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Rating:  -
Listed in Cawthorn's and Moorcock's "Fantasy: The 100 Best Books".
A Sunday night some weeks back I got a chance to see the movie on a revival show. What an excellent film! I decided to finally take out a copy of the novel I had kept unopen for some time and read it.
The movie is faithful to the book, but this is a case in which the adaptation was better than the original. Mr. Levin shows a knack for writing plain-vanilla prose, almost as exciting as the laundry list. He manages to make his tale rather unsuspenseful which was sad to me, for a story like this one, where very little unnatural things happen, works on getting to your nerves. And it didn't get to mine. The movie, on the other hand, streamlines the tale, and delivers the goods.
I feel Tim Cavanaugh put it right in his FEED column, when he declared Levin is a bit of a hack. The concept of "Rosemary's Baby" is great, but the treatment is color-by-numbers.
Now, denying the historical importance of the novel would be making it a disservice. When this book first appeared, the larger reading public had barely come across anything like it, and it helped bring horror to the best-selling mainstream. And its influence in later writers is obvious. Hints of Stephen King's style seem to pop up here.
If you are a horror fan who just wants the goods (guts and scares), you may be disappointed by this one. If you are new to horror, or you have an scholar interest in it, this is a basic book to know.
Rating:  -
Although the book was intriguing at times, the story deteriorated into absurdity with the ending and denouement. However, everyone else seems to like it, so if one likes horror, one would probably enjoy this book or if one is a from a Western religion, he may find more horror in it.
Rating: -
Perhaps, like most, my intial exposure to this story was through Roman Polanski, Mia Farrow, John Cassavettes, Ruth Gordon & Sydney Blackmer who commit to film cinematic mastery. The book, however, is more than just a basis; it is the movie! Levin must have been pleased with Polanski's vision because it intercepts the imagery of the book so well. The movie is without a doubt one of the two best Polanski ever made (Chinatown is the other) but what of the book? One of the major criticisms I noted in previous reviews is that the book isn't scary enough. That is as may be, the horror of this book is not really meant to scare your pants off anymore than Goethe's Faust is, than Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The horror is implicit, it is within and it is very subtle. It's not the Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Clive Barker, H.P. Lovecraft type of scary story. The subtlety is in Rosemary's journey to self awareness: She finds she can't trust the elderly neighbors, her doctors and even her husband as she is reeled into the devilish nightmare of her worse fears she finds she must look to herself to save this child for whom she suffers so horribly. And, if for nothing else, Polanski should be recognized for, in his detail oriented handling of the manuscript, emphasizing this subtlety. The book is about the times it was written: JFK and Jackie O, along with the pope have speaking parts (even if only in a dream sequence). But in this sense Rosemary is every modern married woman whose soul is sold (in a metaphoric sense in most cases) to the subservience of her husband. And Guy is all about actors playing parts but never really committing to anything but their own egotistic success. Not only does Guy sell his wife to the witches but then he acts like a jerk to her. He has absolutely no moral dilemma in blinding the rival actor who "got the part" or for killing Rosemary's father figure, Hutch, and yet all the time playing the hard-working husband humoring his crazy wife. Polanski's interpretation so well reveals this that actually reading the book may be considered superfluous by some. The scene where Rosemary dreams of the nun at the Catholic School while Minnie Castavet speaks on the other side of the wall about a recent suicide perfectly exemplifies this. Even though the symbolism of the bricking up of the school windows is not explained in the film as it is in the book, the surreal creepiness of it gets the point across that things are not always what they seem. Not only is Minnie to be feared but also Sister Agnes (who does not read like a devout catholic, not only can Dr. Sapirstien not be trusted, but neither can the normal Dr. Hill who puts more faith in the Sapirstien's reputation (who knows how many people he must have killed or put in comas to get where he is) than in Rosemary's desperation. Can Kennedy be trusted, can the Pope? How many famous well respected people have sold their souls to get where they are? The prose is readable, intriguing and enjoyable even if it does not extend to a level of high literature. But the fact that it served as a backbone of such a great movie is reason in and of itself to want to read it. You can even see the movie first and it does not detract.
Rating:  -
There's no doubt about the excitement the book creates. Whilst reading the novel you'll get certain "clues" about what's going to happen, which indeed make the reader curious! Honestly, I enjoyed reading the book 'cause the novel provokes the reader and it's hard to put it down. Still after having read the whole book I was dissapointed. It wasn't scary at all. If you compare this novel with a novel written by Edgar A. Poe or Mary Higgins Clark, you won't think Rosemary's baby is creepy nor realistic! And Rosemary's character doesn't develop at all! What pisses me off a bit is that her character is so extremely silly and naive! How goofy & wrong can one person be? So I guess the theme must be: NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF HUMAN STUPIDITY!!! Advice: if you like spiritualism, read the book! You'll learn a lot!!!
Rating:  -
The horror classic "Rosemary's Baby" is an excellent study for writers wanting to experience characterization, plot suspense, the art of writing great dialogue, transitioning the protagonist, and more, in action. And what an interesting premise: Witches in the heart of Manhattan! The novelization of the book works exceptionally well on screen, with minor plot and dialogue changes. The characters: Rosemary, Minnie, Roman, Laura-Louise, Guy, Hutch . . . will live on in your heart--and that's something all writers, neophyte or seasoned, work hard at achieving. The most interesting part of the book and movie, I found, were the scenes where Rosemary, the protagonist, drifts off into a semi-conscious state and has peculiar dreams/flashbacks with deep-rooted religious undertones. Add this book to your collection today!
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