Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin (1997-09-01)

I had just finished the WONDERFUL 'A Kiss Before Dying' also by Ira Levin and I thought I would read another of his many books and landed on Rosemary's Baby. I won't go into a plot recap--enough of those reviews abound, but I rate this as a quick, easy read that while a bit dated in places, stands the test of time, but still lacks some quality that would move it from 4 stars to 5 stars.....

Wow what a great story! From the creepy neighbors, to the Victorian building, the mystery and intrigue... Its a must read and a bucket list book most decidedly! Read it and thank me later...if you don't scare that easily, that is?

I finally watched the 1968 film version of "Rosemary's Baby", and decided to read the book. I found the film to be astonishingly faithful to the story and even the dialogue. Levin's impressionistic style lets him get a lot of detail into very few pages and really nail down a character in a few paragraphs. As a person with a minimal attention span who also enjoys a character-driven story, I really enjoyed this- that aspect of Levin reminds me a bit of Chekhov, another one of my favorites. Popular literature at its best. Good stuff!

though a better experience might be obtained through roman polanski's movie adaptation of the novel, the novel's story is solid, flows smoothly, reads easily, and will undoubtedly give the reader plenty of chills.