Thursday 31 October 2013

Devouring Books: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

*ADVERTISEMENT: I use Grammarly for english proofreading because every grammar error spawns a new devil baby and THAT MUST BE STOPPED.*

I read Rosemary's Baby almost immediately after reading The Stepford Wives, which, is not only the way I used to read pre-blogging (same author, ALL their books) but should definitely be taken as a ringing endorsement for Ira Levin. Whilst I felt like The Stepford Wives was maybe a bit... brief, and I knew too much about it for it to be really effective, I also got what Levin was trying to do and I liked it a lot. So, Rosemary's Baby it was!

I knew a little bit about Rosemary's Baby before I read it, but not nearly as much as I knew about The Stepford Wives, so it had that going for it from the outset. The things I knew (which I won't tell you about because what if you don't know?!) are sort of the big twist of the story, BUT there were still enough details and things I didn't know, like the twist at the end (it's a very twisty book) that made it completely worth reading, and completely excellent to read.

The story goes like this: Rosemary and her husband Guy are looking for somewhere new to live, and have actually agreed to live in one place when an apartment in a beautiful yet possibly cursed building which, of course, they can't resist. Upon moving into the apartment whose previous inhabitant died after being in a looooong (and obviously creepy) coma, Rosemary makes friends with a girl living next door with the old (and dare I add again, creepy) couple next door, and her apparent suicide kicks into motion a chain of horrifying events that could make a reader very very uneasy about a number of different things.

Because, here we go, things Rosemary's Baby has made me uneasy about:

  • Trusting old people: They could be out to get you in ways I won't describe but let's just say it has something to do with religion. Of course.
  • Moving out: So, of the few books I've read since leaving home, at least two of them (this, and The Stepford Wives, funnily enough) have involved characters leaving the safety of where they lived before for a new location where strange and terrible things start to happen. THANKS FOR THAT, IRA. Waiting for something weird to happen any day now.
  • Having a baby: Yeahhh, that's kind of the whole deal with this one. I think there are a lot of interesting links to be made between the way women are treated when they're pregnant, and the ultimate badness that happens in this book. There's a real sense in which women are not allowed to think for themselves whilst pregnant, and whilst normally doing whatever doctors tell you to do is probably fine, what if it isn't? And also, what if bad things are happening and there are conspiracies and aghhhhhh *hyperventilates*. Basically, this book makes having a baby seem terrifying in quite a few ways, not just the obvious.
Speaking of that feminist thing*, Rosemary's Baby not only speaks out against women having no control over their bodies whilst pregnant (something which STILL happens today) but also makes it clear just how difficult womanhood was in the sixties. Rosemary is from the Midwest and doesn't speak to her family, which leaves her with Guy and Hutch, a father figure who mysteriously falls into a long coma somewhere in the middle of all the drama, leaving Rosemary with only Guy, who we can't be sure can be trusted. Somewhere else in the middle of all this is a marital rape (sort of- by which I mean, it's sort of marital, but it's definitely rape), which Guy tries to explain away by basically saying that he wanted to do it so it's fine. Thankfully, narrative-wise, it's not brushed over and Rosemary DOES have bad feelings about it, BUT it's also very clear that she has nowhere else to turn, and there's not much she can do other than go back to the husband that raped her (again, sort of.) It's very frustrating, but also thought provoking and, you know, I think we need that.

Other than thought provoking though, this book is just very very effective at making you feel uneasy and troubled and all of those other good things. I couldn't even tell you how Levin does it, but I guess it's something to do with the normal, everyday things that any of us could be doing, being combined with some occurrences that are very strange, scary even, that we then have to agree could also happen to us because the other things are so realistic too. I can see exactly why it was so popular in the sixties and was made into a film right away (or so the last season of Mad Men told me) because it's just so... gripping and scary but in a completely normal setting. Very effective stuff.

So, come one, come all! Read Rosemary's Baby for the thrills and chills, stay for the feminist discourse. Or... You could probably just read it for what it is (a pretty great horror novel) and skip all that boring stuff** because it's pretty fantastic either way. Just... Maybe don't read it tonight, ok? Because I feel like Halloween is the night when unease can turn to, you know terror. Especially if you're pregnant...

