Son of Rosemary : The Sequel to Rosemary's Baby [Hardcover]

Ira Levin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1997

In the sequel to Rosemary's Baby, Rosemary awakens from a twenty-seven-year coma to find her that her son, Andy, now thirty-three years old, is a charismatic spiritual leader commanding a worldwide following and preaching a message of peace and tolerance. 150,000 first printing. Doubleday Main. Lit Guild Feat Alt."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

At long last, Levin's sequel to his best-selling 1967 horror novel.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

... Disturbingly, Rosemary notes that Andy sometimes demonstrates incestuous feelings, and his eyes occasionally take on the satanic cast she remembers so vividly from his childhood. Is her son leading humanity toward extinction or rebirth? -- The New York Times Book Review, James Polk

Yes, siree, it’s 1999, and just as the last member of the old Bramford coven kicks the bucket, Rosemary Woodhouse awakens with a start from the three-decade-long coma into which she was conveniently cast (a few years after the previous novel ended). And what a shockaroo she’s in for. As are we. -- Entertainment Weekly

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Adult; 1ST edition (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568654464
• ISBN-13: 978-1568654461
• ASIN: 0525943749
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 1.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (162 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,526,168 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointing sequel and quick read., May 17, 2005

By 

Roger J. Buffington (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Son of Rosemary : The Sequel to Rosemary's Baby (Hardcover)

"Rosemary's Baby" was a five star classic that no one should pass up. Unfortunately, "Son of Rosemary" simply does not measure up as a sequel. The premise is unlikely and the novel simply lacks the creativity, class, and suspense of the original. Essentially, in the sequel, Rosemary, the mother of "Adrian" whose father is Satan, wakes from a coma to discover that her son is the wildly popular "Andy" who is the leader of a messianic movement in the modern-day world. The reader, of course, knows the truth. The most interesting part of the novel, to me at least, was the portrayal of what a "Christ versus Antichrist" scenario might be like in the present day, and this is, indeed, the theme of the novel.

Unfortunately, since the reader knows the truth, there is none of the suspense which made "Rosemary's Baby" such a classic (and I am not overusing that word here). Further, the story's ending is unsatisfactory and unsurprising. All in all, this is a quick read to which most readers will not return, and it leaves the reader unsatisfied albeit mildly entertained.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I used to admire Ira Levin's work, but..., April 6, 2006

By 

Bob "The Skeptic" (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Son of Rosemary : The Sequel to Rosemary's Baby (Hardcover)

When I picked up this book in my local library, I was hoping for a good read, having enjoyed several of Mr. Levin's previous works ("Rosemary's Baby", "The Boys from Brazil", "The Stepford Wives", etc.)

*Caveat: The following comments contain spoilers. Please don't read them if you want to read this work with a "fresh" mind.

Sadly, this book really let me and several other people down for a number of reasons:

*If you're going to write a novel about the Anti-Christ, you're going to need to follow biblical prophecy; in this work, Levin has failed to do that; instead, he has created an unbelievable end-world (eschatological) scenario. (Everyone in the world is going to light a lethal candle at exactly the same moment and get killed by fumes from the candle? Gimme a break, Mr. Levin...)
*Referring to the above point: If you're going to portray the Anti-Christ, you're going to have someone who somehow unites the world's religions, etc. And since people in our day and age are extremely wary, I find it hard to believe that someone who appears on the world scene and somehow unites the world's religions wouldn't be viewed with at least a hint of suspicion; but in this book, everyone (save a few dumb backwoods rednecks and a few disciples of Ayn Rand) loves Andy to death; in other words, Mr. Levin, your characterization of Andy says, I'm the Anti-Christ and you idiots can't even see it! (Follow this with evil laughs.) In the real world, even blind people could see this from hundreds of miles away. Perhaps the latter is not a politically correct description, but I for one am not a politically correct viewer, and I for one find this novel, whose author seems not to wish to offend anyone with plot twists and turns that would require the offending of people if one were to write a believable novel about the Anti-Christ, to be a politically correct horror novel, which ultimately means it's no horror novel at all. (A true horror novel cannot be politically correct.)
*The character of Andy (Rosemary's son) is unsympathetic; he comes off as a Seattle-like grunge slacker; I for one wouldn't follow him. I just don't believe that die-hard Muslims, hard-core Jews and fundamentalist Christians would, either. Andy's diction is that of a suburban high school student; so much for a potential world leader.
*We're TOLD that Andy has united the peoples and nations of the world, but we're not SHOWN how Andy unites the world. (Refer to the above points regarding plot and character believability. Obviously, Mr. Levin has forgotten an important lesson about fiction writing: Show, don't tell. I'd be embarrassed, if I were a novelist, to claim this work as my own because of this one point.)
*Rosemary's been in a coma for 27 years or so; a little more than a month later, she's dancing in front of the world with her soon-to-be-world-leader-Anti-Christ son? I don't think so, Mr. Levin; you obviously know little of human physiology or believe that your readers are idiots; her muscles would have atrophied so much she wouldn't be able to walk for a long, long time, if ever. So much for waking up from a 27-year coma in November, 1999, and cutting the rug in December, 1999, among other things.
*Several of the characters -- like the TV evangelist -- are direct copies of real people; in other words, these characters are wooden figures because Levin has failed to flesh them out; real characters are archetypes, not just clever (or in this case, not-so-clever) imitations of real-world people.
*We never find out what happens to Guy and other characters from "Rosemary's Baby"; in this sense, "Son of Rosemary" is a lot like the "American Pie" sequels, which, because they fail to incorporate characters from previous "American Pie" flicks, fail to fulfill the promises of the subplots and archplots within them. In other words, if you're going to write a sequel, you need to incorporate all of the characters from the original work to make the sequel believable. Barring this, you end up with a watered-down work (like "Son of Rosemary").
*It all ends when we discover that Rosemary had just had a bad dream; the events of 1965/1966, in other words, were just a dream; Andy was just a dream; it was all just a dream...This is the easy, lazy way for a writer to end a work; and it's one of the most disappointing things a writer can do to a reader.

I could go on and on about this pathetic book, but won't; Mr. Levin, you should be ashamed for writing this work; it's bad, lazy writing not becoming of someone who has written great works like the aforementioned ones in the first paragraph of this review.

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This one,s worth a double-take, December 1, 2004

By 

G Cone (TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Son of Rosemary : The Sequel to Rosemary's Baby (Hardcover)

SPOILER ALERT-To defend this pretty-good sequel, I'm having to give away the ending. Don't read this post until you have read the book--and have done your part to noodle out its puzzling conclusion. Then tell me if you think I'm right!

Why so many bad reviews? First off, let's be real. Most horror books are nothing but brain candy. When you come to one that requires reflection, it's disconcerting. We were all expecting a typical horror story so that we could be entertained, close the cover and move on to the next read. But this Hershey's Kiss turns out to be more of a Slo-Poke (I betray my age), and we are asked to chew on it awhile to get our nickel's worth.

Were you annoyed by that last page--discovering that ROAST MULES was not to be revealed, and realizing that the book's entire point hinged on it? I enjoy subtlety, but am averse to working anagrams so that I can THEN assemble an author's meaning. The ending would have spun out much more smoothly had the anagram been solved at some point, and I don't think the story would have lost a gram of subtlety.

Nevertheless, the novel is successful and here's why. First, this was no "It was only a dream ... or was it?" cornball kid-book ending--unless, in the manner of Elias Howe, Rosemary was able to invent roller blades and the Palm Pilot as she dozed. The conversation with Hutch assures us (doggedly) that the dream was a vision. Of course, that's not enough to keep the book out of the bush-leagues, but there's more.

To save you a couple of aspirin, the solution to the anagram is somersault. Some have interpreted this as cyclical imagery, suggesting that Rosemary is damned to repeat her ordeal for eternity. However, a somersault is not a cycle. While one does alight in the same posture/position as before, he finds himself a few steps advanced. That's what's happening here. At St. Pat's, Rosemary prays for a sign, and for guidance. The unexpected response turns out to be a full replay--but this time, with the benefit of experience. The last words of the book are, "She looked ahead." That's a lot different from her starting point in Rosemary's Baby. Rosemary never had a chance in the first go-round. Anyone, no matter how good or how clever, would have been pulled in and defeated. But this next time, her mettle and faith can play a role, and depending on how she performs, she'll either save the world or find herself once again on that stuffy elevator. Though the somersault gives her a fighting chance, this won't be a cake walk. `We're about to be thrown out, it's a free year at the Dakota, look, it was only a dream,' and etc. She'll doubtless go on to the Dakota, and there she'll find out how much she learned in the practice round.