Home :: Books :: Horror  

Arts & Photography
Audio CDs
Audiocassettes
Biographies & Memoirs
Business & Investing
Children's Books
Christianity
Comics & Graphic Novels
Computers & Internet
Cooking, Food & Wine
Entertainment
Gay & Lesbian
Health, Mind & Body
History
Home & Garden
Horror

Literature & Fiction
Mystery & Thrillers
Nonfiction
Outdoors & Nature
Parenting & Families
Professional & Technical
Reference
Religion & Spirituality
Romance
Science
Science Fiction & Fantasy
Sports
Teens
Travel
Women's Fiction
Son of Rosemary: The Sequel to Rosemary's Baby (Thorndike Large Print Basic Series)

Son of Rosemary: The Sequel to Rosemary's Baby (Thorndike Large Print Basic Series)

List Price: $28.95
Your Price:
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 4 .. 13 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not THAT Bad..But Let's Hope They Don't Turn It Into A Movie
Review: First of all, I must admit that have never actually read the novel "Rosemary's Baby". The film adaptation is one of my favorite movies of all time and I have seen it countless times and could recite every line of dialogue, and thus have always been intrigued to read the book and compare the two works. Ultimately, I ended up reading the sequel instead. When the book was initially released in the Fall of 1997, I read that Ira Levin wanted Mia Farrow to sign on for another go-round in a film sequel(incidentally, he dedicated the book to her). Having read the book, I can assure you that this will never happen. The novel concerns Rosemary Woodhouse awakening from a coma several decades after the events which transpired in Rosemary's Baby. Her husband, Guy, and the witches that populated the Bramford have seemingly vanished off the face of the Earth, and she quickly learns that her son, Andy, has become a Jesus-like spiritual leader throughout the world. I won't give anything away beyond that, but I WILL say that the year is 1999, and Andy, the Antichrist, is the same age(33) that Jesus was when he was crucified, and..well, you get the picture. The parallels the book makes with elements of the Bible(a technique reminiscent of The Omen) works quite nicely throughout the book and builds some great set ups that keep the reader turning pages. Ultimately, though, the set ups amount to very little, and after a while you start to wonder what it is about the novel that is even supposed to be scary. In spite of the many criticisms one could make about the book, it's actually not bad. It's semi-entartaining and intriguing throughout, and while the dialogue is pretty flat and the character of Rosemary much less interesting than she was in "Baby", the novel still manages to be gripping at times. On paper, "Son of Rosemary" is a fun, forgettable sequel to one of the great terror tales of the century. On film, however, it would sink infinitely lower than the "Rosemary"-influenced films "Devil's Advocate" and "The Astronaut's Wife" and likely trash viewers' memories of the super scary original. If you are a fan of "Rosemary's Baby", the novel or the film, then "Son of Rosemary" can't hurt. Otherwise, just rent the 1968 classic film. Believe me, you won't regret it.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: interesting
Review: In this gripping sequel to Rosemary's Baby, Rosemary wakes up 28 years after being thrown into a coma, which took place six years after part one. Her son Andy begins to display an increasingly ominous obsession with her, and she eventually begins to wonder whether he is the Antichrist or the second coming of Christ. A very interesting and highly anticipated sequel to the unforgettable classic is somewhat of a letdown, yet a satisfying read. Was brought to film in the inferior, disgusting, forgettable, cliched, and utterly distasteful The Beast Within, which was followed by the great but unknown The Evil Within.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Check under Levin's bed for pods.
Review: I grew up adoring Ira Levin's work. Besides the more popular stuff, I've always thought that "This Perfect Day" was a creative and wonderfully unusual take on the idea of utopia/dystopia - and I'd still recommend it very highly. Might make a great movie one day, or maybe it would've in the 70s.

So I picked this sequel to Rosebary's Baby up at my local library and was thrilled - because I had no idea it existed. Read it in three days while on a light vacation. Wish I hadn't.

It begins reasonably enough, with Rosemary getting accustomed to what's changed during her coma. She meets her unexpectedly nice son, who welcomes her into his worldwide cult. Then, he hits on her and tries to rape her. More than once.

And, here comes the spoiler. At the end, she meets his father, Satan, and things come to a climactic confrontation. And then she wakes up next to Guy, safe in her bed, and it turns out all of it never happened.

It was all a dream. Really. Both books. It was all a dream. From the master of the twist, the genius of plot, the hero of the unexpected outcome.

