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The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red

List Price: $22.95
Your Price: $22.95
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: 6 STARS! WOW!
Review: All I have to say is that I COULD NOT PUT THIS BOOK DOWN! If anyone knows of other books written about this house and/or family, please let me know!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Good tie-in, interesting read
Review: First, let me say that the book will make sense whether or not you saw the Rose Red mini-series on ABC. If you did see it, the diary offers much more background information, and if you didn't see it, you probably will want the DVD after you're finished reading.

For Stephen King fans, the book has similarities with several others (peepholes through animal heads, sex perverts, lots of realistic portrayals of bodily functions - name me another author that describes vomit or going to the bathroom so eloquently?!?)

Don't let that scare you off - it is a quick read, and a finely woven story. Just when you think it can't get any stranger - King throws in another twist or turn.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Loved it
Review: I highly recommend this book if you watched Rose Red on tv. It explanes why things happened. It told about the life of people back then also. Very suspenceful book. It gave me chills, and it is all TRUE. I couldn't put the book down.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A very Haunting tale.
Review: I could not help but see the similarity of this book to Edgar Allen Poe's "The fall of the House of Usher". A house that seems to be "alive" and how it controls the life of Ellen Rimbauer, to the point of madness. A very easy read and not boring or dragged out at all. This is a Haunting tale that really keeps you reading.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Rose Red Diary A Great Buy
Review: Read it and bought it in the same day! There are quite a few things that the movie left out. It is awesome and there are additional sites to visit with this book. I recommend it to anyone!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Good, if not great.
Review: I missed the chance to watch the ABC mini-series Rose Red, but upon viewing the sticker on the front of the diary (kinda a giveaway don't you think?) I decided to check it out. I haven't read anything by King since his awesome On Writing, and I was curious to see what his take on an Edwardian ghost story would be. Needless to say I was pretty impressed. While some may compare it to his other Haunted Place story The Shining, I thought the Rimbauer diary was a nice take on early 20th century high society, sexual repression, terror, the price of hubris and that most poignant and wise of phrases: be careful what you wish for.

As a tie-in to the larger story of Rose Red, I would have given it a higher rating. But coming in cold, and not knowing the ultimate results and events of Reardon's expedition to the haunted house I did feel cheated a bit. I felt like I was reading the setup of a really great King horror trip, the sensation of the roller coaster cresting the rise and just about to zoom downhill and into classic King territory. . .and then it fades to black. It was a letdown to be sure. Still, it is a good book and well worth a read. I found I couldn't stop flipping pages, and when he wants to get creepy Mr. King is still the Michael Jordan of suspense.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: It's awful to be deceived
Review: Aside from Grisham and Sandford, I am a reader of non-fiction. I was thrilled at the idea that an old diary had been discovered that was written by a woman who resided in a haunted house. I read the introduction to the book that was supposedly written by a person researching the strange goings-on in Rose Red. I started reading with great anticipation. As I began to read I wanted to believe that this was the real thing but immediately began to doubt; it didn't seem like a diary at all, but rather a complete novel, which is exactly what it turned out to be.

What a cruel hoax. I'm putting the book on the market immediately.

I couldn't give it only one star because it is so well written, but the hoax and the tawdry sexual depictions made me despise this book.

Mr. King - could you have sold the book without the hoax and the sex?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Riveting
Review: Prepare to stay up and not be able to put it down!
Susupenseful, provacative.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Oh how clever is our beloved Mr. King!
Review: Oh how clever is our beloved Mr. King! While the mini-series, Rose Red, Stephen King created for ABC fell way, way short of expectations, his foray into the mind of an early 20th-century socialite is well, well, done. I love ghost stories about old houses and this is what drew me to the first two hours of the mini-series and to the novel, The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red. And what a fun read it is, creepiness and all!

The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red is supposedly edited by a real-life paranormalist, Joyce Reardon, but the rumor mill in the industry claims that Reardon is none other than the King of Creepy (no pun intended), Mr. King himself! I couldn't find a trace of the actual existence of a John and Ellen Rimbauer, although I admit that I didn't do a heck of a lot of research, so they may or may not be formerly real people. But the diary does paint a twisted scenario that is truly worthy of King's abilities.

In the forward Reardon/King tells us that she found the diary at an estate sale in 1998 and became so fascinated with the house (Rose Red) and the household that she will lead an psychic team into the abandoned, sprawling Seattle mansion, which then becomes the basis for the mini-series.

The diary begins with the courtship and extreme naivete of Ellen, whose last name the reader is never given (It may or may not be Gilchrist, as that is name of Ellen's great-grandmother.), and John Rimbauer. Anyway, as Ellen is lusting after her much-older suitor, she confides her thoughts to the pages of her diary. John is building a grand mansion---such as to match his fortune and his ego. On Ellen's first visit to the construction site, a man is killed right before her eyes, which eventually only becomes one of many deaths.

John and Ellen marry and embark on a yearlong, around-the-world honeymoon where they buy and buy and buy furnishings and decorations for their new home. The honeymoon is also the beginning of John's controlling nature and Ellen eludes to many debaucheries in the name of sex, but mercifully does not go into intimate detail---as a woman of her breeding and statue would dictate. While in Africa, the Rimbauer's hire Sukeena, who becomes Ellen's personal maid.

Upon returning to Seattle, the newlyweds settle in and begin to enjoy an active social life, beginning with a huge inauguration party. But soon after the party, Rose Red seems to come to life. Desperate to find an answer, Ellen visits a physic that tells her that she is safe---that the STD she contracted from John in Africa will never return, her fears of insanity and her fear of another STD from John's continued infidelity are groundless---as long as she continues to add to the house.

And so begins the construction; the eerie disappearances of several friends and servants; the oddities of John's sexual inclinations; and the unveiling of Ellen's own excursions into what could be deemed as sexual perversions. The disappearance of Ellen's second child, April, pushes the story to a dramatic conclusion that is just past the point of Ellen's sanity.

Reardon/King does a remarkable job in giving the readers just enough clues to let his/her own imagination run rampant, which makes The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer: My Life at Rose Red even more frightening. You won't be going to bed with the lights out with this one.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Upset by Deceptive Synopsis
Review: I am extremely disappointed that the author of this book chose to deceive buyers by pretending that this is a true story. I prefer nonfiction, and purchased this ... book after reading the back review stating that this is a true story about a diary found in Washington. I eagerly read the first chapter, and immediately had serious doubts about the integrity of the author's description. Soon, I realized that the book was a complete fabrication, full of paranormal garbage, and I returned it immediately. I find it strange and sad that the author must lie to the audience to dupe people into buying this book.


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