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    Rosemary's Baby
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    Rosemary's Baby
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    Rosemary's Baby
    Ebook259 pages3 hours

    Rosemary's Baby

    By Ira Levin

    4/5

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    About this ebook

    Now an NBC miniseries starring Zoe Saldana Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling actor husband, Guy, move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and mostly elderly residents. Neighbors Roman and Minnie Castevet soon come nosing around to welcome the Woodhouses to the building, and despite Rosemary’s reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing her husband takes a special shine to them.
    Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Rosemary becomes pregnant, and the Castavets start taking a special interest in her welfare. As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castevets’ circle is not what it seems . . .
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPegasus Books
    Release dateMay 10, 2011
    ISBN9781453217528
    Author

    Ira Levin

    Novelist and playwright Ira Levin (1929-2007) was a native New Yorker whose books include A Kiss Before Dying, Rosemary's Baby, This Perfect Day, The Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil, Sliver, and Son of Rosemary. His plays include No Time for Sergeants, Critic's Choice, and the longest-running thriller in Broadway history, Deathtrap. An alumnus of New York University, Levin also wrote the lyrics of the Barbra Streisand classic "He Touched Me," and was the recipient of three Edgar Allan Poe Awards from the Mystery Writers of America (including 2003's 'Grand Master'), as well as the Horror Writers Association's Bram Stoker Award for lifetime achievement.

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    Reviews for Rosemary's Baby

    4/5

    1,311 ratings62 reviews

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    • 4/5
      As far as I can remember the movie followed the book pretty closely. It was nice to have Mia Farrow as the narrator. It helped me to picture Rosemary from the movie.
    • 4/5
      Although this book is described a "Horror" and I don't generally care to read horror, I found it to be a very good read. Any aspects of horror are very understated.Clearly this book takes place in (an was written in) a much simpler time. Rosemary's function as a young newlywed is to decorate their apartment, cook their dinners, take a sculpture class, and, of course, have a baby. All is very innocent, until her husband starts getting the acting jobs he craves, and we figure out what her neighbors the Castavets are up to. But when will Rosemary figure it out, and what will she do?And what an ending!So even though this is old "popular fiction" and very much of its time, it is still a very good read.3 1/2 stars
    • 4/5
      Not too bad. I like it more than many other horror novels, and which there are those critics who say it's not that creepy or scary, recall that when this was published, we weren't publishing books like those that came later from Edward Lee and some others that may have a more true "horror" feel to them. At the time, I'd wager this was pretty radical. However, maybe it's because I saw the film a couple of times before I ever read the book, I've long ever so slightly preferred the film over the book, which is rare. Still, a great book, and I certainly think it has a creepy element to it, so recommended.
    • 5/5
      I really liked this book! I think it builds up just as it should, and when it reveals itself, it does so beautifully! I don't want to spoil anything, it just really is a great read! And it was sort of weird reading it at this time of year. Sort of the antithesis of the Christmas story. Now I'm not sure if I want to see the movie. I kinda want to read it again! :-)
    • 4/5
      This novel has been on my TBR list for a very long time. I love me a good horror story, but I'm ashamed to admit that I wasn't able to find the time to fit this book in over the years. Well, since I live right beside my local library, I decided that I would borrow this book and make it my mission to FINALLY get it read!

      Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse are an ordinary couple. Guy is in the film industry, trying to make it onto the big screen. And Rosemary is happy to be by his side. When they land an apartment at The Bramford in New York City, it's like a dream come true. As they move in, they begin to meet some of the other tenants in this building, like their elderly neighbours and their bizarre group of friends. Unused to this much interest, Rosemary and Guy try to be polite and accept the occasional dinner invitations. But soon, these neighbours become a much larger force in their lives. And by the time Rosemary realizes the dangers of it all, it's too late...

      This story.... where shall I start? The writing style here is unusual yet well done. Everything always sounds just a tad perky, like a happy housewife show where anything unusual is just dismissed as a coincidence or an accident. Rosemary does get creeped out at times but it is usually quite easy for her to just push it aside and move on. I really liked that effect because it put the reader on hyper-alert, waiting for that moment where Rosemary really cannot deny the truth that is in front of her. I liked the interesting characters from the Bramford, all of whom are friendly and seemingly harmless; they're the kind of neighbours you wish you could have! Knowing that they are somehow involved made the story all the more creepy! I didn't really like Guy as a character. He wasn't a great husband and he was just so selfish throughout (this becomes even more apparent as you reach the end); I don't know why Rosemary put up with it all. He did quite a few things that really bothered me - but I'm not going to say what because that will give away parts of the story!

