Read of the Town: Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin

If you're anything like me, when a movie comes out that you know is based on a book you rush to get the book, read it, then watch the movie and wind up hating it because (as almost always happens) the book is WAY better! In this case I'm breaking more than just that unwritten rule I've set for myself.

Not only will I be watching the new NBC Mini-Series Rosemary's Baby BEFORE having read the book, I'll be reading the "cover based on the mini-series" version. What I mean by that is I almost always try to buy the book that doesn't depict the movie on the cover. I hate those covers don't you? Well, I'm trying something different and hoping it doesn't backfire on me. The mini-series started last night but alas I had to DVR it because there was NO WAY I was going to miss the 2-hour season finale of Once Upon a Time! But that's for another time and post entirely!

If you haven't already guessed it, Rosemary's Baby is one of those cult classics I've never read. Honestly, my library of books doesn't have many thrillers. Read enough Stephen King novels and you'll find yourself apprehensive to read thrillers. At least, that's how it's been in my case. I think after I read Needful Things by Stephen King, I tread lightly (damn near pussy-foot) around the thriller section or authors of that specific genre. But what could possibly be scary about a woman who's believed to be having Satan's baby? Nope, nothing remotely scary about that...

I will try to point out whenever something like this is made into a movie or mini-series because I do believe this helps people to branch out and read more in their lives. There are a few avid readers (such as myself) who would overlook a book like this because it's not in their field of vision based on the literature they read. So a mini-series like this would bring it to their attention. Then there are those who might want to look beyond the movie/mini-series and read the book, but aren't necessarily every-day readers. Wherever you fall in the spectrum, I think it's important to acknowledge movies and mini-series like this and see them as a positive towards generating more interest in reading. 


Synopsis: A masterpiece of spellbinding suspense, where evil wears the most innocent face of all...
Rosemary Woodhouse and her struggling actor husband Guy move into the Bramford, an old New York City apartment building with an ominous reputation and mostly elderly residents. Neighbors Roman and Minnie Castavet soon come nosing around to welcome the Woodhouses to the building, and despite Rosemary's reservations about their eccentricity and the weird noises that she keeps hearing, her husband takes a special shine to them. Shortly after Guy lands a plum Broadway role, Rosemary becomes pregnant, and the Castavets start taking a special interest in her welfare. As the sickened Rosemary becomes increasingly isolated, she begins to suspect that the Castavets' circle is not what it seems...