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Summary: My Favorite in the World!
Review: I'm 13 years old, and The Bad Seed is my favorite movie. I'm not morbid or anything, I just think that this story is absolutely intriguing! I love it! The fact that such a seemingly glorious little child could do that...it's a darn good plot.
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Summary: Still Packs A Punch After 44 Years
Review: In my library sits a yellowing paperback copy of The Bad Seed. (The price was 25 cents, if that's any indication of its age!). Here's a chiller that has, if anything, gotten better with time. In fact, the more one reads accounts now in which young people commit some pretty frightening crimes, one continues to ponder the "environment vs genetics" issue. While the movie version cleaned up the ending to fit the 50s mentality, this book doesn't play it safe with little Rhoda and her story, which is exactly the reason this page-turner holds up so well. I urge you to read it straight through and avoid cute little girls with pigtails!
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Summary: A Gem of a Horror Story
Review: It's a shame this book has become all but unknown behind the enormously successful movie with its God-awful copout ending (although Patty McCormick's deliciously chilling perfomance of its anti-heroine is a gem in itself), because the book is infinitely better than the movie (I can't speak for the Broadway production because I never saw it). In fact, most people who saw or heard of 'The Bad Seed' as a play or a movie never knew it was derived from William March's terrific book. March tells the story of Rhoda Penmark, eight years old, a devil lurking inside an angel's facade. To her adult neighbors, she's every parent's dream: obedient, unassuming, compliant, always neat and well-groomed, quiet, polite to her elders. She does her homework without being prodded and she gets all the answers correct on her Sunday school quiz. Those who know her more intimately suspect there's something ugly underneath all the surface charm; her peers can't stand her, her teachers see a disturbing lack of feeling or sensitivity in her, and her parents, who dote on her, wonder if she is capable of love, affection, remorse, or any of the characteristics that make us human. For Rhoda goes after what she wants with a single-minded purposefulness and anybody who gets in her way better watch out. Rhoda's father is absent throughout all but the last few pages of the book (he's away on a business trip that is important to his career advancement), so Christine, her mother, is left to deal with Rhoda on her own. Christine is a fasinating character, one of the most tragic in contemporary fiction, a decent, compliant, earnest woman, whose identity is totally bound up in being a good wife and a devoted mother; what she learns about her own history shatters her world, especially when she realizes that her daughter is the 'bad seed' she unwittingly transmitted from her own diabolical mother. And as Christine cannot accept that she is blameless in this transmission, that she did not cause her daughter's criminal behavior any more than she caused her own mother's, so she feels she must not drag anyone else, even her husband, into her private hell; she created it, so she must deal with it alone, and it undoes her. How else could Christine have acted, is left to the reader to speculate. I'm not going to tell how the book ended, except to say that it's a much more satisfying (because more realistic) ending than in the movie. But it's a spooky little gem of a horror story that deserves a much wider readership. It's well written, well plotted, and a great read. I loved it!
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Summary: A Surprise Twist in the Nature of Evil.
Review: Maxwell Anderson's stage adaptation of William March's famous horror novel isn't quite as engulfing as March's novel. Still it is intriguing, fairly faithful to the source, and packs a whollop at the end. The plot seems rather simple. Little Rhoda is the perfect little girl. Everything about her is perfect, from her hair to her clothes to her grades in school. Then one day, one of Rhoda's classmates mysteriously dies during a school picinic. Rhoda seems unaffected by the whole situation and acts as though the child deserved to die. When Rhoda's mother, Chrisitne, finds a missing medal worn by the dead boy on the day of his death in Rhoda's treasure chest, she begins to think that both she and Rhoda may not be quite who they think they are. Psychology doesn't always do very well on stage. In fact, most psychological plays are terrible because there is too much talk and jargon and not enough action. Surpisingly, Anderson's drama isn't like that. It discusses the core psychological issues of March's novel, but without dragging the reader or audience in a bunch of psycho-babble that makes no sense. Intriguing.
