Rating: 
Summary: Stephen King? I doubt it..but I really want to know
Review: The bookseller that I purchased this book from said the rumor is King wrote it but that nobody with Hyperion will confirm or deny that. Who cares, I enjoyed it very much and would really like to know who wrote it and if they have other titles. As others stated here it is a quick read but unlike the other review here I wasn't so upset that it was fiction. I think the idea behind it is quite unique and I am actually looking forward to watching the miniseries on tv which I can not say about past King miniseries.
I have to wonder how long it will take before someone leaks the name of the author.
Bottomline is that this was a great haunted house story and was well written.
Rating: 
Summary: When Fact is Fiction
Review: Despite the fact that this book contains no facts, I enjoyed reading it. I was approximately one third of the way into the book when I realized that it was a monumental put-on. If I had known it was fiction and not the factual account of the paranormal history of a Victorian mansion in Seattle, Washington, I would not have purchased the book. I was interested in actual paranormal accounts, not fiction. However, as a titillating two hours of meladrama with some interesting sexual twists, it served a certain purpose. I am curious about the actual identity of Joyce Reardon Ph.D.
Rating: 
Summary: I agree that it wasn't written by Stephen King...
Review: It was probably written by an ABC ghostwriter, to tie in to the Stephen King miniseries coming at the end of January. The plot is a combination of "Haunting of Hill House", "Poltergeist", and "Amityville Horror". I found the diary format plodding, the characters uninteresting, and the emphasis on Ellen & John's sexual problems boring. Read it all the way through hoping it would get better, but it didn't. Would much have preferred a screenplay, like they did with King's "Storm of the Century". This will be "must reading" for those who watch the ABC miniseries, but do yourself a favor and buy Shirley Jackson's "Haunting of Hill House", and the superb 1963 b&w Julie Harris version of the movie "Haunting".
Rating:
Summary: disappointing
Review: I agree if I had known it was not true I would have skipped it. It should not be passed off as a true story. Dont bother with it.
Rating:
Summary: Who, exactly wrote this book?
Review: There are some flaws to this book, one, being that it isn't real (which is diappointing, because there's nothing like a real haunted house story for good reading). It was a quick read, and whomever did put together this fake little diary did a decent job crafting the psychosis of their subject. I would, however, like to know who actually put pen to paper. There is no mention as to who actually labored over this book, either on the phony Beaumont University website or the Hyperion books page. I doubt very much it was Stephen King, who has written the miniseries of which this book is a tie-in (something I didn't know when I bought it, which is probably a good thing as I would have left it alone had I known). One, I think King writes without quite the extreme level of melodrama that prevades every page of this "diary" and two, because like the "Bachman books" I doubt any pen name would be this much of a secret. Anyhow, I do applaude the author for making me believe I was reading an actual diary for the first 50 pages or so, and that I was interested enough to keep going. I give King the credit for making a great haunted house story for an afternoon's guilty pleasure.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and suspensful!!!
Review: RARLEY do I read mystery/thrillers...but a friend mentioned she wanted to read this, and after looking it up, it sounded really good. I'm so glad I bought it! This book kept me up very late for 2 nights in a row...but it was worth it. I love the format of the book, being all journal entries from Ellen's diary...starting in 1907 (age 19) till 1928. It's a fascinating and riveting journey into the life of Ellen and her philandering husband John, and one cannot forget Rose Red herself. You go on to read about the demise of Ellen's sanity, and how their palace of a house starts to take on a life of it's own. It's an excellent book all around. I highly recommend it. To those who read thriller/mysteries all the time, this is probably no big deal...tame stuff. But for someone like me...it was the perfect amount of suspense and creepiness.
Rating:
Summary: Unrealistic Diary
Review: Not impressed with this book at all. It does have an air of mystery and suspense but it not written in the true sense of the Victorian age, is unrealistically written (does not sound like a true diary at all) and the sex scenes in them are almost pornogrpahic and have no real pertinence to the story.
I am a Stephen King fan and I did like the movie "Rosered" but this book did not give me any insight into the house or or Ellen that I felt enhanced the movie at all. It dealt more with Ellen's own feeling of inadequacies, her affection for her maid, and the problems she endured with her husband rather than giving any keys to why the house was haunted or how/why it could change its walls.
