The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer : My Life At Rose Red

by Ridley Pearson

Diary Of Ellen My Life At Rose Red Reardon (Ed), Joyce

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Paranormal, Thriller, Fantasy, Mystery

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Ridley Pearson is the author of more than fifty novels, including the New York Times bestseller Killer Weekend; the Lou Boldt crime series; and many books for young readers, including the award-winning children's novels Peter and the Starcatchers, Peter and the Shadow Thieves, and Peter and the Secret of Rundoon, which he cowrote with Dave Barry. Pearson lives with his wife and two daughters, dividing their time between Missouri and Idaho.

Also writes Chris Klick mysteries as Wendell McCall.

Reviews

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing read!
My Life at Rose Red is a coming-of-age novel framed in horror. It is a diary written by fictional character Ellen Rimbauer and recounts her exploits in life, in love gone wrong, and most importantly, her life at Rose Red the house that was built for her by her husband John Rimbauer. A house that is taken on a life of its own. And indeed other's lives along with it!
This story grips you from start to finish. Although it is completely fictional, the book is written in the form of a diary and is that time so real that you can sit and ask yourself whether these events truly took place or not. After first reading this book I found myself on the internet researching the history of the novel and even what the story was based off of. It is such a well thought-out story and yet so simple you could definitely see it happening in real life.
I enjoyed this book so much that it is now one of my all-time favorite books. The fact that it is a prequel to a great horror film (by Stephen King) makes it even better in my opinion. You get to read the diary (book) and then watch the film to see how things truly end. And unfortunately both the book and the film have utterly tragic endings but in the string of things it's all perfect for the genre that it falls under.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who like strong female characters and horror novels.

Or you can watch my review on YouTube here:
https://youtu.be/Ku7OAzEr9yQ

[Misty Marie Harms · Rating 4 out of 5]

So who else saw the miniseries and ran out to find the book? In the early 1900s, Ellen marries John Rimbauer. While on their honeymoon, John commissions a house to be built as a wedding gift for his wife. As the couple travels the globe, workers mysteriously meet their bloody end during construction of Rose Red. Told in diary form, Ellen shares her deepest secrets and thoughts with us. She whispers about the disappearances inside of Rose Red. In time, Rose Red and Ellen are bonded in blood as she too disappearances behind its walls. Rose Red remains waiting patiently for its next owner to keep adding on to its glorious form. For a rather small book, there was a lot packed in there. I really enjoyed exploring Rose Red.

[Farrah · Rating 4 out of 5]

If ever there was a book that had me enthralled from cover to cover and constantly saying to myself "OMG...WTF" (yes...I'm sorry, my thoughts were quite that profane as I read it and for the sake of some of our viewers I've not spelt out the phrases), this was it. Trying to recall the movie I had watched depicted after Stephen King's version I can't quite place the two together. While I believe the movie was quite scary, reading the diary was far more dark and it wasn't that graphic. Chills were felt as I read her (Ellen) diary and imagined the days with her through her life at Rose Red. The thought of one being trapped within their own home to lose all she loved due to a "house's" jealousy feels so horrendous. And like a mother who could never leave her child she remained in even more pain waiting for her lost daughter to come back to her. I could hardly imagine the horror it must have been to watch things change before one's eyes as the plants, stain glass window in the tower, and hallways seem to have done.

OK...if you don't want to be spoiled...don't read any further. If you do, it's not my fault as I warned you...

I was so impressed (sounds so odd after reading the tragic events at Rose Red) that I had to read more into it from the Beaumont University Site mentioned in the book where they supposedly (key word here) included some of the deleted diary pages, pictures, and more details of Reardon's research. If you'd like to read more then you'll need to visit The Beaumont University's Paranormal Studies Program pages. But in further reading and going through links looking for those mentioned "deleted entries", I discovered that many links were going nowhere. I did however get through to the HistoryLink.org site. It's here that I found out that it was all indeed a "hoax" for this fiction story. Haha at me for actually forgetting I picked up a book of FICTION!! What does that say about the book?! It got me so it was GOOD!! LOL Will it get you?! Hopefully I didn't kill it too much for your imagination.

