9780060898113
Play Sample

Rosemary’s Baby audiobook

  • By: Ira Levin
  • Narrator: Mia Farrow
  • Category: Fiction, Occult & Supernatural
  • Length: 6 hours 11 minutes
  • Publisher: HarperAudio
  • Publish date: October 25, 2005
  • Language: English
  • (113292 ratings)
(113292 ratings)
33% Cheaper than Audible
Get for $0.00
  • $9.99 per book vs $14.95 at Audible
    Good for any title to download and keep
  • Listen at up to 4.5x speed
    Good for any title to download and keep
  • Fall asleep to your favorite books
    Set a sleep timer while you listen
  • Unlimited listening to our Classics.
    Listen to thousands of classics for no extra cost. Ever
Loading ...
Regular Price: 3.99 USD

Rosemary’s Baby Audiobook Summary

The classic novel of spellbinding suspense only the mind of Ira Levin could have imagined

She is a housewife–young, healthy, blissfully happy. He is an actor–charismatic and ambitious. The spacious, sin-filled apartment on Manhattan’s Upper West Side is their dream home–a dream that turns into an unspeakable nightmare…

Enter the chilling world of Ira Levin–where terror is as near as your new neighbors… and where evil wears the most innocent face of all…

Other Top Audiobooks

Rosemary’s Baby Audiobook Narrator

Mia Farrow is the narrator of Rosemary’s Baby audiobook that was written by Ira Levin

Mia Farrow, in addition to extensive stage work on Broadway and the West End, starred on television in Peyton Place, and in such films as Rosemary’s Baby, The Great Gatsby, Hannah and Her Sisters, Alice (Golden Globe award), and Reckless; she is the author of the memoir What Falls Away.

About the Author(s) of Rosemary’s Baby

Ira Levin is the author of Rosemary’s Baby

Rosemary’s Baby Full Details

Narrator Mia Farrow
Length 6 hours 11 minutes
Author Ira Levin
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date October 25, 2005
ISBN 9780060898113

Subjects

The publisher of the Rosemary’s Baby is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Fiction, Occult & Supernatural

Additional info

The publisher of the Rosemary’s Baby is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780060898113.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Federico

October 20, 2022

Baby fever. Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse are moving to the Bramford, an apartment complex in NYC renowned for its long history of tragic incidents. But they don’t care; once Guy’s acting career starts picking up, their plan is to start a big family. And when Guy finally gets his big break, and Rosemary gets pregnant, everything seems happy and according to plan. But then Rosemary’s health starts deteriorating, and strange events start happening all around them. Something is wrong. Something is very wrong.A lovely horror classic. Not gruesome in the slightest, but scary enough to make your skin crawl through almost all the ride. Highly suspenseful. Consistently creepy. Very easy to read. Recommendable. And looking forward to the sequel. Thanks to Inciminci for this wonderful first buddy read.The movie (1968) is a decent adaptation. Extremely faithful to the book, yet not nearly as great as. Although nicely executed, the smooth pacing. the suspenseful atmosphere and the thrilling buildup hardly equals the quality displayed in the book. Some parts felt very awkward, and we never get to see Rosemary's baby, which I believe would'e made a much greater ending. Still, decent to watch, all things considered, and a great complement to the reading.----------------------------------------------- PERSONAL NOTE : [1967] [229p] [Horror] [3.5] [Recommendable] [Krzysztof Komeda - Lullaby] (view spoiler)[[Hutch

Emily May

July 10, 2022

I first read this when I was about thirteen/fourteen and don't remember that reading at all.I then watched the movie when I was about eighteen/nineteen, which I remember better and didn't really like. Bit too weird for me.Third time lucky, I guess. I thought this was a great read in 2022. Super easy to read, eerie, unsettling, and the second Levin I've read where women are gaslighted by those around them, which is something I find especially terrifying-- I understand both sexism (being labelled "hysterical" or "crazy" for normal emotions) and mental illness, so when both are used against you at once and you can't quite be sure which is at play, whether the people around you are out to get you or your own mind is, that is a really scary situation.It is also a testament to an author's skill when the fate of minor side characters has a big impact, I feel.

