Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Rosemary's Baby

Loved this. It was a case of is the character being gaslit or is something nefarious going on? Or perhaps both. The main character, Rosemary, is smart and not a meek idiot which makes the story great to follow. The conclusion is both sad and scary - and very interesting.

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afternoonlight's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

Creepy but entertaining. I thought the horror would be about the baby but maybe the real horror was being a housewife in the 1960’s.

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vbarsi's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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bookbelle5_17's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

Review of Rosemary’s Baby

By: Ira Levin

Rosemary and Guy are a young happy couple eager to move into the famous Bramford apartment. When they move in, they meet this elderly couple, Roman and Mini Castavets, who are very willing to insert themselves in Rosemary and Guy’s lives. Rosemary finally gets pregnant the Castavets help Rosemary with it, but she begins to suspect they have wicked intensions for her baby.

Rosemary’s Baby focuses not only on the occult and devil worship, but also on the fears of expecting mothers. Am I harming my child before its born? How do make I sure my baby is born good? It is one of those horror stories where our protagonists’ sanity is put to the test and can any of the other characters can be trusted. Rosemary is constantly gaslighted and is condescended to by her husband, Guy, and she is so submissive to him in most of the story. The Castavets are written in a way that makes them seem like they mean well, but they’re trying too hard to be involved with Rosemary’s pregnancy, especially when she barely knows them. The horror is written in a subtle way where the reader doesn’t know for sure of what’s going on. I found myself getting frustrated with Rosemary, because I wanted her to stand up for herself and not trust the Castavets. Unless you don’t believe in the devil, this possibility is absolutely terrifying, but also even if you don’t believe the idea of these, who do believe is quite frightening as well. This is an older novel published in the 60s and has casual racist mentalities.

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amberinbookland's review against another edition

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4.0

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carlytenille's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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servemethesky's review against another edition

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dark funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Wow! I absolutely loved Rosemary's Baby and am blown away by how well it held up. What a fun, fantastic novel!

Ira Levin writes with short, punchy sentences that give you just the right amount of information to feel immersed in this world and time. As much as this book is a product of the 60s, it still feels shockingly relevant today. I knew the plot was about Satanism and giving birth to Satan's child, but I didn't know how much the themes would actually be about bodily autonomy and women's rights.

I saw some reviewers ranting that Rosemary is unbearably passive and a terrible protagonist, but it feels spot on to me that she would behave this way. We forget that women had so little autonomy, even as recently in the 60s! Women couldn't even get their own credit card until 1974! No wonder Rosemary felt she had to keep seeing the best in her husband. It was terrifying to see how trapped she was.

People also complain about the rape scene and that it's 'barely touched on' and 'not taken seriously enough.' That's kind of the point! She has no bodily autonomy and because the hold of the patriarchal system is so strong on her, and she has so little agency to leave, she can gaslight herself into thinking spousal rape 'wasn't so bad.' Marital rape was not considered a crime until 1993!!! Before the 1970s, it was perfectly legal in every. Single. State.

The horrors of real life in America!

It's also an excellent story of being trapped in a toxic/abusive relationship and family system, where in this case, Minnie & Roman and their friend group/coven is the family system. Everyone is constantly gaslighting Rosemary, dismissing her concerns and doing their utmost to convince her that all of this is absolutely normal and fine. It's hard to break out of a system that's hurting you when you don't know anything else!

The last 20-30 pages were thrilling!

It felt like such a familiar horror trope of "no, not the doctor! He's against you too! You can't trust anyone!" but in the best way. It was so well executed. And then when the hypodermic needle comes out? Omg. Chills. And then she wakes up and the baby is dead?! Horrifying.

Zero autonomy for this poor woman.

And then that ending!!! I think I'd heard the ending a podcast but totally forgot it.

Rosemary choosing to stay and raise her demonic son and try to exert a positive influence on him was just *chef's kiss*. She wanted motherhood *that* badly. I did love that she snatches back some of her autonomy by demanding that the baby be named Andrew instead of Adrian, and that he not wear black all the time.

It feels just like today, how many white woman accept patriarchy and white supremacy because it benefits them, and they might as well uphold a system that's working fine for them.

This book is so funny in such small ways, and was delightful all around. For those who read this book a little too seriously, it's worth noting that Ira Levin himself had misgivings about the novel's impact on society and culture ever since. He said, "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?" Yikes. Now there's a scary idea! Dude didn't even believe in Satan and now right wingers are still Satanic-panicking in 2023.

Highly recommend picking up this book if you've never read it! It holds up quite well in 2023. Excited to watch the movie for the first time soon :)

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jaimc's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No

3.75

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