Sigh.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not that bad, but it lacks at the end...
Review: After reading ROSEMARY'S BABY, some years ago, I was surprised to see at my local bookstore this sequel to the worldwide famous Rosemary's tale. I enjoyed a lot the first book and was curious about the second one. It was no surprise to me that the sequel was a good book. Ira Levin is really a wonderful author. He carrys on a plot full of twists and enigmas. You're always mesmerized by the facts he presents to the reader and how he develops all of them. What I didn't like in this book was the ending. If what Ira wanted by writing this book was destroy all the mystic around Rosemary's story, he made it. Can you believe that [in the next phrase I'm gonna tell the book's ENDING] what Rosemary had was just a dream? The whole book is nothing more than that.

Anyway, I still adore Ira Levin's writing. He's one of the best writers of his genre (to me, he is a master and one of the founders of the contemporary horror style) and read his books (why didn't he write more?) is always a pleasure. If you like horror books you won't be disappointed with that one. Although it's not what I'd call a perfect book, it's still worth reading. As I said, Ira's books are always a good reading. Try one of them and you'll surely agree with me.

Marco Aurelio

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Here is my view on the ending
Review: *SPOILER ALERT* Okay, so this book is a dog. But I think there is more to the ending than a "Dallas" cop-out. At the end of the book, when Rosemary chooses Satan over dying from the gas, she is basically selling her soul and damning herself to hell. She wakes up, thinking it's all a dream. But then, she gets the mysterious call from Hutch and realizes she IS in her own personal hell. Her hell is reliving the whole terrible situation over and over again. (Hence the "somersaults" anagram--she will have to relive the horrors of being trapped by the coven, being impregnated by Satan, etc. over again.) This is suggested by Guy's statement that there is a free apartment open in an old victorian house like the one in the first book. Rosemary is speechless at the end of the book because this time, she KNOWS the horror that is about to befall her, and knows she's going to have to relive it. Anyway, it's still the dumbest book ever published.
P.S. Has anyone noticed how those "Love ya Dubya" pins Republicans are wearing in support of the Bush campaign bear a creepy, uncanny resemblance to the "I Love Andy" pins in this book?!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Somersault
Review: !!Warning!!-expounding on spoilers in other reviews!!

I hadn't realised that there was a sequel to Ira Levin's 60's masterpiece, so despite the bad reviews, I picked up a copy.

Well, it's a short read. I started at 7 and ended at nine. Not to say it was enthralling, and not to say that you couldn't see a lot that was coming from about six miles away. Rosemary wakes up after 25-odd years in a coma, gets over that fact in about 5 minutes (feel free to dig out your copy of Stephen King's "Dead Zone" to refresh your memory about the diffculty that long-time coma victims have with physical therapy), meets up with bigger-than-Jesus Andy, who's group wants to get everone to light a candle at the same moment- Greenwich Mean Time on Midnight of the New Millenium. (Yes, I know, the new millenium started on Jan 1, 2001. send your letters to Ira.) It's very important to these people that everyone understands the time zone differences- god forbid that someone may <b>light the candle early</b>!

You can see where this is going.

In any case, there's a lot made about another anagram (that goes nowhere), the whereabouts of Rosemary's ex Guy (which goes nowhere), and Damie- er- Andy, having a bit more.... uh. <i>affection</i> for Rosemary than... well let's just say there isn't a Hallmark card for it. And it's reciprocated (which I wish went nowhere)

Another reviewer gave away the ending, but personally, I think they were wrong. The last chapter isn't telling you that all that happened in the two books before was a dream, it's telling you that sometime even the prince of darkness keeps a promise.

This book will have the curious effect that the color remake of "Psycho" had on me. You will immediately toss it aside and pick up the original. Too bad it makes his early works seem like a fluke.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Check under Levin's bed for pods.
Review: I grew up adoring Ira Levin's work. Besides the more popular stuff, I've always thought that "This Perfect Day" was a creative and wonderfully unusual take on the idea of utopia/dystopia - and I'd still recommend it very highly. Might make a great movie one day, or maybe it would've in the 70s.

So I picked this sequel to Rosebary's Baby up at my local library and was thrilled - because I had no idea it existed. Read it in three days while on a light vacation. Wish I hadn't.

It begins reasonably enough, with Rosemary getting accustomed to what's changed during her coma. She meets her unexpectedly nice son, who welcomes her into his worldwide cult. Then, he hits on her and tries to rape her. More than once.