Very disappointing book and I am glad to know that King did not actually write it.
Rating: 
Summary: Made for TV
Review: This ficitional "diary" was inspired by the Stephen King-penned miniseries Rose Red, which aired early in 2001. Supposedly edited by Dr. Joyce Reardon, the ghost researcher who was the main character in the miniseries (and who met a very bad end), and written by Ellen Rimbauer, the character who haunted the mansion Reardon was investigating, Rose Red, the diary details the early years of the haunted house that was the subject of the miniseries. There has been some debate as to whether this book was actually written by King. I have read everything King has written, most of it more than once, and I never thought while reading "The Diary" that he wrote it -- although there is no question that he sanctioned it. The writing is somewhat clumsy and doesn't exhibit King's trademark "won't let you turn out the light' style. All that makes the "diary" merely a curiosity, a collectible for avid King fans. If you are looking for a good story or even a good King story, I would advise you to look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: This should have been the Miniseries!
Review: I picked up "My Life at Rose Red" right after seeing the Stephen King Miniseries on TV. At the time I wasn't sure if this was a Stephen King book or not. Once I discovered King did not write the book, I put off reading the "diary" for awhile and actually forgot about the book entirely. Just last week while cleaning out the basement I discovered "My Life at Rose Red" and decided to finally read the thing. Knowing that King had little to do with the novel, I had low expectations. I figured it would be a cheesy prequel targeted to a prospective audience for the miniseries. I was wrong. The "diary" is a wonderful story of the supernatural, and the story of a young woman's descent into madness. The character of Ellen Rimbaugher really comes to life in the pages of her diary, as does her dispicable husband John. You can just feel the tension as the diary entries progress and you begin to geniunely feel for Ellen's plight. After finishing the novel, I felt that Ellen's story should have been the one made into a movie, not the story of the obsessive Joyce Reardon and the autistic child psychic. "My Life at Rose Red" will keep you entertained and you will not want to put it down. The only reason I did not give "My Life at Rose Red" a higher rating is that the ending is pretty ambivilant, which makes sense in a way, because they want you to watch the show. And also, this work is presented as a diary, so you really have to suspend belief while reading, becuase there are quite a few passages which recount dialog & character actions, that seem a little too in depth to be a supposed diary entry. But overall, "My Life at Rose Red" will keep you entertained, and if you enjoyed the "Rose Red" miniseries, now on DVD, you should really like this fleshed out backstory. I see used copies here listed for under $.50, and Ellen Rimbaugher's story is surely worth that.
Rating:
Summary: coudnt put it down
Review: By now almost everyone knows that the "Diary" is really fiction and was written by Ridley Pearson, not Stephen King. Even though it's a tie-in to a television mini-series, it works just fine as a stand-alone piece. I haven't seen the television show for which this is a prequel and am in no hurry to do so. Nonetheless, I found this book to be an enjoyable and relatively quick read. As it's title indicates, the story is told through entries in the supposed diary of the main character, Ellen Rimbauer. It starts out innocently enough, although even the first entry has hints of the darkness to come. Attacted by his wealth and social status (as well as by his physical presence), the virginal and seemingly innocent young Ellen puts her doubts aside and marries a richer, older man. He proceeds to control her life, dominate and debauch her sexually, and generally make her miserable. They spend their lives at Rose Red, the grand house he begins building at the beginning of the novel and whose construction continues through it. Ellen's premarital misgivings are quickly proven to be true, and her marriage disintegrates. Inexplicable acts of violence and disappearances punctuate the novel, as the massive house assumes an increasingly evil personality of its own. Much of the story focuses on trying to figure out why these things are happening and what the house wants. It becomes increasingly apparent that the house and Ellen are inextricably linked. "The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer" owes much to the traditions of Gothic literature, especially as regards the focus on the "innocent" heroine, the spooky house, and the repressed violence in the husband's character. Many of the standard elements of modern horror are there as well--the disturbed Indian burial ground on which the house was built, the African maid who possesses mysterious powers, the lost child, and the more explicit handling of sexual matters. Pearson weaves them together fairly skillfully. This may not be the best work of horror ever written, but it's certainly good enough to while away a few hours.
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