. The author is Jewish, the protagonist is a lapsed (but still rather devout) Catholic being used as a surrogate mother by a group of Satan worshipers, and I, as a reader, am interpreting all of this from the viewpoint of a traditional Celtic pagan. My disbelief of all Christian mythology usually prevents show more me from enjoying most tales of Satan and/or demonic possession, but this little book surpassed my disbelief. "The Exorcist" and "The Omen" just give me a good case of the eye-rolls, but "Rosemary's Baby" was a lovely little scare. Even though they are biblical "witches", or maybe because of it, I really had a fun time watching them score a victory...................

HEY COTTON MATHER, DID YOU HEAR THAT? THE WITCHES WON.............and your dead ass can't do a thing about it! Take that right in your sad, sagging Puritan fuckhole!

The high point of the book for me was the Bramford; at this point I have to add a disclaimer that I have seen the film version of this novel many times. The apartment set in the movie was so absolutely wonderful; creepy but beautiful at the same time. Kudos to the set designer, because those visuals pop into my head whenever there is a scene in the apartment. It's become inseparable from the reading experience at this point. I loved that apartment building and would have been a neighbor of Rosemary's if given the chance. I mean, you could to a lot worse with neighbors than a pair of elderly and genteel satanists.

This book is a gem of the genre; in spite of its age, it is still holding up well. show less

I have never been as tense, nor felt as vulnerable, as did while listening to this audio book. Mia Farrow's voice took some getting used to. But, once you do, you get a story that feels like a drive through a park, with signs that all look normal until you take a second glance, dotted by red flags that go by so fast you don't realize until too late. The characters are chilling; the build up made my toes curl and my jaw set. The pay off a bit predictable, but only as a sign of the time it was written. You won't be disappointed.

Bel ritmo, scrittura molto molto scorrevole e incalzante. Ho avuto la fortuna di leggerlo senza aver visto il film e sapendone veramente poco: questo mi ha reso la trama non scontatissima (anche se un po' di cose, effettivamente, ti aspetti che accadano o che accadano in un certo modo).
Letto poi nel contesto dell'epoca, tutti i personaggi assumono molto più spessore. Siamo nell'america di fine anni '60, in cui si assiste al boom della televisione, ad un ruolo sociale della donna pieno di contraddizioni. Siamo in pieno boom economico, con i ricordi della guerra che cominciano a sbiadire ma con l'inizio della questione Vietnam: e in questo contesto che il racconto assume anche, probabilmente, una riflessione su bene e male e il bisogno show more di portarla avanti attraverso questo tipo di narrazione.
Un grande sì, e la voglia di leggere altro di Ira Levin (oltre all'urgenza di vedere, finalmente!, il film). show less

“Having observed that the most suspenseful part of a horror story is before, not after, the horror appears, I was struck one day by the thought (while not listening to a lecture) that a fetus could be an effective horror if the reader knew it was growing into something malignly different from the baby expected. Nine whole months of anticipation, with the horror 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 the heroine!”

“ . . . I nonetheless felt like I was stuck with Satan.
“In whom I believed not at all.”

“Lately, I’ve had a new worry. The success of 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺’𝘴 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘺 inspired 𝘌𝘹𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴 and 𝘖𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘴 and lots of et ceteras. Two generations of youngsters have grown to show more adulthood watching depictions of Satan as a living reality. Here’s what I worry about now: If I hadn’t pursued an idea for a suspense novel almost forty years ago, would there be quite as many religious fundamentalists around today?”

—excerpts from Ira Levin’s afterword to 𝘙𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘺’𝘴 𝘉𝘢𝘣𝘺

There really isn’t anything from the book that needs cited. The movie is so faithfully adapted from the novel that, if you’ve seen it, you hardly need read the book. This is no slight on this work. It’s slick and psychological and unnerving—just like Polanski’s version, except that he maybe upped the camp a bit (to great effect). I bet it was just as shocking upon publication as the movie was upon its release. It’s hard to say, though, since I was born six years after the book’s appearance and had watched the movie decades ago. All this to say that the two pieces, to me, are inextricable. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an adaptation that’s been so assiduously plotted and not suffer for it.

Really, the afterword has more meat for an author who’s beguiled by another writer’s process than the actual book itself. I love how he was struck by the idea without having an ounce of belief in the idea. (Challenge accepted! says the writer.) And to see the author’s struggle with its success and possible influence on American fundamentalism was worth an entire bookshelf of inferior horror fiction. show less

I had no idea what to expect with this book. It was easy, quick reading (I read it in one night & it was easy to picture it as a movie as Levin's script-writing skills clearly set the scenes while keeping the dialogue & action moving); it was actually less gruesome/scary than I had anticipated (from a flat-out horror/gross/Satan standpoint). What I didn't expect, however, was a scariness & creepiness at a completely different level -- one that resonates a lot in today's world of the #MeToo era, gaslighting being discussed at a national level, & mental/emotional abuse being recognized as part of domestic violence. Those items it had in spades. That's what made it truly scary, imo. This particular review by El on GR sums all of it up very show more well.

If you don't know the story, it does have a bit of a clever twist at the end (nothing earth-shattering & I knew it before I read it, but I imagine it was a bigger surprise when it first came out & stories like this were not the norm) & is almost slightly humorous in the final few lines. Still, though, it harbors a dark underbelly on some big issues.

It does show its age in a few places with some stereotypical racist/sexist remarks/behaviors on/toward women, African Americans, Japanese, & Jews.

Overall, I think it's deeper than how it's commonly thought-of/portrayed & definitely has some food for thought & discussion. I'm glad I read it, especially since it's one of the "big" books that kicked off decades of modern horror publishing. show less

Do books come any scarier than this? I guess they do. The Exorcist was pretty terrifying. But Ira Levin’s great skill as a story-teller reveals itself here in creating a world that is both unimaginably terrifying and yet familiar to us. Setting the book among middle class, middle aged New Yorkers living on the Upper West Side, rather than some isolated haunted house in the countryside, is part of that. But there are is no violence, no ghosts popping out of closets, no poltergeists, none of that. Just the quiet realisation that Satan is not a mythical creature, but a real presence in the world. That’s enough to keep anyone awake at night. Highly recommended.