Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

JetBlackDragonfly

1 hour ago

2 min read

We all know about Rosemary's baby from the classic film starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes. It's a hallmark of horror, but Levin's original book deserves to be regarded as a classic in its own right.

Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse have longed to live in New York's historic Bramford building, with its high ceilings and Victorian detail. They are thrilled to find a four-bed, two-bath has become available—with quirky charm, like the closet door to nowhere left over from when the floor was divided into apartments. The Bramford has a history of unsavory happenings—they say the Trench sisters who lived there were cannibals, and a man branded a warlock was killed there. The welcoming residents are mostly elderly, including their next-door neighbors Minnie and Roman Castavet. Minnie is eccentric but endearing, wearing lime green and toreador pants when she shouldn't. As they become friends, Guy's career as a Broadway and TV actor blossoms—he even gets a part he lost out on when the other actor goes blind. They are all thrilled when Rosemary becomes pregnant, finding the best obstetrician for her, a friend of the Castavets. Minnie gives her a silver necklace with a charm and brings a healthy smoothie every morning, for she is losing weight instead of gaining, and her stomach pains are intolerable. Rosemary is unsure what to think—this is her first pregnancy, and every woman is different. Surely the best doctor and nurses in New York, her friends and neighbors, the Castavets, and her own husband are not behind a conspiracy to harm her baby. Even knowing the story, you will get a chill of dread as she begins to discover what is really happening.

"This is no dream," she thought. "This is real, this is happening."

This works on many levels, as her anxiety about a first pregnancy leads her to question what is normal or not. This was a time when doctors were deferred to, your husband knows best, and even other women told her not to worry, things usually get better. The writing is terrific, and regardless of how or why she got pregnant, Rosemary's journey makes for a classic read.

The performance of Ruth Gordon as Minnie Castavet won her the Oscar and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, but the character is right here on the page.

This classic is highly recommended.

Ira Levin wrote The Stepford Wives, The Boys From Brazil, A Kiss Before Dying, the longest-running thriller on Broadway, Deathtrap, and the novel Sliver, which deserves to be better remembered than the terrible film that was made of it.

1967 / Hardcover / 250 pages