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Summary: A DARK CLASSIC
Review: Rhoda Penmark, the protagonist of this dark tale, is an eight-year-old murderer. She has quite a resume -- pupil with perfect attendance, perfect deportment, top grades and -- murder. Rhoda's mother Christine knows that something is amiss with this child. Rhoda appears to have a limited range of emotions and is much more interested in securing honors and possessions than she is in people. Her teachers, the redoubtable Fern Sisters of the elite, exclusive private school they run notice Rhoda's alienation from her peers and singleness of purpose. Elderly women appear to love Rhoda; her landlady, Mrs. Breedlove and a "Miss Jessie," another resident of Rhoda's apartment building are charmed and beguiled by her. Leroy, the gardner admits to "being in love" with Rhoda because she stands up to him when he bullies her and the children in her building. His persistent pestering of the child is described as a "perverse and frightening courtship" and his wife begs him to stop bothering Rhoda and "those rich people's children." Leroy's pursuit of Rhoda and her continual covering up for him seems implausible. He accuses her of killing her classmate on her school picnic because the classmate won the coveted penmanship improvement medal. Rhoda, of course denies this, even though she did in fact kill the boy. Leroy hounds her mercilessly and even gives her a box with a dead rat inside as a gift. Why Rhoda didn't tell on him and gain some sympathy for herself and throw off any suspicion about her classmate's death and the firing of Leroy never made any sense to me. She could have blown the whistle on Leroy, painted herself in a sympathetic light and deflected further suspicion. Christine's suspicion mounted every day after Rhoda's school had their annual last day picnic. Rhoda's classmate Claude Daigle was drowned, his hands and face bearing odd, crescent shaped scars. These scars were made from the cleats on Rhoda's shoes. She forced Claude off the dock, beat him with the shoes until he gave her his medal. Taking his life was secondary to her; she wanted it known once Christine confronted her with killing Claude that she did NOT TAKE the medal. Christine uncovers other deaths -- at 7, Rhoda killed an elderly neighbor for her glass ball with opal flakes. At 8, she kills her classmate Claude and later, Leroy. The death of Leroy leads to a painful, unsatisfactory ending. The movie and play were cop outs with a weak, sanitized ending to pacify the audience of the 1950s. The book is a dark, macabre tale of a sociopathic child whose killing streak is blamed on a homicidal maternal grandmother. Although that premise seems rather shaky, it does lend itself to question. The term "bad seed" has since been incorporated into our lexicon as the term meaning created bad or a bad one from birth.
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Summary: The Prototype For All That Followed
Review: Shudder and shake when you saw "The Exorcist" or "The Omen"? This novella written in 1954 was the first that delved into the psyche of a totally evil child. For sheer chill, few of the followers have matched it. Little 10-year old Rhoda Penmark is flawless perfection without a soul. She is a pretty, tidy, obedient child who worms her way to adults' affection. Her peers avoid her. Her teachers are puzzled. And her mother is about to lose her mind. Rhoda only has two buttons to push: Greed and Personal Safety. If she wants something, she will go to any lengths to get it. If she fears for her own well-being, she is willing to do anything to safeguard herself. Other than these two flaws, she is flawless. True, she has a short attention span and gets bored easily, but if you keep her satisfied, she's absolutely fine. The novella gets its power from the strain of "I'm watching you watching me" until it is heightened to unbearable intensity. You begin to believe Rhoda is a force of nature, and she can no more be circumvented than the West Wind. The book shows it age in some of the almost caricature characterizations of supporting characters. From our hurried-up 21st Century viewpoint, you can't help but think everybody has a little too much time on their hands. Nevertheless, "The Bad Seed" still packs quite a wallop.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: The Prototype For All That Followed
Review: Shudder and shake when you saw "The Exorcist" or "The Omen"? This novella written in 1954 was the first that delved into the psyche of a totally evil child. For sheer chill, few of the followers have matched it. Little 10-year old Rhoda Penmark is flawless perfection without a soul. She is a pretty, tidy, obedient child who worms her way to adults' affection. Her peers avoid her. Her teachers are puzzled. And her mother is about to lose her mind. Rhoda only has two buttons to push: Greed and Personal Safety. If she wants something, she will go to any lengths to get it. If she fears for her own well-being, she is willing to do anything to safeguard herself. Other than these two flaws, she is flawless. True, she has a short attention span and gets bored easily, but if you keep her satisfied, she's absolutely fine. The novella gets its power from the strain of "I'm watching you watching me" until it is heightened to unbearable intensity. You begin to believe Rhoda is a force of nature, and she can no more be circumvented than the West Wind. The book shows it age in some of the almost caricature characterizations of supporting characters. From our hurried-up 21st Century viewpoint, you can't help but think everybody has a little too much time on their hands. Nevertheless, "The Bad Seed" still packs quite a wallop.
-sweetmolly-Amazon Reviewer
Rating:
Summary: Wow- good reading!
Review: So many books aim to affeft their readers by mindless sloppiness but no substance. Not this one- in the ranks of horror, this is a candidate for the top. Memorable characters and tough questions throughout, this is a story that begs to be read, to be pondered. The ending will shock you, surprise you. If one is a long time horror fan, this is something you won't forget, so vesceral is its appeal. All and all, it is terribly underated- read it, and watch the scales fall from your eyes.
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Summary: Axman, Mr. March! Axes to Grind
Review: The author, William March has his share of axes to grind and this book is an excellent platform for his revenge. An angry homosexual and pedophobe, Mr. March chooses to make at least one character gay; the landlady, Mrs. Breedlove's ineffectual brother, Emory is described as being homosexual. It is to the author's credit that he does not make Emory a stereotype in any fashion. He makes the suggestion of the man's sexuality, very few references and that is quite effective. A self admitted pedophobe, Mr. March has chosen to create a villanous, evil child. Rhoda has no moral compass and sees nothing wrong with committing murder. In one chilling exchange with her mother, Christine, Rhoda is sincerely puzzled as to why people are up in arms over the death of her classmate, Claude. "Claude was dead, wasn't he? It was silly to pin the medal on Claude's coat...If she [Claude's mother] wants a little boy that badly, why doesn't she take one out of the Orphan's Home?" This disgusting exchange was a very revealing comment on Rhoda's perverse nature and that of the author, as well. In reading about William March, it has been well documented that the man "feared and detested" children; this expression, "feared and detested" would crop up again in this story when Rhoda's teachers are forced to admit that their other pupils "feared and detested Rhoda." Christine's mother, the murderous Bessie Denker, known for committing murders since childhood is an interesting character. Executed when Christine was still a child and living with an adopted family, Bessie evokes strong feelings. She killed her brother, sister and other family members; she kills all of her children save for Christine who escaped by hiding from her. Christine repressed the memory until Rhoda's true nature cannot be denied; she researches Bessie Denker and opens a Pandora's box of horrors. Unlike Pandora's box, there is no hope resting at the bottom of the box. An interesting note: William March courted a woman named Bessie Riles in the hopes of marrying her and making himself heterosexual. She jilts him and from that point on, he creates truly evil characters named Bessie, such as the Incomparable Bessie Denker. Just as he "larvates" his homosexuality in courting Bessie Riles, his fictional Emory "larvates" his homosexuality in this book. March grinds several axes with the skill of a virtuoso. He grinds his axe against pyschiatry (homosexuality was considered a mental aberration in the 1950s) by having the fictional Mrs. Breedlove a patient of Dr. Freud; he makes fun of Freudian therapy by having his quasi-bawdy Mrs. Breedlove relate her experiences with Freud in great, laughing detail; he grinds his axe against Bessie Riles by creating Bessie Denker; he grinds his axe against children, girls in particular by the chillingly horrific Rhoda; her grinds his axe against his love for penmanship analysis by naming his villainess Rhoda "Penmark" and by having the award in question be one for "penmanship." He makes numerous comments about how penmanship defines character. This reinforced concept of writing, such as Christine's letters to her husband who all but makes a guest appearance at the end of the story, is yet another reminder of where March's priorities lay. As for Leroy the handyman, he is a pedophile. It is hard to believe that nobody called Leroy on his inappropriate behavior with the children in the building. He threatens to beat them "with a buggywhip" when they run through the gardens; his interaction with Rhoda is the twisted sexual one of a predator. Unable to relate to people with anything other than hostility and retreating into self pitying fantasies, Leroy fixates on Rhoda. It does beg the question of why she kept defending him. She could have turned him in and it would seem more realistic had she done so. This book is dark, unbelievable at times, and yet an anti-classic if you will.
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Summary: Chilling tale of an eight-year-old murderer.
Review: The term "bad seed" has become a much used phrase to describe a person who is thoroughly evil from birth. William March wrote "The Bad Seed" in the 1950's and it was later adapted for the stage and screen. After reading this compelling story, I can well understand its popularity. Rhoda Penmark is an eight-year-old girl who is so self-contained, aloof and uncaring that her peers shun her. Rhoda's gentle parents, Kenneth and Christine, know that Rhoda is not exactly like other little girls. When she plays, she never gets dirty. She has trouble expressing genuine affection. On two occasions, a mysterious death has occurred (one involving an elderly lady and the other a pet dog), and Rhoda was the only witness. It turns out that Rhoda had a motive for wanting both the old lady and the dog dead. Is it possible that this innocent looking girl could be a murderess? Things come to a head when the Penmark family moves to Alabama to start fresh. Kenneth is away on business while Christine tries to cope alone. Rhoda is a student at the Fern grammar school. She covets a gold medal that is given for penmanship at school, but the prize goes to a mamma's boy named Claude Daigle. Rhoda is incredulous and she refuses to accept her defeat. She hounds the boy to give her the medal that she feels is rightfully hers, until at an outing one day, Claude mysteriously drowns. You guessed it. Rhoda is the last person to have seen the boy alive. The book focuses not so much on Rhoda as it does on her mother, Christine. March lets us observe through Christine's eyes her growing horror, as she realizes that her daughter may very well be a monster. When Christine finds the penmanship medal hidden among Rhoda's things, she is sure that Rhoda must have killed Claude Daigle to get the medal for herself. March masterfully builds Christine's psychological horror as the book progresses. She learns that there is a secret in her own past that may explain her daughter's warped personality and she cannot bear the burden of guilt which this secret imposes on her. In the skilled way of good suspense writers, March does not just pile on the horror. "The Bad Seed" has a great deal of humor, much of it centered on the character of Monica Breedlove. She is an insufferable and interfering busybody who talks incessantly and who thinks that she is an expert on psychological analysis. Another memorable character is Leroy, a caretaker who himself is evil and who is obsessed with Rhoda. Leroy recognizes too late that he is no match for the little girl, and that teasing Rhoda can be dangerous to his health. A few passages in the book are heavy-handed. The author talks through the words of some passersby about the age of violence and anxiety in which we live and March seems to be conveying some message about the potential evil that lurks in all of us. These passages were not necessary, since the story of Rhoda is so filled with horror and dark irony, that it needs no tacked on message. "The Bad Seed" is a classic novel of psychological suspense and horror.
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