*'Oh, is that what we were doing?' I hear you cry! Yes. Yes it was. It always is, even when it seems like it's not.
**By boring stuff, I obviously mean the stuff that MAKES ME GO ON EVERY DAY. You know, the usual.

14 comments:

  1. I HAVE THIS ONE ALREADY. So I don't need to panic about buying it... The next question being, what SHOULD I do tonight, Laura? Besides taking a shower, hiding from children demanding stuff with menaces, and eating one of those new Muller Luxe yoghurt thingies, which are so delicious I want to have THEIR babies. True story. The choices:

    1) Read as much of Attachments as possible so I'm not having to start The Moonstone TOOOOO late for Ellie's readalong.
    2) Watch loads more episodes of House.
    3) Watch Psycho 2.
    4) Watch Orphan.
    5) Watch Young Dracula (all the festivity, none of the chills)
    6) See if there's anything else creepy on telly instead.
    7) Catch up on Homeland.
    8) Give up and go to bed.

    MY LIFE IS SO EXCITING I CAN HARDLY BEAR IT. :D

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    1. Well. I clearly replied too late to tell you what you should have done on halloween night, but my answer is all of the above AND MORE? So hopefully you did that. ALSO ELLIE now you can read Rosemary's Baby because it's not halloween so it's fine!

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  2. Oooookay I guess I'll read this. And I don't know any of the twists! Not any! So thank you for not saying what they are. Also: "And also, what if bad things are happening and there are conspiracies and aghhhhhh" THAT IS LIKE SCULLY ON X-FILES AHHHH PREGNANCY CONSPIRACIIIIIES

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    1. Oh good! I did think it was a way less well known thing than The Stepford Wives (and, yeah, totally didn't know what the ending was) so I was like NOPE NOT TELLING. I think you could handle this scary-wise, too.

      ALICE X Files is on Netflix (which I'm sure you know...) and I've almost started watching it so many times now- how proud are you going to be when this happens? (The correct answer is very)

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  3. Oh man, I think I need to read this. I mean twists and feminism and yes, I need this. PLUS I only sorta know what happens in the movie so perhaps the twists will be preserved for when I read it. Not like Stepford

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    1. That is exactly correct and you should DEFINITELY read this. If only for the historical importance, but actually not only for that because OMG its so goooood. Basically.

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  4. I loooooved this one when I read it. I was fist pumping when Rosemary was like "uh but we could have had baby-making times this morning or tonight, last night wasn't the only time you asshole," even if she did ultimately end up going back to him. I have the sequel sitting on my bookshelf right now. it's supposed to be worse than terrible, but I have this morbid interest in it.

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    1. TOTALLY. Feminism, fuck yeah! I mean, it's really depressing that Rosemary just goes back to Guy, BUT I feel like this was written in a time where marital rape wasn't even acknowledged, like at all, so it's powerful just for doing that. YEAH!

      I kind of only vaguely knew there was a sequel... Did Levin write it himself or is it one of those AWFUL things that some other person decided to write?

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    2. He did write it, much much later though. The 90s I think? And it's where Rosemary is reunited with her kid...she'd been in a coma since the end of the previous book. I think the coven put her under?? It's supposed to be real bad and I'm worried it'll ruin the original for me but it's in the other room Laura, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?

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    3. Oh my gooooooood, that sounds so terrible! You must read it immediately and report back! If it's that bad, you can pretend it doesn't exist, like I do with Sex and the City 2. Which is a film that never even happened!

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    4. Sorry, I have a cooler example- The Godfather III. That doesn't exist.

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  5. Ok, I NEED to read this. Feminist discourses? Various twists? Thrills and chills? And further reasons to mistrust old people? Yeh, I'm so in.

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    1. ALL OF THOSE THINGS ARE IN THIS! So yeah, deffffffff read it. Although it might be a bit late for the spookies now, so boooo.

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  6. I've seen the movie so I knew what you meant about the sort-of caveat to the marital rape. Hard to explain without getting spoilery. Movie is very good - some excellent framing in the cinematography, showing how hemmed in Rosemary is by the men in her life.

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