Apparently it got to a lot of readers with some getting downright mad. So it duped many. Remember I got "duped" too. Big whoop...in my eyes it means it was a good book!! My thoughts are that books of FICTION are supposed to be entertaining...what do you expect when you find the book in the HORROR section?! Hello... ;-)

[Audrey · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a book that I picked up and started reading essentially because it happened to be right there in front of me. I couldn’t tell you what compelled me to finish it, obviously I had NOTHING better to do and looking back that’s kind of sad.
The only good thing I can say is that the book initial had an idea with potential, but unfortunately that potential was ignored and wasted.
The story went on and on, but never had any points that I found memorial or crucial. If there is a climax it was totally over my head, or just so lame that it wasn’t worth registering. All the main characters were boring, cliché, unbelievable and flat. The only person in the entire book that I had any interest in at all was the Chinese mystic and she was only there on a couple of pages. (If she had been in the book any more then that I probably would’ve hated her too.)
I can’t fathom why someone took the time to waste ink on this novel. My guess is the author really wanted to try to practice writing erotic fiction. It was a bad try. The lesson that the author needs to learn is that gratuitous (yet completely uninteresting) sex does not a good story make.

Oh, I should mention that this is suppose to be a ghost/haunted house tale, but you forget that because any of the supernatural episodes have no power to intrigue or hold you in any kind of suspense.

Lame book.

[Viola · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pirms daudziem gadiem redzēju seriālu Rose Red, kura scenārija autors bija S.Kings, cerēju arī šajā grāmatā atrast ko Kingveidīgu. Nebūs. Mistikas maz, neirotiskas sievietes čīkstēšanas - ārkārtīgi daudz. Netērējiet laiku!

[Tabby Kat · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. I recieved my copy as a surprise gift from my husband and I read it right after I watched the series on TV. The book is very well written and is just like a diary. It complaments the movie very well if you have seen the movie by all means read this companion book.

A mysterious and haunting spirit lurks within the walls of Rose Red, the setting for Stephen King's upcoming ABC miniseries tie-in by the same name. Built on a Native American burial ground in early 20th-century Seattle, the mansion which is constantly under construction sets the scene for a multitude of inexplicable disappearances and ghastly deaths. While moody oil tycoon John Rimbauer refuses to acknowledge that the house has a mind of its own, his young wife, Ellen, dramatizes these eerie events with great detail in her diary, often personifying the house as if it were a living being. (Or, perhaps, a non-living being?) While the evolution of Ellen's character from innocent and submissive to frighteningly powerful is a slow process, the language and questioning nature of her entries entice the reader as the mystery of Rose Red is brought into full bloom. Ellen also reveals frustration and disappointment with her marriage namely her husband's unfaithfulness and alarmingly frequent involvement in voyeuristic activities as well as a growing confusion about her sexual identity and attachment to her friend and African handmaid, Sukeena. In addition to extensive dialogue that makes the diary seem a tad more like a novel than someone's personal confessions, Ellen's entries are accompanied by a handful of explanatory notes put in by the "editor" and supposed professor of paranormal studies, Joyce Reardon. The people mentioned in the diary, as well as Reardon, are all characters in Rose Red, which was created directly for television by the bestselling author. As to who penned the actual text of the diary? That remains as much of a mystery as Rose Red herself.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a haunted house "novel" based on the background of Stephen King's Rose Red television series. It was written by Ridley Pearson as by a fictional investigator in the world of the story, Joyce Reardon, and as the diary of one of the characters. It does provide some interesting details on the background of the story, but that gets quickly lost and when all's said and done there's not much to it except for sex and violence and violent sex. Anyone who really, really liked the televised story might want to check it out, but I don't recommend it otherwise.

[Robyn · Rating 2 out of 5]

First I would like to point out that while Stephen King was responsible for the miniseries, which takes place after the events of this book, he is not the author of this book, which becomes quickly apparent as you read. It lacks King's style, and I'm surprised that any fan of his would think this was the case more than five pages in. The actual author (according to wikipedia, and the author's own site) is Ridley Pearson. He's apparently a really real person, with his own list of books on amazon.com and everything. Given the attempted ARG elements that accompanied the promotion of these materials, I can see where it got confusing for some people.

Now, on to the review of the book itself:

This started out as a decent story, (one I've been meaning to read since seeing the television miniseries when it originally aired just about ten years ago, at the time of this writing. I don't remember much about the series, except that at the point it had aired, I was well versed enough in Kingology to predict every single turn of the plot, much to my family's annoyance.) and I was really gripped by the beginning of it.

However, as it the book goes on the diary gimmick of it feels very much tacked on, with conversations related a touch too precisely, and obvious "writer tricks" stuck into the narrative, spoiling the illusion of an actual journal. Additionally, while the story shies away from the big obvious scares; leaving you with mysterious disappearances and a dearth of any kind of gore, it doesn't provide scares in any significant other ways, either.

The fact is simply that if you're going for moody and atmospheric frights, a diary style presentation simply doesn't work as well. It puts the author into a catch-22; if he tries to make it sound like a diary, he's going to lose the sense of atmosphere, as most people don't add descriptive passages to their journals, a necessary technique to build mood and eeriness. If on the other hand, he tries to evoke the mood properly, he loses the real "diary" feeling. There are cases where an author has been able to pull this kind of thing off, but it's a fine line to walk.

Additionally, as the story moved on, the characters became more and more exaggerated, to the point that it began to feel cartoonish. I'm all for having the characters change and grow and so on, but this really got ridiculous. This also happened with the plot, which seemed like it was trying for subtle strangeness in the beginning of the book,, and then just got completely insane later on, and not in a good scary way. By the end, nothing anyone was doing made any sense.

There were a few characters in the story who didn't undergo this bizzarre transformation, but we don't see enough of them for them to really get interesting. Promising characters are tossed aside too soon, and as the narrator's madness grows, we start to wonder where all of her former friends and her family are in all this.

I mostly gave this two stars based on the novel's very strong and interesting start (if not for that it would most definitely have been a one star book). Make no mistake, the first half of this book is pretty good. The exotic locales, the protagonist's strange husband, and Ellen's internal life are all very real and fascinating. It just doesn't keep up this pace, and devolves slowly into nonsense.

A final note:
Certain parts of the book were "edited out," and placed on a website somewhere, for reasons I don't truly understand. Supposedly, this is because the fake researcher who found this fake diary thought they were too juicy for the public (so she put them on the internet..? Oh... kay. That makes sense I guess?). The problem is, it seems the site has been abandoned, and the excerpts are now gone, with no mirror of them in sight. I was promised debauchery, and it seems that now I will never get it. Though from what I could gather off related sites, this debauchery includes sex scenes with an icicle, which sounds... uncomfortable to say the least, so perhaps it's better I can't find them.

[Sarah Mac · Rating 3 out of 5]

No, it's not great literature...but it has a certain charm.

Loosely based on the mythos surrounding the Winchester House, this mock-up period ghost/possession/haunting was first published to accompany a (rather meh) miniseries called 'Rose Red.' I watched said miniseries & wasn't terribly impressed by the acting or the campy FX...but the 'background' of Rose Red intrigued me enough to read this a few weeks later. In retrospect, I should have waited; my opinion was colored by the show, & I caught myself looking for key objects & foreshadowing that linked to the screen story, rather than simply enjoying the book for what it was. Now, many years later, I can say I liked the book & couldn't care less about the occasional stylistic wobble or how it ties into a junky miniseries--rather, it's a fun Edwardian spoof with an extremely unreliable narrator & a creepy setting.

3.5 stars overall.

[Kandice · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I'll have to admit, first of all, that I really thought Stephen King wrote this. I felt like such a putz when it was pointed out that he did not. At least I can breathe a sigh of relief, because this was not up to King's usual level. Duh!

This diary entry book tells the story of Ellen Rimbauer and her life at the mansion Rose Red. The story actually begins on the day footings are being laid for the mansion's foundation, and then follows Ellen and John Rimbauer on their year long honeymoon around the world, with their eventual return to the completed Rose Red. We are shown early on what sort of man John is, and that Ellen, despite being a bit non-conventional, is going to accept this behaviour, not only for the benefits of his wealth, but for the chance at children and a family. A well respected family.

Ellen Rimbauer is an infinitely fascinating character to me, almost from her first diary entry at 19. She is writing in 1902, but her inner feelings, thoughts, desires, are so out of step with the times that I couldn't wait to see what she would do with them. Turns out...nothing. Well, nothing, except marry a womanizing pig, albeit a rich one, contract syphilis from his easy ways, and then spend the rest of her life punishing him for it by spending his money on the never ending expansion of Rose Red.