      I think the scariest part of this story wasn't even the ending when all of the "horrors" are revealed; truth be told, the ending actually came off as ridiculously funny (maybe I just have a warped sense of humor?). The scary part was how little control Rosemary had over her life and her body. She was forced - ahem, coerced - to switch doctors, trust strangers, receive weird concoctions, isolate her friends, and much much more. And it scared me how little say she had over everything. Anything she pointed out was dismissed, and she was made to feel as if she was making a big deal out of nothing. Trying to imagine myself in a vulnerable situation like that, having others make all sorts of decisions on my behalf without asking me... well, that scares me. It scares me a lot.

      Overall, this novel is quirky and set in the era of the "Sixties Housewife", and it definitely gives you the creepy vibes so if you are looking for a creepy story, give this one a shot!
    • 4/5
      A creepy classic horror novel. Really enjoyed it.
    • 3/5
      A classic horror story about a pregnancy with serious religious overtones.
    • 5/5
      I have seen the movie, both the 1968 version with Mia Farrow and the 2014 version with Zoe Saldana. But I have never read the book. Since I have been wanting to read more horror books lately, I decided to read this classic.

      I really like the writing style of the book. Right from the first page I was caught up in the story. Even when just detailing the day to day life, I find myself intrigued. The creepiness builds up slowly, but I thought the pacing was perfect. The big reveal at the end was not as shocking for me, but I think that is because almost everyone knows how this story ends. At the time it was written, it would have been horrifying. After 50 years, this book still holds up.
    • 5/5
      I had read this book about a year ago and just revisited it on audio. It is besides the Exorcist one of the creepiest horror novels written.
    • 4/5
      I have managed to be one of those people who knew nothing about it! And I read a lot of horror growing up! I really enjoyed this one ... it's both subtle and in your face, direct and sneaky, and definitely creepy and disturbing.
    • 4/5
      USA, 1972Rosemary og Guy Woodhouse får chancen for en lejlighed i The Bramford.Rosemary bliver gjort gravid med Satans søn.???
    • 4/5
      Oh my. Where true horror stories began. Read the book, see the movie which is out on DVD now really cheap. Scary stuff for the times.
    • 4/5
      fun and scary!
    • 5/5
      First words:~Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse had signed a lease on a five-room apartment in a geometric white house on First Avenue when they received word, from a woman named Mrs. Cortez, that a four-room apartment in the Bramford had become available~I read [A Kiss Before Dying] when I was a teenager and remember loving it. The premise of the book was “a little out there” but believable; fiction … but “it could happen.”Then I read [The Boys from Brazil] and thought ... believable; fiction but “it could happen.”In January, I read [Sliver]. The premise was “a little more out there” but believable; fiction … but “it could happen.”Earlier this month I finished [The Stepford Wives]. The premise was “a little MORE out there” but believable; fiction … but “it could happen.”And now, [Rosemary’s Baby]. Ok, the premise, “WAY out there”, a little less believable, that couldn’t happen … BUT … niggling away … oh, yes, “it could happen”!!The most frightening aspect of this book is that the ‘evil’ is so sweet. We and Rosemary do not have any idea that our neighbours could be capable of anything such as Satanism / devil worship or be part of summoning the devil and the anti-Christ. These are dear, kind, loving, elderly folks. The type of people we rely on when we are in trouble. We would never suspect. What really disturbs me though, is the way that Rosemary responds to her child when she finally sees him and knows who his father is (and the father is NOT her husband). Again, I was frightened by the whole story. Talk about creating suspense page after page. I was compelled to finish this book quickly. Even though I had seen the movie, knew the story, Levin was still able to have me ‘guessing’ how it would all come out in the end. That is a true gift. As an Amazon.com descriptions states, “A wonderfully chilling novel”.An aside: Levin must have experienced chronic pain himself, or known someone who did. As someone who experiences severe pain on a daily basis (for the last 11+ years on Long Term Disability), this was a wonderful description of what life can be like living with pain. “The pain grew worse, grew so grinding that something shut down in Rosemary – some center of resistance and remembered well-being - and she stopped reacting, stopped mentioning pain to Dr, Sapirstein, stopped referring to pain even in her thoughts. Until now it had been inside her; now she was inside it; pain was the weather around her, was time, was the entire world.” I have been there and suffered that. Pain used to be all that I was. I am grateful that pain is, at this time in my life, only a part of me. 4.5 stars
    • 5/5
      This book and movie are so well known that it may not need a synopsis. But here's a brief one anyway: young wife Rosemary and her husband Guy get very lucky by finding an apartment at the elegant Bramford. The neighbors are pushy but kind elderly people who have lived there for decades and immediately take the young couple under their wing, though Rosemary's friend Hutch warns her about the buildings evil history and warns her not to get too friendly. But living at the Bramford is mostly good, as soon after they arrive, Guy's acting career takes off and Rosemary finds that she's finally pregnant.For me, the scary parts were very brief, but it's the always present sense of apprehension that permeates the story that makes this an excellent read.
    • 4/5
      "'I am not saying,' Hutch said, 'that you will walk into the Bramford and be hit on the head with a piano or eaten by spinsters or turned to stone. I am simple saying that the record is there and ought to be considered along with the reasonable rent and the working fireplce: the house has a high incidence of unpleasant happenings. Why deliberately enter a danger zone?'"Oh, this book! I've seen the movie a couple times, at various points in my life, so I knew the score. It started out where I was wanting to be able to jump in the book and tell them No, no, you don't want that apartment, take the boring sterile new place! and then, after the quote shared above, I wanted to shout at them, LISTEN TO HIM, DON'T MOVE THERE!!! but of course, for all my, and Hutch's, attempts to help them escape it, the Woodhouses were simply destined (by Ira Levin, that is, not a higher power) to move into the Bramford.Of course, things seem to go awfully smooth, lovely new apartment, gorgeous new furnishings and painting, oh-so-kind new neighbors, it's all just wonderful! ...Except for the tip-of-the-tongue lurking suspicion that things don't exactly seem just quite right, the odd frivolous seemingly unconnected little coincidences popping up, the strange little quirks floating around Guy that can be brushed off with perfectly reasonable excuses..."The thought of her baby lying helpless amid sacrilege and horror brought tears to Rosemary's eyes, and suddenly a longing dragged at her to do nothing but collapse and weep, to surrender completely before such elaborate and unspeakable evil."Well, anybody with any modicum of pop culture knowledge knows just what Rosemary's baby is, nonetheless, I will leave all truly spoilerish talk at the door, and simply say that Levin created a thrilling horror story. Even already knowing the outline of it all, I was still tense with anticipation once things really got going, and the end was great."'He chose you out of all the world, Rosemary. Out of all the women in the whole world, He chose you.'"
    • 3/5
      The story was gripping, hard to put down, but fell apart slightly when Rosemary drew conclusions based on slim evidence. The ending fit Rosemary's character and fit the story but was oddly unsatisfying on another level that I can't quite find words for -- too neat, maybe, or the change too sudden.
    • 4/5
      I don't think I have ever seen the film (1968) based on this book, starring Mia Farrow. That was probably a good thing as I didn't know how the story ended.The Introduction by Chuck Palahniuk prepared me a little though. He begins "Before Ira Levin, horror always happened soemwhere else... it was a comfort to know that real life-threatening horror never occurred at home. You had to be baited far, far away. For the century leading up to 1967 the real horrors had been elsewhere in the world, always outside the borders of England and the United States. If you stayed home you'd be safe... Home constituted this safe little island where women could raise children in domestic bliss."But Ira Levin changed all that, for, on the very edges of crime fiction, ROSEMARY'S BABY is a horror story, showing that there is no safety in your own home either.There is a cinematographic quality to the action, and I kept imagining how chilling it would be on the silver screen.During her early pregnancy Rosemary Woodhouse has incredible pain, and then peculiar dreams. A friend who warned her about the apartment house she and her husband have moved, is taken ill just before meeting with her, and then falls into a coma from which he never recovers. Rosemary thinks her husband has developed an unhealthy affection for their elderly neighbours but continues to trust Guy.An interesting read.
    • 5/5
      Ira Levin never got the credit he deserved for crafting some of the most iconic stories of the later 20th century. Rosemary's Baby is one of his masterpieces and proved that long before Stephen King, Levin dreamed up the idea that evil could be hanging out right next door to you, possibly having a cup of tea. I always consider Levin's book a great object lesson in that the story is all. You can have the greatest prose in the world, but if your story is uninteresting, than your book is uninteresting. Levin wrote simple, compelling, engrossing stories.
    • 4/5
      I've grown up my entire life hearing how scary the movie version of "Rosemary's Baby" is so I was really excited to give the novel a try. There's nothing more thrilling then being too terrified to fall asleep! I'm sad to say that the book didn't live up to my expectations. It just wasn't scary. Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't a bad book, in fact it was really compelling, it just didn't terrify me like I hoped it would. I set the bar a little too high on this one. I got really into the novel very quickly because it is so character driven. You can relate soo well to Rosemary (at least I thought so)! Rosemary and her husband move into the much coveted old brownstone and gothic apartment they've had their eye on for years. When a family friend warns them that they should steer clear of the apartments because of the evil vibes lurking there (high suicide rate, cannibals, dead babies, murder and more have taken place in this building) they don't heed his warning and move in. They befriend an elderly couple next door and are practically inseperable, when Rosemary becomes pregnant they take care of her like she was their own daughter. Soon however, Rosemary starts to notice that things aren't right. The first few months of her pregnancy she loses far too much weight and is in constant pain, her husband lands an important acting role after his main competitor "mysteriously" wakes up blind, and she has a violent nightmare in which she has sex with a terrifying being and wakes up with scratches all over her. Are her naighbors practicing black magic? Is her husband involved? The build up on this novel is incredible as Rosemary's life starts to spin out of control and she pieces together what is going on. It has a great conclusion and it's hard to stop reading once you start.I highly recommend this even though it isn't scary. I will most definitely be watching the movie soon!!
    • 4/5
      Good book, well written. Inventive.
    • 4/5
      A good read. I found it a bit predictable however that didn't take away from my enjoyment of reading it. I wish it got to the climax a bit quicker and then went on a little bit more.
      Overall, definitely worth reading.
    • 4/5
      I found Rosemary surprisingly likable. She seemed sensible enough, although she bowed down to her husband’s wishes far too often. (I guess that’s the ’60s for you.) But at least Rosemary began to question things and put two and two together, unlike many characters in horror movies and books. Somehow I just can’t enjoy it as much if the main character doesn’t put up some sort of semi-intelligent fight. I was really rooting for Rosemary. Her behavior at the end of the story nearly killed me (but I loved it—what a great ending).In the afterword of the book, Ira Levin notes that the suspense of a coming event can often be the scariest part of a story. Rosemary’s Baby is nearly all suspense—throughout the novel, I slowly pieced together clues about the Castevets’ evil religious practices, their motives and strange behaviors, and as Rosemary’s demonic fetus grew within her, so did my sense of dread. What was going to happen? Was it going to kill her? Burst out of her? Possess her? I had no idea. I loved the suspense—it’s what made it so frightening. The impending doom. Knowing that something evil was coming, was growing inside the protagonist.Most of the real horror in this book happened offstage, so to speak, which added to the sense of doom. Until the very end, there were only hints here and there—the smell of tannis root, the black candles, the sounds of a recorder and chanting through the wall. The strange “nutritional smoothies” Minnie made for Rosemary. The sudden, suspicious illnesses of various people. The closest we get to any real “action” is when Rosemary is raped and impregnated—she has been drugged, so we see it through her dreamlike semi-aware state. I thoroughly enjoyed putting all the clues together while reading.I recommend this book if you want to read a creepy, ominous story, but not a terrifying one. It’s pretty great. Now I have to go watch the movie.
    • 4/5
      This was quite creepy, but not as much as I would have thought based on how much a small part of the movie scared me when I saw a small bit of it on tv way back in the dark ages of my childhood.
    • 4/5
      I had never read this classic, and did a little research on the author and genre. I had no idea that Ira Levin had written so many books that later were made into movies. Also, I had no idea that this was the first novel to bring the occult into mainstream cinema. Very interesting stuff!

