Review: Rosemary's Baby

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Rereading after decades, I am struck by how glorious this novel is. I want to go reread Mr. Levin's other novels now. Although it might be possible to view it as a period piece (and certainly there exist social attitudes which Society ought to have long since evolved past) for me the wider ramifications are timeless: recognition of Anti-Semitism (the setting is only 21 years post-World War II), sexism, patriarchy, racism and bigotry. There are also the human constraints of greed, pure self-interest, and conviction that the end always justifies the means.


A strong albeit naive female protagonist, superb secondary characters such as Hutch, and the use of Place as a Character in itself (the historic and ultimately decadent Bramford apartment building) render ROSEMARY'S BABY an exceptional reread and well worth my time.

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