Jeffrey

January 23, 2020

”She opened her eyes and looked into yellow furnace-eyes, smelled sulphur and tannis root, felt wet breath on her mouth, heard lust-grunts and the breathing of onlookers.”Nightmare? Passionate dream? Real? How could it be real? It can’t possibly be real. Rosemary Woodhouse wants a baby. She is married to an actor named Guy. They have recently broken another lease to take an apartment in the exclusive Bramford Building. Guy, who glibly uses his acting skills to spin stories, has no difficulty extracting them from the first lease to take the open apartment in the Bramford. After all, that is what Rosemary wants. Whenever any of us look back on our lives, we can usually point to a specific moment in time when we made one decision that sent us down a pathway that led us, hopefully, only briefly, astray from the pursuit of happiness. None of us, or maybe I should say few of us, can see the future. We have to make our best guess, hopefully based on more logic than a hope of luck. The apartment at the Bramford had more Gothic overtones, detailed woodwork, and certainly a more interesting location than the other apartments the Woodhouses had looked at. Although smaller than some of the other places, having a hip apartment, especially to young pseudo-intellectuals, is much more important than a few extra square feet of space. They should have kept the first lease on the other apartment. I can’t help but think of Bram Stoker every time the Bramford name dances before my eyes on the pages of this book. Strange things have routinely happened in this apartment building. Unexplained, sometimes brutal, deaths have occurred too frequently to be ignored, especially if you are an inquisitive man, such as Rosemary’s dear friend Edward Hutchins. He, on further investigation, finds that there are far more sinister stories surrounding the history of that building than are known by the general public. He discourages Rosemary from continuing to live there, but she is a rational, modern woman who doesn’t believe that a building can have sinister connotations. Polanski used the Dakota for the outside shots of the Bramwell building. She might ignore the past and the warnings that come with it, but she does feel flutters of unease that are based more on what can easily be quantified as primordial superstition than on any real basis of fact. Coincidences do happen and can seem ominous or alarming to someone who is already hearing the tap tap tap of paranoia on the door of reason. Their next door neighbors are Roman and Minnie Castevet, who seem to be a well meaning, overly friendly, almost smothering, older couple. They are delighted to hear the news when Rosemary is pregnant. They suggest a more fashionable obstetrician and even a different regimen of vitamin enriched drinks than what her previous doctor had recommended. Rosemary goes along because Guy is so insistent, but the longer it goes on, the more suspicious she becomes of everyone’s motives. Run, Rosemary, run!I’ve been wanting to read this book for years. I’ve put off watching the famous movie by Roman Polanski because I wanted to read the book first. The story has become such a classic icon that people know the bare bones of the story without ever having read the book or seen the movie. The pacing of the book is simply a superb example of a writer who knows how to build tension and unease. By the time Rosemary is approaching the bassinet to see her baby for the first time, I was biting my knuckles, and the hackles on the back of my neck were not only raised but vibrating. I know what she is going to see, but until I read the words, I can hold off fully realizing the implications. I loved the fact that Rosemary is a reader. Two books that were mentioned that stand out were Flight of the Falcon by Daphne Du Maurier and The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. I love it when books are part of the lives of the characters I read about. I’m a huge fan of Du Maurier and plan to read Rosemary’s choice soon. I was even more impressed by her taking on Gibbon. I have six volumes of Gibbon staring me in the face every time I pick my next book to read. Yes, yes, I will read Gibbon. I must read Gibbon to call myself a reasonably educated man. Rosemary’s Baby was published in 1967, the year of my birth, and has held up superbly, certainly much better than I have. It is a quick, flashy read that will give chills and thrills to all but the most jaded modern reader. If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.comI also have a Facebook blogger page at:https://www.facebook.com/JeffreyKeeten

Ahmad

August 28, 2021

Rosemary's Baby (Rosemary's Baby #1), Ira Levin Rosemary's Baby is a 1967 horror novel by American writer Ira Levin, his second published book. The book centers on Rosemary Woodhouse, a young woman who has just moved into the Bramford, an old Gothic Revival style New York City apartment building, with her husband, Guy, a struggling actor. The pair is warned that the Bramford has a disturbing history involving witchcraft and murder, but they choose to overlook this. Rosemary has wanted children for some time, but Guy wants to wait until he is more established. Rosemary and Guy are quickly welcomed to the Bramford by neighbors Minnie and Roman Castevet, an eccentric elderly couple. Rosemary finds them meddlesome and absurd, but Guy begins paying them frequent visits. After a theatrical rival suddenly goes blind, Guy is given an important part in a stage play. Immediately afterward, Guy unexpectedly agrees with Rosemary that it is time to conceive their first child. Guy's performance in the stage play brings him favorable notices and he is subsequently cast in other, increasingly important roles; he soon begins to talk about a career in Hollywood. After receiving a warning from a friend, who also becomes mysteriously ill, Rosemary discovers that her neighbors are the leaders of a Satanic coven, and she suspects they intend to steal her child and use it as a sacrifice to the Devil. Despite her growing conviction, she is unable to convince anyone else and soon becomes certain that there is no one actually on her side, least of all her own husband. Ultimately, Rosemary finds that she is wrong about the coven's reason for wanting the baby — the baby that she delivers is the Antichrist, and Guy is not actually the father, Satan is.تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز دوم ماه ژانویه سال 2017میلادیعنوان: بچه ی رزمری؛ نویسنده آیرا لوین؛ مترجم: محمد قائد؛ تهران، نشر کلاغ، 1394، در 291ص، شابک 9786007656006؛ موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده 20مبچهٔ رُزمری، رمانی کوتاه یا داستانی بلند، از یکی از بهترین نمونه‌ های ایجاد تعلیق، میان «وهم» و «واقعیت» است؛ «رومن پولانسکی» از روی همین کتاب، فیلمی درخشان ساختند، در بسیاری موارد، برگردانِ سطر به‌ سطر، و حتی کلمه به کلمه ی رمان «آیرا لوین»، به تصویر کشیده شده است؛ پرداختن به فراواقعها، معمولاً با دلهره، و سایه‌ روشن‌هایی پر رمز و راز، همراه است؛ «بچه ی رُزمری»، دلهره ی ماوراء طبیعه را، وارد اتاق نشیمنِ پر از رنگ و نورِ آدمهایی عادی، و حتی مضحک می‌کند؛ وارد کردنِ رخدادهای فوق طبیعی، در زندگی روزمره، راهگشای ژانری در ادبیات عامه‌ پسند شد؛ که پس از چندین دهه، همچنان پرخواستار است؛ محمد قائد - از پشت جلد کتابرزماری، و «گای وودهاوس» زن و شوهر جوانی هستند، که علیرغم توصیه ی دوست نزدیکشان «هاچ»، به آپارتمانی قدیمی در «برانفورد» نقل مکان می‌کنند؛ در همسایگی آنها، زوج مسنی به نامهای «مینی» و «رومن کستوت» زندگی می‌کنند؛ «مینی» و «رومن»، به سرعت با «گای» طرح دوستی می‌ریزند؛ رخدادهای عجیب و غریبی، برای اطرافیان «رزماری» رخ می‌دهد: زن جوانی به نام «تری» که در رختشویخانه آپارتمان، با «رزماری» آشنا می‌شود، به طور ناگهانی می‌میرد؛ هنرپیشه‌ ای که رقیب کاری «گای» به شمار می‌آمد، ناگهان بدون هیچ دلیلی کور می‌شود و ...؛ «رزماری» نسبت به همسایه‌ هاشان مشکوک است، اما «گای» تردیدهای او را بی‌ پایه می‌داند، و هرچه بیشتر از او فاصله می‌گیرد؛ «رزماری» باردار می‌شود، و تصور می‌کند، همسایه‌ هایش، نقشه‌ هایی برای او و نوزادش دارند...؛ تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 01/07/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 06/06/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