And, here comes the spoiler. At the end, she meets his father, Satan, and things come to a climactic confrontation. And then she wakes up next to Guy, safe in her bed, and it turns out all of it never happened.

It was all a dream. Really. Both books. It was all a dream. From the master of the twist, the genius of plot, the hero of the unexpected outcome.

Sigh.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Don't Bother With This One
Review: The one thing I like about Ira Levin's books are the indepth descriptions. Rosemary's Baby was written 1967 and you really felt as if you were there. Son of Rosemary was set in 1999 and Levin doesn't seem to do as well with modern day atmosphere.
In the sequel, we learn that Rosemary Reilly divorced her loathsome husband Guy, who had sold her body to the building's coven for insemination by Satan. The coven put her into a coma when the resulting child was six years old and she was secretly planning to flee with him. Rosemary comes out of the coma 27 years later, just as the last member of the coven, a retired dentist, is run over by a taxi. She then goes about discovering what her little demon-eyed tike has been up to in the interim.

By 1999, Andy is 33 years old, the same as Jesus at the time of the crucifixion. The difference is that, unlike Jesus at that age, he is the most popular man in the world. For whatever reason, most of the people in the world wear lapel buttons that say "I Love Andy". Soon they start wearing "I Love Rosemary" buttons, too. He does not ask much of his admirers. All that he requests is that everyone in the world light a candle at midnight, Greenwich Mean Time, on New Year's Eve, 1999. Exactly at 12:00 a.m. A harmless gesture. Surely.

Even more remarkable than the Antichrist's friends are his enemies, who seem to consist mostly of the followers of Ayn Rand. Known generically as "P.A."s (Paranoid Atheists), they are the only people in the world who do not buy Andy's piety. The main problem they pose, however, is not that they threaten his personality cult, but that they might not light their candles with everyone else.
The little details are lovingly recalled in the new book. The tannis root. The scrabble. And then, of course, there is the wicked anagram, ROAST MULES. One word.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It stinks.
Review: For social commentary and suspense, try "This Perfect Day" instead. If you must read it for yourself, borrow it from the library. In my opinion, Rosemary's Son is a unforunate waste of paper, time and money from a normally quite gifted writer, Ira Levin. A real clunker.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Ok, a little confusing, but still entertaining!!!
Review: I started the book last night and finished it this morning. It was a very easy read in the way that it flowed, but there were some things that I just didn't get. That doesn't mean that I didn't enjoy it.

It starts out where Rosemary wakes up from a 27 1/2 year long coma and wonders what has happened to her (then) 6 year old Andy/Adrian. It turns out that he is the most loved, charismatic man in the world, bringing people together under one faith, where everyone is equal. Apparently, he is able to temporarily get rid of his tiger eyes and the horn-buds with black magic.

Andy, the leader of GC (God's Children) wants to unite the world with a candle lighting on New Years Eve, 2000. "Everyone, everywhere, all of civilized humanity, lighting sky-blue-and-yellow GC candles, in the year 2000's very first minute, Greenwich Mean Time!"

Now, people have complained that Rosemary's naivete was shocking and a little too much, but really now, wasn't she that way through Rosemary's Baby as well? She would start to get an idea in her head that would save herself, and someone would tell her a lie, then she would believe it! She has always been that way, so it's no surprise that her son and everyone else would tell her lies that she would eventually believe, because she wanted to believe that Andy had been more human than devil's spawn.

Some of the parts are a little predictable. I started to realize what was going to happen with the candles even when Rosemary had someone check them out. To be honest, i really didn't understand the incestuous nature of Andy and Rosemary.. and how it bothered her at first, but she didn't give it much thought when he kept persisting.

The ending can be viewed in one of two ways: both seen in the many reviews I read by the customers: 1) a copout or 2) a genius ending that one has to think about, and not just let the printed word entertain you. SPOILER: if it really had ended as just a dream, then how do you explain the line spoken by Hutch: "Oh, before I forget, Roast Mules? Exactly three minutes and twelve seconds by the clock." Some might say deja-vu, but I'm sure that it is something more.

Also, this isn't really a spoiler since we never know what happens to him.. many people seem to wonder about Guy. Isn't it possible that he is dead? The reason why I say this, is because Rosemary wakes up when the last member of the cult dies, and he joined the cult back in the 60's. Maybe they lied to him as well, promising him good parts...so he did not succeed in his acting ventures and killed himself?

I guess we are on our own to figure it out.


<< 1 2 3 4 .. 13 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates