Rosemary’s Baby by Ira Levin (Epub)

Description

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 Castavet 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 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 Castavets’ circle is not what it seems…

User’s Reviews

Ira Levin is the author of The Boys from Brazil, Rosemary’s Baby, Son of Rosemary, The Stepford Wives, This Perfect Day, Sliver, and A Kiss Before Dying (for which he won the Edgar Award). Levin was also the recipient of three Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Awards. His website is iralevin.org. Amazon.com Review When published in 1967, Rosemary’s Baby was one of the first contemporary horror novels to become a national bestseller. Ira Levin’s second novel (he went on to write such fine thrillers as A Kiss Before Dying, The Stepford Wives, and The Boys from Brazil), Rosemary’s Baby, remains perhaps his best work. The author’s mainstream “this is how it really happened” style undeniably also made the novel his most widely imitated. The plot line is deceptively simple: What if you were a happily married young woman, living in New York, and one day you awoke to find yourself pregnant? And what if your loving husband had–apparently–sold your soul to Satan? And now you were beginning to believe that your unborn child was, in reality, the son of Satan? Levin subtly makes it all totally plausible, unless of course, dear Rosemary–or the reader–can no longer distinguish fantasy from reality! A wonderfully chilling novel, it was later faithfully transformed into an equally unnerving motion picture. In 1997, a sequel was spawned, Son of Rosemary. –Stanley Wiater –This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition. Review A darkly brilliant tale of modern devilry that induces the reader to believe the unbelievable. I believed it and was altogether enthralled. (Truman Capote )A succession of solid and quite legitimate surprises. The suspense is admirably sustained. (The New Yorker )Suspense is beautifully intertwined with everyday incidents; the delicate line between belief and disbelief is faultlessly drawn. (The New York Times ) –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From Publishers Weekly Farrow’s soothing reading of Ira Levin’s classic returns her to the project that made her a star in Roman Polanski’s eerily sedate thriller. Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into an ancient Manhattan apartment building and are immediately befriended by a pushy older couple, Minnie and Roman Castavet. When Rosemary becomes pregnant, she begins to suspect that the people in her building are satanists and that she may be carrying a demon’s baby. What makes Levin’s tale so haunting is how the horror is kept inconspicuous so tensions mount as ordinary events turn disturbing. Caedmon’s packaging is outstanding, with inner sleeves listing track lengths and the first few words spoken on each track, making it easier to navigate. Farrow is an ideal choice as a reader for her history as well as her expressive and controlled reading. She doesn’t attempt different voices for each character, but she does adapt a flat, nasal tone for Minnie (rather than imitate Ruth Gordon from the film). Subpar sound mars this classy recording: the volume is low and Farrow’s voice sounds like it was recorded in a large, hollow space. Levin’s thriller was previously recorded by Eileen Heckert in a 1986 three-hour abridgment from Random House Audio. (Nov.) Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From AudioFile Farrow’s reading soon becomes a performance, first winning, then powerful, especially as Rosemary (whom she played in the film), a young Manhattan housewife who becomes the victim of a coven determined to bring Satan’s heir into the world. She conveys especially well Rosemary’s vulnerability and trusting normalcy, which make the story all the more chilling. Farrow’s narration is professional otherwise, and her portrayal of other characters solid. One minor problem is that she carries over emotion from speeches inappropriately into speech tags and descriptions. A not so minor problem is that her voice sounds hollow, as if recorded in an acoustically unfriendly space. Harper/Caedmon provides a timed listing of tracks, something all audio publishers should do. W.M. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine– Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. From the Back Cover The classic novel of spellbinding suspense only the mind of Ira Levin could have imagined.She is a housewife — young, healthy, blissfully happy. He is an actor — charismatic and ambitious. The spacious, sun-filled apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side is their dream home — a dream that turns into an unspeakable nightmare…Enter the chilling world of Ira Levin — where terror is as near as your new neighbors and where evil wears the most innocent face of all…. –This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Read more

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:

⭐ Well, well, well. I have been meaning to read this book for YEARS! YEARS! And I finally made it a priority to pick it up, sit down, and read it. And guess what? I’m impressed. For a book that is over 50 years old this was really good. Not the best or scariest book of all time, but really very good. You get a huge sense of foreboding when reading and had I not already seen the movie, these feelings would probably been much worse.Rosemary’s Baby is all about the buildup. Scary things don’t just pop out and make you scream. Rather, the tension builds and builds as the story progresses and them BAM something creepy happens. Something that makes your skin crawl. Ira Levin did a great job here and I really appreciate the detail he put into this one.If you enjoy the horror genre, you should definitely pick this one up. I find it to be a classic myself and think all fans of the genre should read it at some point in their lives. It’s an easy read, one you can breeze through if you want to, and it’s got excellent creep factor.

⭐ I could not for a second put this book down. What a story! Now I see why it’s a well known horror classic, and why it’s so highly rated. I wish I’d read it sooner. I felt myself panicking for Rosemary way before she even panicked for herself. I had no prior knowledge to book and could see that Devil’s work was being done just from the way she mentioned sulfur after her dream, and not being able to have salt. I’m not sure how I knew, but I just did. I literally sat with my hand on my mouth at times, in horror, after reading about all of the terrible things she was going through. In the room, when she is defenseless in the corner, I literally felt my blood boiling within me and I have never been pregnant, or know what it’s like to love something inside of you. The description and the emotions made me feel as though I had and I cared about the baby just as much as she did! What a shocker. I won’t give too much away, and will stop soon…. But I must say that the ending left me feeling very disturbed and uncomfortable. It was marvelous. Everything I want in a good book that’s going to scare me.

⭐ Rosemary’s Baby is not very scary but it was pretty strange and I enjoyed it.Rosemary and her husband were really wanting to get into the Bramford apartment complex and right when they had signed a lease on another apartment it becomes available and Rosemary begs her husband Guy to get them out of the lease and into the Bramford. Wrong move on her part! :)Not real long after they had been living there they meet an old couple who really seems to take over their lives but Rosemary doesn’t see it until it’s to late. Rosemary doesn’t see a lot of things till it’s too late. I know I keep saying wake up woman!It wasn’t to long after they met the old couple that Guy gets his big break in acting and it seems he is on fire with his career and then Rosemary gets pregnant and that is when the old couple really become a bit obsessed with her and the care of her baby, they even get her to go to a doctor they recommend, give her vitamin drinks, etc.Like a lot of older horror it was more atmospheric than scary. The reader can see what his happening and is worried for Rosemary though she is a bit slow to realize what is happening. There was a few times I really wanted to scream at Rosemary for not catching onto things that were happening around her.The ending is a little strange and well I don’t know. I am not even sure what I was expecting. I do think I am glad that I read this one before seeing the movie and now I would like to watch the movie. (Seeing the movie ruined my enjoyment of The Exorcist novel).I am reading this book called Paperbacks from Hell and it’s the history of the horror industry from the 70’s and 80’s and the author says there was three books that really was a turning point for horror and those are The Exorcist, Rosemary’s Baby and The Other. So I have one more to go and I will have all three read. 🙂 Let me tell you this book is wreaking havoc on my TBR…lol.Even though it’s classed as horror I think I would put it as more suspense than horror, especially towards the end. I would recommend it to those who might like a little spooky suspense as it would be great for those who don’t like to get to scared. I know a few of you out there…lol.

⭐ I’d seen the movie several times. I finally read the novel. Like other reviewers, the way the movie holds to the book, in plot, rhythm, character, and even dialogue, is uncanny. Almost like reading a screenplay. I found myself hoping for any scene that wasn’t in the film. Making matters worse, Mia Farrow did such a good job playing Rosemary, that even the inner thoughts and motivations that a book provides, were not surprising and did not add much. So, kudos to the film makers and performers for such a faithful and accurate adaptation.As the novel progressed to its inevitable conclusion, one that I was well aware of, thanks to multiple viewings and several decades of cultural references, I felt a little apprehensive that I would end up feeling it was a waste of my time reading the book.And then I reached those last few pages!There it was! The thing the movie did not get right. They tried, but the viewer sees only the horror. The reader gets to be inside Rosemary’s head. To me, that final statement about a mother’s love is really the whole point.So, that’s what my 5 stars are for.

⭐ ‘Rosemary’s Baby’, by Ira Levin, is a wonderful novel! It begins slow, but then as the clues pile on, the plot thickens, gentle reader, like a ripening seed!Rosemary’s belly is hurting terribly all of the time – four months so far.Isn’t being pregnant supposed to be good news? She wanted and wanted a baby, but her young husband Guy Woodhouse, failing actor, always said maybe later.Then, a lucky break! A five-room apartment becomes available at a surprisingly inexpensive rental price, at the classic Bramford apartments, Manhattan’s foremost Victorian masterpiece. So what if many people seemed to have committed suicide there over several decades, or that ugly rumors about witches were whispered about as living there now and then?The new neighbors, Minnie and Roman Castevet, are nosy and loud. Rosemary thinks them nice, but gee whiz, they seem to come over a lot – almost every day! Rosemary prefers her own friends, closer to her age. The Castevets are in their seventies. At first, Guy agrees with her, but after a party over at the Castevets, Guy appears to want to hang out next door a lot. Why?Perhaps it is because Guy’s career suddenly is taking off! He says Roman knows people, and maybe Roman is telling folks about Guy. But golly, it seems to Rosemary the real reason is a competing actor suddenly went blind! Guy is talented, but to get ahead that way!And then, there are the strange sounds of chanting from the Castevets’ apartment through the bedroom wall. The only people they see anymore are the Castevets and their old friends. Minnie keeps giving her a strange drink, throwing away her vitamins, telling her it’s better for her baby. Is the drink causing those strange dreams, especially the one about a monster raping her?Oh. My. God. Five months to go….

⭐ Rereading after decades, I am struck by how glorious this novel is. I want to go reread Mr. Levin’s other novels now. Although it might be possible to view it as a period piece (and certainly there exist social attitudes which Society ought to have long since evolved past) for me the wider ramifications are timeless: recognition of Anti-Semitism (the setting is only 21 years post-World War II), sexism, patriarchy, racism and bigotry. There are also the human constraints of greed, pure self-interest, and conviction that thae end always justifies the means.A strong albeit naive female protagonist, superb secondary characters such as Hutch, and the use of Place as a Character in itself (the historic and ultimately decadent Bramford apartment building) render ROSEMARY’S BABY an exceptional reread and well worth my time.

⭐ This is a wonderfully spooky and at times very scary story about a young wife who is probably too naive for her own good. The story takes place in a historic New York neighborhood in the 1960’s. The writing style of Ira Levin is down to earth yet highly entertaining, even glossy at times when he describes the new home of the starry eyed Rosemary. Mr. Levin has a great way of writing in simple no nonsense terms yet still evoking lush scenery, complicated emotional twists, and eerie, sinister plotting. This is one of the best horror stories in all literary history and definitely not to be missed. I have read it 3 times and seen the movie by Roman Polanski over a dozen times and this story doesn’t get old! Highly recommended

⭐ I can’t write a review about this book without referencing the 1968 film of the same name. If you read this book, you’ve seen the movie. And if you’ve seen the movie you’ve read the book. The story holds up even after 50 years. I like the ending of the book better than the film. It’s just a little thing and I won’t spoil it. Others have written about the political/feminist aspects of the story so I won’t go there. It’s a fast read. I couldn’t put it down and finished it in a day.

⭐ The horror classic was finally on sale for its 50th anniversary. Because of its fame, it’s impossible not to know what will happen. But reading it was still such a terrible experience about turning the joy of an expentant mother into a story about the worst kind of evil. Weird neighors, pregnancy woes, and lying husbands, suddenly turn into a story on satanism and betrayal. In the end, Rosemary is faced with an impossible choice and the horror lingers long after the final page.

⭐ You know the ending. You know what happens. Even if you don’t know, you have a pretty damn strong idea. And yet every time I read the book or watch the movie, I find myself hoping that this time – THIS TIME – it’s a different ending.That is the power of this book, that it is so damn engaging and haunting when you already know the outcome. And how could it not be? Levin has set his protagonist as a pregnant woman – and then turned everyone against her. Your natural human response should be to want to offer help and protection in the creation of life – and all you can do is sit by and watch as everyone uses naive Rosemary for their own devices.On top of that, Levin’s succinct plotting is a brilliance of the genre. It’s sparse because it doesn’t need filler. It is brevity at its finest. That he only wrote a handful of book is a tragedy.I keep reading people who complain the book didn’t scare them. First, STOP THAT. Going in with a challenge isn’t fair to any book, and you’ll be writing the same reviews about Bram Stoker, Stephen King, HP Lovecraft, etc, etc. Second, the horror of Rosemary is in the nature of the Satanists. Levin proposes them not as brilliant intellectuals, but what would happen if your crazy uncle and aunt decided to bring about the spawn of the devil. And perhaps most horrifically of all, do they really understand what they’re doing to begin with?There is a different ending here than in the movie. Slightly, but enough to be a major tonal shift. Read it for that alone, but also read it if you’ve seen a movie. There’s a reason why Polanski barely changed anything.

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