      Now, on to the story. The book is very well written, with Rosemary's visions/hallucinations/experiences transporting the reader into that area of not-quite-conscious. The introductions of the characters were fantanstic dots, connecting as the story progressed. The conclusion was both shocking and satisfying. I will read the next one to find out what happens!

      Recommended.
    • 4/5
      It's 1965 and the cultural zeitgeist declaims that "God is Dead", the Pope is touring the US and, Rosemary and Guy move into a cursed apartment in NYC. The times are a crucial factor in the story: The re-defining of religious paradigms and women's roles play into the uncertainty and fear that fuel the horror. But even fifty-plus years later, the shock value is still sharp in the nightmarish scenes that Rosemary experiences and in the manipulations of those around her. It's a period piece that holds up well.
    • 5/5
      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.
    • 4/5
      Rosemary and Guy move into an famous apartment building in NYC despite the warnings of Rosemary's close friend about the strange and dangerous things that have happened there. She...should have listened to him.I loved the movie when I saw it years ago, so I was happy when the book came up on one of my lists. I enjoyed it, but possibly not as much as I would have if I didn't already know what was going to happen. Still, a fun little read and perfect for October.
    • 5/5
      Great Classic Read
    • 4/5
      I've changed my rating twice while typing out this review... My first thought was that I wanted to like it more than I did. I mean, the beginning was slow and boring but once it got going, I couldn't stop listening. Yes, it's from the 60s so there were plenty of patting the nice, young woman on the head and the husband laying down the law, and racist descriptions, of course.

      Rosemary ended up being much stronger than I figured she would be. Sort of. I mean, until the very end. I need to live with the story a bit more. I won't lie, I'm tempted to read the next book in the series.

      I listened to the Audible version and the sound quality left a lot to be desired. Mia Farrow's acting and voices were good but it sounded like it was recorded a few decades ago. How about some clean up there, Audible?

      Now I need to watch the movie because I don't remember anything about it at all.