Mario the lone bookwolf

July 05, 2020

The very rare case of a slow moving, nevertheless suspenseful soft horror novel mainly using characterization and worsening foreshadowing to thrill the reader.This one really stays in mind because of the end nobody would suspect and an accelerating thrill and feeling of discomfort I´ve hardly ever seen performed this way. It starts friendly, does a bit of creepy exposition, and gets more and more disturbing for the lead protagonist, culminating in a great wtf moment. Really, why can´t it always be such a (view spoiler)[peaceful end of letting the mother breed the antichrist instead of being cruel and taking the baby away from her. It´s especially staying in mind because, following the rules of Hollywood stereotypes, there has to be at least some gore, violence, or even a bad, depressing ending and not a kind of happy for parents and child, bad for the rest of the world, solution. (hide spoiler)]The sexism is a bit exaggerated, even for the late 60s, but how it shows the oldfashioned thoughts and mindsets surrounding motherhood and feminity has the extra bonus of a bit of social cultural studies, although I suppose that Levin possibly integrates a bit of his own mindset here too. That´s of course highly subjective and I don´t know it, but it could be the explanation for the a bit over the top manly masculinity that is contrasted with and compensated by satanism and occultism but whatever, all the same 1st and 2nd millenium trash. The today hilarious idea of a woman (view spoiler)[so obedient to her husband and authorities such as doctors that she doesn´t listen to the inner voice of logic or body signals and just stays in a meh, ok, do with me whatever pleases you mode, (hide spoiler)] could be today's black comedy material.(view spoiler)[It´s like an exaggerated, overlong horror movie stereotypical victim does nothing to prevent it´s downfall while all warning signs are accumulating gag. (hide spoiler)] But a very well written one.It must be creepy to read this as a woman in general and especially as a mother, because it subverts the idea of pregnancy by dealing with the fear about the health of the unborn child (view spoiler)[used to manipulate the pregnant protagonist (hide spoiler)]. I imagine it longer, with more bam, blood, and gore, escalating to the end and followed by a worthy second part, not the seemingly bad if one believes the ratings, such as I tend to do, jay, collective intelligence.Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

Anne

January 27, 2023

Having Satan's demon baby was a frightening thought when I was younger. Now, quite frankly, the most terrifying thing I can think of would be giving birth to a mid-life oops baby. But to be fair, Rosemary's ovaries aren't trying to cough out some leftover egg that will ruin her retirement plans. No, she's young and excited and wants to experience the joys of motherhood.Spoiler Alert for all First Time Mothers:Rosemary and her husband, Guy Woodhouse, have just moved into her dream apartment in NYC. He's a working actor who has had a few successes and they're able to live comfortably, but his career could go either way.Honestly, she should have been suspicious of the turn her life was going to take the moment she married an actor named Guy.But she wasn't. Remember how it felt to be in love and invincible with all the promises of youth, just waiting for your life to start?Neither do I. I live in the land of cold adulthood, bad lighting, and too much wine in the evenings. Evenings start at 4, right?Don't answer that.But Rosemary hasn't experienced the harsh slap of reality on her still youthful face. She and Guy are a happily married couple who like to do all the normal things that young people do with other young people. Parties, theater, dinners, etc.But all that changes when they meet their elderly neighbors.After the initial wrinkling of his nose at having to dine with the old farts next door, Guy suddenly switches gears, insisting that all their time should be spent hanging out with Minnie and Roman Castevet. Rosemary's life becomes one endless slog of staying in, eating casseroles, and talking about the best sort of liniment to put on arthritic joints.On the upside, Guy decides that he's finally ready to start a family with Rosemary.And after a night of drinking too much booze, Rosemary passes out, has a nightmare, and wakes up pregnant. Supposedly by Guy. But hey, I was pleasantly surprised that Ira Levin had Rosemary get so upset and angry over Guy having sex with her while she was unconscious. I don't think that kind of spousal rape was much talked about when this book was written, and while she does eventually talk herself into trying to be ok with what happened, he brought up a lot of fantastic talking points because of that scene. So. Good for you, dude.You get a front-row seat to some first-class gaslighting, too. As little things that don't seem quite right to Rosemary slowly reveal themselves to be completely sinister. By the time she figures out what's happening, it's too late. As in, the contractions have started.The doctor she goes to for help calls her husband to come pick up his hysterical wife. And with that comes the dawning horror that her story of Satanists and magic spells won't be believed by anyone, and she's completely on her own. Of course, she assumes that this cult want to sacrifice her child to the devil and fights like hell to save her baby.Oh, if only things were that simple, Rosemary.Turns out, it's not actually a scary book. A lot of weird stuff, but none of it what I would call spine-tingling. I liked that ending, though. Narrated by Mia Farrow

