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A review by aslowreader
Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
5.0
hail rosemary!
i honestly didn't expect to love this as much as i do; i already knew the story from the movie, but that didn't take away from the experience of reading it at all. this book is just long enough to say what it needs to stay, the pacing is excellent, and there are so many parts at which i was genuinely creeped out by the whole situation - a rarity for me as a horror consumer.
this book is, of course, a product of its time. there are numerous accounts of racism, misogyny, and general what-the-fuckery that just wouldn't fly in today's world: a japanese man simply being referred to as "the japanese" while everyone else in the scene gets a name; rosemary's husband raping her and then, six pages later, her claiming that "he had gotten drunk and grabbed her without saying may i. well that was really an earth-shaking offense, now wasn't it? there he was, facing the biggest challenge of his career, and she - instead of being there to help him" was off holding him accountable for his actions. how awful of her! these are just a couple examples of what is problematic in this tale.
unrelated, my favorite part of the book was when rosemary and guy are having company in their new apartment for the first time, and one of their guests says, "can i look around? if the rest of it's as nice as [the living room] i'm going to cut my throat." and idk it just made me happy to know that people have always talked in this incredibly dark and dramatic way lol
i honestly didn't expect to love this as much as i do; i already knew the story from the movie, but that didn't take away from the experience of reading it at all. this book is just long enough to say what it needs to stay, the pacing is excellent, and there are so many parts at which i was genuinely creeped out by the whole situation - a rarity for me as a horror consumer.
this book is, of course, a product of its time. there are numerous accounts of racism, misogyny, and general what-the-fuckery that just wouldn't fly in today's world: a japanese man simply being referred to as "the japanese" while everyone else in the scene gets a name; rosemary's husband raping her and then, six pages later, her claiming that "he had gotten drunk and grabbed her without saying may i. well that was really an earth-shaking offense, now wasn't it? there he was, facing the biggest challenge of his career, and she - instead of being there to help him" was off holding him accountable for his actions. how awful of her! these are just a couple examples of what is problematic in this tale.
unrelated, my favorite part of the book was when rosemary and guy are having company in their new apartment for the first time, and one of their guests says, "can i look around? if the rest of it's as nice as [the living room] i'm going to cut my throat." and idk it just made me happy to know that people have always talked in this incredibly dark and dramatic way lol