by Gene Michael Stover
created Saturday, 2026 September 12
updated Sunday, 2026 September 13
original at cybertiggyr.com/p0v369w.html
Published in 1967, Rosemary's Baby is a novel by Ira Levin.
Meet Rosemary & Guy Woodhouse. Tour the apartment. Meet Mr. Nicklas; he's missing fingers from each hand. Mrs. Cortez phoned about the Bramford; is she a realtor, property manager?
At lunch, Rosemary briefly talks to a woman she met when she worked at “CBS”. Is this CBS the Columbia Broadcasting System, a broadcasting network that still exists? If so (or even if not), Rosemary had a career, or at least the first step toward a career, before she married.
Guy has a playful way with people, is an actor. Rosemary is more stark in her interactions. Rosemary says more than once that she & Guy want children.
To take the Bramford apartment, they must break a recently signed lease for another apartment. Guy is hesitant to do that, but Rosemary likes the Bramford so much that he agrees. Remember this for later: Guy did not manipulate Rosemary into the Bramford; she wanted it.
We meet Hutch (Edward Hutchins, 54 years old, author of several series of books for children, English). Guy dislikes Hutch but tolerates him because Hutch is related to a playwrite, & Guy knows that connections, even indirect ones, are important in showbusiness.
Hutch tells the history of the Bramford place. That includes many (brief) horror stories.
Rosemary is from Omaha.
Martin Gardenia is the son of the apartment's previous inhabitant. He's over 60 (older than Hutch; older than me, though not by much). Tall & friendly.
Joan Jellico is a friend of Rosemary's. From Atlanta? They lived together for a while soon after Rosemary moved to New York.
Guy works a soap opera for a few days. Rosemary furnishes the apartment.
From our description of his, Hutch sounds like an honest & entertaining person; I like him. Notice that Guy dislikes him in spite of that. Guy tolerates Hutch for connections, not because Hutch is a great friend of Rosemary, Guy's wife. So Guy is ambitious & uses people.
Rosemary, Guy, & friends go to a show. On the way home, learn that Terry (apparently) threw herself from a window, is dead. Meet the Castavets. Rosemary has a dream; I think some of the dialogue in it, about how someone needs a health young woman who is not a virgin, is unintended infiltration from a conversation the Castavets are having.
fixme
Mrs. Castavets visit, invites Rosemary & Guy to dinner. Guy says No, Rosemary accepts that, but then Guy talks himself into going.
When Guy talks himself into going to the dinner: Is that a kind of joke, like I've seen in light-hearted movies from the 1940s & 1950s, about how a wife can manipulate her husband easily by agreeing or saying nothing, sometimes? Or, invoking knowledge of what's to come, was that a spell at work on him to get him to accept the invitation? Will we ever know? Is the question itself the point?
Arrive for dinner at Castavets's. Mrs. Castavets has changed clothes but still wearing green. Their doorway is green.
Mrs. Castavets is Minnie. Mr. Castavets is Roman.
The steak is over-cooked. The desert is too sweet & weird, though Guy has 2 servings. Guy & Roman talk in the living room, we don't know about what, while Minnie & Rosemary do the dishes. The dishes take an hour; Rosemary suspects she could have done them alone in half an hour.
They leave at 10:30. So they stayed from 6:30 to 10:30, 4 hours. Rosemary & Guy joke about it being a not-entirely-enjoyable evening.
At home, Rosemary's cramps begin. We learnn of her frustration that Guy isn't ready for kids. She thinks about how, if they were living together & weren't married, she could have been pregnant for sure by now.
(Again invoking knowledge of what's to come...) Did the desert contain herbs from Minnie's indoor herb garden that brought Rosemary's cramps?
Is Minnie so slow with dishes, or was she extending the work so she could interview Rosemary? Or to give the men time to talk in private?
Guy spends the evening talking with Roman Castavets. Minnie Castavets brings a friend from floor 12 to spend the time sewing (or knitting or crocheting or whatever) with Rosemary. Rosemary is initially peeved but joins them &, I guess, enjoys the evening.
Guy spends days studying something (books?) that he won't show to Rosemary.
Guy gets an important part in a play(?) because the selected actor goes blind for no reason. Guy gives Rosemary tickets to a play. Rosemary takes Joan, becomes irritated at Joan because she applauds loudly.
Guy tells Rosemary that he is ready to have kids.
Using foreknowledge from the movie: I strongly suspect that Roman explained the book's version of witchcraft & satanism to Guy & what they want to do to Rosemary. Guy was studing Witchcraft & satanism; that's what he wouldn't show to Rosemary. He was convinced it was true when he got the part in the play at the misfortune of the previously selected actor. He wants a baby because Rosemary is his offering to the coven.
Why was Rosemary irritated at Joan? They have been friends for years & surely have gone to events together without Rosemary being irritated at Joan. Were Rosemary's emotions being manipulated via witchcraft?
Guy & the Castavets collude to drug Rosemary with chocolate mousse. However, Rosemary doesn't eat all of it. She is way out of her box, but she's still barely aware. In this state, she is raped by a beast-like thing. (Using foreknowledge from the movie, we can guess it's Satan or some other demon.) A bunch of people, including Guy, gather around the bed while Rosemary is raped. They appear to
Now I understand why Mia Farrow said “This isn't a dream. This is really happening.” It's a moment when Rosemary was lucid enough in spite of the drug to realize what was happening to some extent. She says very nearly the same thing in the book.
Likewise, I understand “mouse bite”. They had chocolate mousse, but Minnie Castavet called it chocolate mouse (which is cute, I think).
Rosemary sees many of the observers as old, their breasts sagging (or flat or whatever). It humorously reminds me of one of the coven scenes in Simon, Kind of the Witches (1971, directed by Bruce Kessler), also of an episode of Kolchak, though I don't remember which one unless it's “The Trevi Collection”, but I'm really not sure).
Guy & Rosemary become distant. Maybe it's because Guy's career is advancing. Resenting his distance, Rosemary borrow's Hutch's car & visit Hutch's cabin for a few days. While there, she rationalizes her relationship with Guy, concludes that they have become distant together (share the blame, you might say if you are willing to blame). She returns
Rosemary visits the doctor, learns she's pregnant. The Castevets suggest (insist!) she use the doctor they recommend. Because her doctor's lab may have drawn the wrong amount of blood (made a mistake), Rosemary agrees to switch doctors.
Rosemary's pregnancy is painful.
Hutch visits. Roman visits, meets Hutch.
Roman has pierced ears (& that appears to be a big deal to Rosemary & Hutch). Guy feigns ignorance.
Black candles?, notices Hutch.
Hutch can't find one of his gloves when he leaves. Hours(?) later, he phones & asks Rosemary to meet him tomorrow morning outside of home so they can talk (in private, I presume)..
Guy goes for ice cream, he says. Rosemary hears the Castavets's doorbell ring.
tannis root =
professional crepe-hanger =
Hutch doesn't show. Rosemary phones. Grace Cardiff answers, says that Hutch is in a coma.
Run into Minnie while walking around. Minnie whistles for a cab by blowing into a whistle on her bracelet. (Very practical, I say.)
Pregnancy pain is terrible, but it's so pervasive that Rosemary gives up, seems to experience it like we all experience gravity. (The book does not use that analogy.)
She decides to have a party & to invite only people under 60 years old. In other words, the Castavets won't be invited. (Party does not happen in this chapter. Just planned.)
When Minnie Castavet brings Rosemary her morning herbs-&-egg drink, Rosemary says she will sip it in private. She pours it down the drain.
Hutch is still in a coma. Doctors have not identified the cause.
I guess the main point is that the pregnancy is terribly painful & that's unusual though Guy & that doctor & maybe some other people say it's not. Then Rosemary takes back a little power by planning a party & pouring the herbal drink down the drain.
The party. Rosemary's (girl)friends learn she's in pain & has been since before Thanksgiving. They provide emotional support. They get her to promise to visit Doctor Hill (her original doctor) for a second opinion on Monday.
After dinner, she tells this to Guy. He flips out, or starts to flip out, with piggish rationales. Suddenly, Rosemary's pain goes away. Emotionally, she feels happy about being pregnant, relieved that the baby is okay. She feels it kicking. She gets guy to do the same, which he does, but he doesn't do it for long.
The emotional support Rosemary's friends gave her was impactful to this reader. It's a well-written example of friends standing up for a friend. (In this case, women standing of for a woman.)
The end of the pain was sudden & the timing suspicious. Did demonic forces cause it so she wouldn't visit Doctor Hill on Monday? Did witches use a spell for the same reason? Or was it simply time for the demonic pregnancy to exit the painful phase & enter the next phase?
I guess that, knowing devils & witches are involved, the story trains us to ask whether any event has a conscious cause behind it, implemented by pulling strings with magic or some other supernatural power.
Pregnancy is awesome now. Rosemary now drinks the concoction that Minnie prepares for her; she gulps it down immediately (& while Minnie watches?).
Hutch dies. It's early June. (Baby is due June 28.) At the funeral for Hutch, his sister gives Rosemary a book & says that Hutch said that it's an anagram. What is the anagram? The author's name? The title?
Though Rosemary feels better, it seems she's given up some self-rule (FIXME What's a better term for that?) by returning to drinking the concoction that Minnie prepares each morning. But hey, she feels great.
| when | minutes | chapters |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-12 | 50 | 1, 2, 3 |
| 2026-09-13 | 75 | 4 |
| 2026-09-14 | ?? | 5, 6 |
| 2026-09-15 | 0 | |
| 2026-09-16 | 20 | chapter 7 |
| 2026-09-17 | 60 | chapters 8, 9, 10 |
| 2026-09-18 | 35 | 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 |
| 2026-09-19 | 20 | 2.4 |
| 2026-09-20 | 40 | 2.5, 2.6 |
| 2026-09-21 | ?? | ?? |