Delee

March 26, 2017

I knew from a young age that I probably didn't have the maternal instinct that is necessary to raise a child. I hated dolls- they creeped me out, and instead of dressing up the ones I was given as gifts- the dolls sat in the corner in various stages of undress- while I wheeled my cat whiskers around in a baby carriage- showing off his cute bonnets and frilly dresses. He was the best dressed kitty in the neighborhood. And if my parents were not convinced then, that I would never give them grandchildren- they knew later on when in grade 7- the "great baby/egg" school assignment was given. I killed 5 egg-babies in a week (by accident of course), and ate the last one for breakfast when the experiment was over. If I had read ROSEMARY'S BABY when it first came out- it definitely would have convinced me even further that making babies wasn't for me...When a four bedroom apartment finally comes available in The Bramford building- newlyweds Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse- ignore the warnings from their friend Hutch- that the building is cursed- and excitedly sign a lease.Rosemary thinks The Bramford will be the perfect place to raise a child, and is hoping after they settle in -Guy- an aspiring actor, will warm to the idea of having a baby.Shortly after the couple move in- Rosemary meets her first neighbor in the laundry room- Terry- a young woman, down on her luck, who has been welcomed in by the elderly couple next door. The two new friends make a pact to do their laundry together on a weekly basis- since they both find the basement a little scary and unpleasant...but before their next laundry date- Terry falls to her death from the top of the building- the police rule it a suicide.Rosemary is shaken, and at first can't believe that the cheerful and optimistic woman she met could have intentionally taken her life- but after meeting the people that were caring for Terry- Roman and Minnie Castevet- she dismisses any questions she had. The Castevets are a little odd but seem warm and friendly....and Guy is becoming quite close to Roman- thinking of him as a father figure. Who is she to judge???- especially since the closer Guy gets to Roman- the more enthusiastic he is about having a baby.Before she knows it Rosemary is pregnant, Guy's acting career blossoms and just when everything is going their way...the nightmare begins...ROSEMARY'S BABY is the third Ira Levin book I have read- and I haven't been disappointed yet! The only thing I wish is that I had read it loooooong ago- because it would have been much more fun to have been surprised and shocked by the ending.

Candi

October 20, 2017

"She didn’t know if she was going mad or going sane…"Well, this classic horror novel certainly hit the spot this month! You simply can’t go wrong with pure and ‘simple,’ subtle fright for some pre-Halloween entertainment. This is a book very firmly set in the period of 1966 New York City, yet it never feels outdated on the creepiness scale! It has such a nightmarish quality that seeps into your psyche and makes you wonder on whom you can truly rely. Are people something other than what they appear to be on the surface? Even those we most depend on – can they betray our trust in them? I absolutely loved the setting for this one. Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse are newly married, Guy is trying to establish his acting career, and the couple tosses around the idea of having their first baby. But first Guy wants to settle into a new home and make a name for himself. He is ambitious, and sweet Rosemary is supportive. When the opportunity arises to secure an apartment at the highly sought-after Bramford, the Woodhouses jump at the chance. "The Bramford, old, black, and elephantine, is a warren of high-ceilinged apartments prized for their fireplaces and Victorian detail." The perfect backdrop for what is to follow! For, the Bramford, despite its illustrious address, has a lurid history. And we all know that history has a way of repeating itself. I’m not going to tell you much more – likely, you are familiar with the story already. The movie was such a huge hit and is still popular even today. If you don’t know it, then suffice to say that this book should thoroughly scare the crap out of you! For me personally, this brand of horror is the ultimate. Forget about Jason, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, or even Chucky – grab a copy of Rosemary’s Baby instead and be prepared for some exquisite terror. While the overall plot is not dated, I should mention that occasionally the language itself is just that – some racist vocabulary which I could do without. This was sporadic and an unfortunate consequence of the time in which this was written, but worth mentioning for those that may be turned off. Other than that, I do like Ira Levin’s straightforward prose and his clever writing – in both this as well as Deathtrap. Next Levin novel up - perhaps The Stepford Wives.

Johann (jobis89)

January 30, 2021

“What have you done to his eyes?!”Rosemary’s Baby has shot up into my top 5 fiction reads of 2020 (only 50-odd years after its release)! Given that I’m such a fan of the movie and after hearing that the two are incredibly similar, I didn’t expect the book to feel so fresh and be THAT enjoyable, but I am more than happy to admit I was dead wrong.If you’re unfamiliar with the set-up of Rosemary’s Baby, here’s a brief synopsis. Rosemary and Guy Woodside move into a New York City apartment where their neighbours, an elderly couple, develop a weird interest in them, particularly when Rosemary becomes pregnant.First and foremost, Levin’s writing is an absolute dream. It’s relatively simple and straightforward, using the perfect amount of description - it begs to be devoured. The kind of book you’ll stay up late to squeeze in one more chapter!Rosemary herself is a fantastic character, if a little naive. Surely losing weight, in addition to being in constant pain during your pregnancy, is NOT a good thing?! Use your brain, Rosemary!! Or seek a second opinion from a different doctor, I don’t know. But then again, this was the 1960s. Women often went along with whatever their husband said - I guess it’s reflective of the time period.Rosemary’s Baby is a surprisingly chilling and sinister book - I didn’t expect to be so unnerved by it. I was fascinated by the dark history of their apartment block, learning about it was quite chilling. Levin effectively builds the tension as you progress through the story, and he truly nails it at the end, delivering one of the most memorable and iconic endings in horror.If you’ve seen the movie and thought “what’s the point in reading the book? I know what’s going to happen” please reconsider! I was thoroughly impressed and would now rate this as one of my favourite horror books. 5 stars.

Rachel (TheShadesofOrange)

August 18, 2021

4.0 StarsThis little novel certainly holds up a horror classic! Dark and twisted, this would be a wonderful (or terrible) book to read when pregnant. The story is very slow and quiet, but it has a good payoff in the end. I don’t always connect with classic literature, but I found this one to be very accessible and engrossing. I would highly recommend it to other horror readers.

Eloy

May 15, 2021

"No sabía si es que se estaba volviendo loca o volviendo cuerda; si los brujos sólo sienten ansias de poder o si su poder era verdadero y fuerte; si Guy era su amante esposo o el traicionero enemigo del bebé y de ella misma."¿Una obra maestra de "terror minimalista"?Logra impactar con lo que se percibe en el aire. Sin necesidad de escenas muy descriptivas, explicitas o escabrosas. Ni grandes diálogos, personajes o reflexiones. Aun así se te mete en la piel...la idea, el concepto es lo verdaderamente importante. El peso recala en lo que transmite. Tanto novela como película trascienden totalmente al género, y son parte de nuestra cultura popular.

Bionic Jean

October 13, 2022

Which do you prefer: to read the book first or to watch the movie?I’m definitely in the “read it first” camp, and love to then watch a film which brings it all back to me—provided they haven’t changed too much. (Then I might turn into one of those annoying people who says “What?” loudly, in the cinema.)In the case of Rosemary’s Baby however, I watched the film first. I’d never heard of it, not the book, nor the author. In fact when I did read the book for the first time a little later, I assumed the author to be Irish—and female. Witchcraft seemed to fit better with anti-Catholicism, and babies with women … but I need to start earlier.The film had been released in 1968, and about three years later it was showing at an avant-garde cinema in Oxford, called the “Moulin Rouge”. You wouldn’t get any blockbusters there, but “edgy” films such as Pasolini’s “The Decameron” or the extraordinary film about Wilhelm Reich “W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism”. Most had subtitles for an English audience, but this was a rare occasion: a double bill of two films in English. One was “If ….”, a satirical film directed by Lindsay Anderson about a group of pupils who stage a savage insurrection at an English boys’ public (i.e. in England, a fee-paying boarding) school. It was teamed with Rosemary’s Baby, which I learned was an American psychological horror film.At that time, my boyfriend was at Oxford University, and my friends were all Oxford undergraduates, and all male. Their backgrounds were either grammar, or public school, but their sexual orientation varied, and they were socially diverse, ranging from working to upper middle class. This was a time of grants, when academic ability determined who would enter universities. One friend assured the group that we must see this wonderful film about bullying and revolution in a public school. There was another film on with it—a bit trashy, he said, like a “Hammer Horror” film—but it was a double bill, so we might agreed we might as well just sit through it. It was probably showing because it was directed by Roman Polanski. Except that I didn’t just put up with it. I was alienated, then engrossed, then chilled to the bone, and when “If ….” came on I was still recovering from the first film.After the film, we talked a bit, but I seemed to be on my own. In fact there wasn’t much of a consensus. My friends’ backgrounds were just too different from each other. One’s experience was exactly like the school in “If ….” and it was not so long ago, either. Of course he dreamed of blowing it all up! The others just shrugged. Yes, it was good. Any counterculture was good. They were not typical Oxford students of the time: not Toffs, Pseuds, Hearties (admitted solely on their sporting prowess) or Freaks. They—we—thought ourselves different.And what made me on edge from the start about Rosemary’s Baby, was the mire of ordinariness. No, not the idea of (view spoiler)[giving birth to the devil’s spawn (hide spoiler)] amid a conventional happy home, which seems to be what terrifies most readers, but what I saw as the futility of the characters’ lives, the self-limited boundaries of their experience, and their unimaginative aspirations. This alienated me from the start; these characters were trapped. Only now can I see that this was a deliberate strategy; an underlying theme. Ira Levin was subverting the stereotype of the American dream. It was not my world, not at all, but then I did not need to be a part of it to know I would run a mile from it.So we began with a typical all-American couple, Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse. Rosemary was a twenty-four year old woman from Omaha, Nebraska: a middle-of-the-road sort of place. She had been brought up as Rosemary Reilly, the youngest of six children in a Catholic family. But Rosemary disliked her family’s expectations of her, and left:“an angry, suspicious father, a silent mother, and four resenting brothers and sisters”all of whom had married early and made homes close to their parents. Rosemary though, moved to the bright lights of New York. She met and married Guy, an “ordinary guy” from Baltimore, who was a struggling actor. Now they were looking for a place to call home, and had just signed up for a charmless place without character, when an apartment in a much sought-after old building became available. This was the “Bramford”, an historic Gothic Revival-style New York City apartment building. * Rosemary was enchanted. It was old, and even had gargoyles. It was everything she ever dreamed of. She begged her husband Guy, to get them out of the contract somehow.Readers today complain how accepting Rosemary is of her husband’s dominance. But this is part of Rosemary’s essential make-up. Just as the viewpoint character in Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca” is a mousy young woman, easily impressed and persuadable, so is Rosemary. Yet in both cases some readers misread this, and assume it is an objectionable indication of an earlier male-dominated society. In fact that is only a partial truth. Daphne du Maurier’s heroine remains unnamed throughout, to indicate her low self-image. It is not “old-fashioned”, and nothing to do with women’s position in the social hierarchy of the time, but a point about her psychology. In his 1967 novel Rosemary’s Baby, Ira Levin too has not bought into the convenient stereotype of a submissive female, as in most popular novels up to the 1960s. He is exploiting it, so that he can burst it wide open. Ira Levin’s central character does have a name, in fact, but it is a carefully chosen one: “Rosemary”. It includes both “Rose” for purity, and “Mary” the mother of Christ. This feeds into the allegorical aspect of the story.As well as the mistaken criticism that the author’s ideas of female roles are dated in Rosemary’s Baby, a common criticism is that the views are racist. This idea comes about because the residents in the “Brampton”, and all the friends and theatre contacts of the young couple are white, although one key character later on is Jewish: Abe Sapirstein, a high society doctor. The one exception is Guy’s agent’s “negro girlfriend” who is a model, and very much an adjunct to the other characters. The word “negro”, as a simple description, gave me a start, but perhaps that is because I am English, and it was not an accepted term at the time. In Rosemary’s Baby, the service providers, such as a “uniformed negro boy with a locked-in-place smile” operating the elevator, or “a bevy of negro laundresses [who] ironed and gossiped”, are usually described this way. They have no individuality, but are seen in terms of their colour and their ensuing low-grade job. It seems obvious that this is not the author, but the culturally biased social system in Manhattan at the time! Rosemary has a burgeoning sense of racial inequality, feeling: “self-conscious, clumsy and Negro-oppressing”.Rosemary had had a convoluted dream (view spoiler)[ after she had been drugged, ready for the Satanic ritual where she would be impregnated with the Devil’s seed (hide spoiler)]. The later part was about the Pope and the Sistine Chapel, but the earlier part of the dream took place on a yacht. Various important people were there, such as President Kennedy, and also her family. The “Negro mate [was] holding the steering wheel unremittingly on its course”. She knew in the dream that that the mate hated her, and that he hated all white people. Far later, the lightbulb moment for Rosemary harks back to this specific fact in the dream. (view spoiler)[ Near the end of the novel, when a heavily pregnant Rosemary thinks she had escaped, but has been taken again by the cult, she feels numb and defeated. But as she is led back into the Brampton, (hide spoiler)]Diego, the elevator man smiles at her:“Smiled because he liked her, favoured her over some of the other tenants.The smile, reminding her of something in her, revived something,” and from then on Rosemary fights. Fights for her life, and for that of her child. And what has triggered this positive action; this strive for freedom and independence, has been a minor character from an ethnic minority. This is clearly not a racist, or even a dated book. It looks frankly at those social mores, and judges.**Into this microcosm of New York, and the ideal of the American Way, Rosemary arrives, excited at the idea of creating a home—hopefully complete with a baby. But Guy is ambitious, and wants to wait until he is better known, when his career will be more established. So far he has only appeared in small roles; in one stage play and various TV commercials. Rosemary is encouraging. Her husband is marvellously talented, and she tells him so over and over again. This first section of the book is all about her buying fabric and making curtains and loose covers, covering shelves with plastic, and similar domestic pursuits, though I seem to remember they employed a decorator. Odd, that. But the USA was different, I reminded myself. Just as cars, huge refrigerators and the latest gadgets were mandatory, the standard of living for a “struggling actor” seemed pretty lavish.Guy had managed to sweettalk the estate agent of course; the first indication we have that he will easily lie when it is convenient. Rosemary does not seem to notice this. She has got what she wanted, gargoyles and all. Their apartment is huge! It had been built during 1880 to 1884, so yes, it must have seemed old to the characters in the story, although not to English readers. Oxford’s colleges date from the 13th century, and I could see gargoyles—real ones not replicas—if I lifted my eyes from the page. Yet how could this couple afford to rent so much space?I had moved to Oxford by the time I read the book. I was disillusioned with the prescribed academic courses on offer, or “careers” in steady jobs. I wanted to think for myself, and got a job merely to pay the rent on my one room. It was tiny, just a bed, a wardrobe, a tiny “baby Belling” portable oven, a one bar electric fire and a washbasin. I had a “coin in the slot” meter, and shared use of the mouldy-walled bathroom in the basement. But I was happy, and free! I could change my room or my job at any time. I bought an old armchair from a junk shop, a card table and upright chair, and put up temporary shelves to hold my books, record player and art materials. I had my thoughts and my independence, and found Rosemary’s voluntary incarcerated situation, and those of her friends, horrific.It’s likely I was not typical though. Called in for a reprimand by the librarian, I was told I had “upset” a fellow assistant. “She just wants to get married and have a baby—and you’re upsetting her”, I was told, and forbidden to say anything. Not that I knew what I had said— it puzzled me—but I hated to be unkind, so kept quiet. I was different. Perhaps others then, would have viewed this story differently. At what point would the horror have started for them, I wonder.Perhaps with the arrival of some neighbours who are also on the 7th floor, Minnie and Roman Castavet. They are an eccentric, elderly couple, who do everything they can to welcome Rosemary and Guy to the Bramford. Rosemary likes Minnie at first: “enjoying this open forthright old woman with her loud voice and her blunt questions”. But soon she begins to think that Minnie is nosey and interfering, and “gets a smothery sort of feeling, as if they’re being too friendly and helpful”. The Castavets watch everything Rosemary does, and Minnie invariably thinks she has better ideas, often pressing food on them, or visiting. They seem to want to take over Rosemary’s life, especially when she falls pregnant. But Guy makes her feel she is being unkind to a lonely old couple. After all, they are harmless and amusing, a bit like like Ma and Pa Kettle. Surely she can put up with their meddlesome habits? It is only because they care. Guy begins visiting them regularly, and Rosemary understands. (Of course she does.) He does not have a large family back in Omaha, as she does. They must feel like substitute parents, to him.So the first section is full of little domestic details, and shopping for commercial items I did not know, as Rosemary makes her “nest”. If this had been written later, I might have suspected product placement, but it is really just a detailed account of a reasonably affluent, materialistic American couple. They are aware of current events, know contemporary styles and fashions in everything, and have seen the right plays to talk about with their friends—who are all exactly like they are. Rosemary and Guy are worldly-wise and sceptical, with no particular belief system. Minnie and Roman are similar in this, with Roman’s comments about the “hypocrisy behind organised religion”, and Guy loves to hear his old actor stories. Roman seems to have known everyone in the theatre world! When their visitors have left, the long-suffering young couple are polite to all the other elderly residents: friends of Minnie and Roman, who visit them, and have strange parties where they seem to chant and play the flute or clarinet. At least, that is what it sounds like through the wall.Parties. Bright conversation, artificial chatter and artificial food. And a hidden worry about the Brampton. Too many accidents have happened there. Too many cases splashed across newspaper headlines, of strange perverted people who have lived there. There have been accusations and claims of witchcraft, cannibalism, Satanic worship, suicide and infanticide, and earlier in the century it was called “Black Bramford”. But that was aeons ago! What about here and now? In the modern 1960s, with educated, rational people? This surely is mere superstition, Rosemary and Guy think. They are an enlightened, sophisticated couple, not living in the Dark Ages. Why, they even have a copy of the two volumes of the “Kinsey Report” on their bookshelves. But Rosemary’s friend “Hutch” (Edward Hutchins), a 54-year old English writer, whom Rosemary jokes is the Professor Higgins to her Eliza Doolittle (and who is the only appealing character in the book) is serious, and had warned them even before they moved in. And so it begins.(view spoiler)[A new friend Rosemary has made, Terry Gionoffrio, happy and devoted to the Castavets who had taken her under their wing, dies instantly, after apparently throwing herself off their balcony.The talented lead actor in a new stage play, Donald Baumgart, suddenly goes blind, and Guy is fortuitously cast in the role. His performance in the play gets rave reviews, and other increasingly significant roles follow. Guy soon begins talking about a career in Hollywood.Although Rosemary is pregnant, she loses weight drastically, and has “skeletal cheeks and black circled eyes”. She is in constant pain, yet her high society doctor tells her it is nothing to worry about.Hutch had urged Rosemary to meet him about some disturbing facts he had uncovered, but mysteriously falls into a coma. Rosemary later learns that the book he had wanted her to have, “All of Them Witches” shows that Roman Castavet was the leader of a Satanic coven. She now suspects that her unborn baby is wanted as a sacrifice to the devil. (hide spoiler)]“The pain grew worse … and she stopped reacting, stopped mentioning it … stopped referring to pain even in her thoughts. Until now it had been inside her, now she was inside it; pain was the weather around her, was time, was the entire world.”“The stubborn fact remains … that whether or not we believe, they most assuredly do”.Do we believe? Aren’t we too, enlightened, educated, and far too sophisticated to be taken in by this story? The Castavets’ message is that all religion is like showbiz. All superstition aside, Science had trumped God:“In the obstetrician’s waiting room, a magazine headline blared, “Is God Dead?”The truth is worse than Rosemary ever suspected, and the ending throws the reader completely off kilter. Once again, Ira Levin has broken the rules, and the ending is not what you expect, and more unnerving that anything that has gone before.In Rosemary’s baby, the horror is not a monster lurking in the dark, waiting to cry “boo”, (or armed with a hatchet) but hidden in normality. We have references to Gothic tropes: the Brampton is evidently a parallel for a creepy old, haunted castle, with the “creaks and tremors” of the elevator, and the “eerie” basement, with passageways where footfalls whispered distantly and unseen doors thudded closed”. Yet we are modern sceptics, and laugh at these ideas. Other gothic references are to Rosemary, as the story’s maiden; there is the central theme of Catholicism, and blood rituals, artefacts (view spoiler)[ such as a silver filigree ball containing the foul-smelling (invented) tannis root or “Devils Pepper” worn as a locket, and ornate candlesticks holding black candles, a black mitre and wand, (hide spoiler)] plus elements of incarceration and torture. Yet there is no monster save in a “dream”, and no deranged murderer. This evil wears a smiling, everyday face.Ira Levin paces his 1967 novel (written in 1966) superbly. Once again, this second novel does not put a foot wrong. We are constantly on edge, wondering about the truth. The three sections parallel before, during and after, and the tension increases incrementally and precisely. Even when Rosemary seems to have discovered incontrovertible proof, what does this mean, after all? Isn’t it merely that a group of people have crazy beliefs? The ambiguity is maintained and perfectly controlled.Rosemary’s Baby can be read as a spine-tingling horror, or as a humorous pastiche of horror stories. The story is packed with symbolism. Essentially it is an allegory about the (view spoiler)[ antichrist (hide spoiler)], and has never been bettered, although it has spawned many imitations. Satan-themed horror novels such as “The Exorcist” and “The Omen” followed Rosemary’s Baby. Its unnerving quality is due to the combination of the baroque and the Gothic, with the modern and the banal; the very “ordinariness”, which I found so suffocating back on my first encounter with the story. It has knife-sharp social observation, and pleasing constant references to other literature, such as:““I’ll bet you still read Dickens.”“Of course I do,” [Rosemary] said, ““Nobody stops reading Dickens.””Very true! But Rosemary’s Baby, far from being a tacky horror story, is for me a modern classic.

Dannii

October 21, 2022

First Read: May 2020, Rating: 4/5 starsSecond Read: October 2022, Rating: 4/5 starsRosemary and Guy find the home of their dreams in an old New York apartment building. Their neighbours might not be just as ideal and a sinister past might haunt their new abode, but the fortune that soon follows their move-in forces them to forget all other sources of discontent. Well, at least until they become truly impossible to ignore...This is a renowned title I had heard a lot about without ever having been aware of the details. I think my lack of prior knowledge benefited my reading experience as I was immediately sucked into the story and consistently intrigued with the journey to its haunting conclusion.Whilst definitely a high-ranking member of the horror genre, this was a far more placid tale than I had anticipated. Some startling incidents occurred, yet, for the most part, this was highly focused on Rosemary and Guy's daily lives. The events, including the tension surrounding them, escalated at such a slow-rate that they almost seemed to come upon the reader unawares, with the first part being almost exclusively horror free, if sometimes still very disturbing.This cleverly constructed tale culminated into something subtle yet horrifying that remained engrossing throughout and was definitely, for me, enhanced by the slow-burn tactics used to heighten the suspense.

Frequently asked questions

Listening to audiobooks not only easy, it is also very convenient. You can listen to audiobooks on almost every device. From your laptop to your smart phone or even a smart speaker like Apple HomePod or even Alexa. Here’s how you can get started listening to audiobooks.

  • 1. Download your favorite audiobook app such as Speechify.
  • 2. Sign up for an account.
  • 3. Browse the library for the best audiobooks and select the first one for free
  • 4. Download the audiobook file to your device
  • 5. Open the Speechify audiobook app and select the audiobook you want to listen to.
  • 6. Adjust the playback speed and other settings to your preference.
  • 7. Press play and enjoy!

While you can listen to the bestsellers on almost any device, and preferences may vary, generally smart phones are offer the most convenience factor. You could be working out, grocery shopping, or even watching your dog in the dog park on a Saturday morning.
However, most audiobook apps work across multiple devices so you can pick up that riveting new Stephen King book you started at the dog park, back on your laptop when you get back home.

Speechify is one of the best apps for audiobooks. The pricing structure is the most competitive in the market and the app is easy to use. It features the best sellers and award winning authors. Listen to your favorite books or discover new ones and listen to real voice actors read to you. Getting started is easy, the first book is free.

Research showcasing the brain health benefits of reading on a regular basis is wide-ranging and undeniable. However, research comparing the benefits of reading vs listening is much more sparse. According to professor of psychology and author Dr. Kristen Willeumier, though, there is good reason to believe that the reading experience provided by audiobooks offers many of the same brain benefits as reading a physical book.

Audiobooks are recordings of books that are read aloud by a professional voice actor. The recordings are typically available for purchase and download in digital formats such as MP3, WMA, or AAC. They can also be streamed from online services like Speechify, Audible, AppleBooks, or Spotify.
You simply download the app onto your smart phone, create your account, and in Speechify, you can choose your first book, from our vast library of best-sellers and classics, to read for free.

Audiobooks, like real books can add up over time. Here’s where you can listen to audiobooks for free. Speechify let’s you read your first best seller for free. Apart from that, we have a vast selection of free audiobooks that you can enjoy. Get the same rich experience no matter if the book was free or not.

It depends. Yes, there are free audiobooks and paid audiobooks. Speechify offers a blend of both!

It varies. The easiest way depends on a few things. The app and service you use, which device, and platform. Speechify is the easiest way to listen to audiobooks. Downloading the app is quick. It is not a large app and does not eat up space on your iPhone or Android device.
Listening to audiobooks on your smart phone, with Speechify, is the easiest way to listen to audiobooks.

footer-waves