I'm sure it's meant to be ambiguous, but it was never clear who or what exactly was "haunting" Rose Red. The fact that she was haunted was undeniable. She also needed "feeding" and was able to help herself in that regard. Many women disappeared and many men died within her grounds. Many of the women actually seemed to disappear in defense of Ellen Rimbauer or her honor, so even from the beginning the house seemed protective of, if not loving, of her. How was this relationship fostered? That's one question I would really like an answer to.

I own this book, but audio-ed it this time. I found many of the editorial notes amusing, especially on the audio. The diary entries are supposedly edited by Joyce Reardon, PH.D. as she is using them for her thesis. Where omissions are made, they are explained as unneccesary, repetitive, or in one large chunk, as too "risque". The book leaves it at Reardon's explanation, but the audio goes on to say that the edited entries can be found on a website for Beaumont University by entering a particular URL. I wonder how many listeners tried to read those edited entries since it was made clear they were not only sexual in nature, but downright deviant!

[Laurie (barksbooks) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I skimmed through the first few pages because the prose was overwrought and extremely melodramatic. It reminded me of the sort of thing someone who has never read a romance might write thinking this is the way it's done. Purple prose, fluttering hands, and swooning galore. Blech.

Okay, I'm revising my first impression of this book because last night I zipped through 3/4's of it without taking a break, getting bored, or skimming. I haven't done that in YEARS. Something about this story fascinates me. It's not frightening or overly gory but it is filled with a nice sense of impending dread, a creeping ugliness and an increasingly jaded, frustrated and angry heroine. Ellen's ideal marriage soon turns out to be a huge disaster once she realizes he's a monster, sexual deviant and possible murderer. She develops a close bond with her beautiful servant Sukeena who is strong, unafraid and possess powerful knowledge. Before long Ellen longs more for the touch of her friend Sukeena than the monstrous hands of her once perfect husband. Her feelings, her anger and her thoughts of revenge are realistic to me.

Interesting stuff and I'm glad I continued reading past the insipid beginning.

Later
I finished and, in the end, was a bit disappointed. Big chunks of the so-called diary were removed by Dr. Reardon to spare us gentle reader's the shocking sexual revelations within. I smell a cop-out on the part of the writer here . . . Dr. Reardon directs nosy reader's to a website in order to read these passages. Note to other readers: Don't waste your time with the website because it contains absolutely nothing of substance. Not that I checked or anything ;)

[Sheila · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars; I liked the book. This is a reread from 20ish years ago; I recently rewatched the miniseries, Rose Red, so thought I'd reread the companion book as well.

There are a couple dated/racist elements in the book (the "magical negro" trope, the Indian burial ground trope, etc.). And a bit of cheese too. Overall, though, I enjoyed the journal format and the description of a house that needs to constantly feed. And of course I have a weakness for both haunted houses and the Seattle setting.

Speaking of, for an amusing recap of emails from people convinced that the miniseries/novel was not fiction, visit HistoryLink (the Seattle history site): https://www.historylink.org/File/4001

[Cheryl · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really held my attention. I even thought it was real. I was very disappointed when I discovered the truth. The movie is stupid, so if you've seen it, don't let it play a role in your decision to read this book.

[Dona's Books · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished Reading

Pre-Read notes

I bought a copy of this because it inspired the Stephen King's screenplay, ROSE RED, from the 90's. For its time, this miniseries brought the scares and I'm kind of obsessed with the concept of houses that grow and change around the people inside them. For a great example of this setting element, check out horror classic and my favorite book, House of Leaves

I'm not sure what I'm expecting here, but I'm looking forward to this read. Its in diary form, which can sometimes affect pace, so ill take this into consideration.

Final Review

I am the key to his future happiness, and he, in turn, is the key to mine. I am beginning to learn the ways of marriage.p49

Reading Notes

Four things I loved:

1. This book is meta from the outside in. A real house inspires a fictional diary written by a fictitious author and edited by a fictitious doctor of the paranormal. Its kind of a great way to hook the audience right from the start.

2. The illustrations are beautiful and of a unique style. For me, they add a lot to the book. Favorites include p94 and p214.

3. The early pages that describe Ellen and John Rimbauer's honeymoon, are far scarier than I predicted. The character work here really sets a foundation for probably future conflicts. It's easy to access because of the intimacy of Ellen's voice. She's scared for herself and I'm absolutely terrified for her!

4. If it's money that he loves, then I shall bleed him. The mounting distrust and bitterness between Ellen and John does a few different important things. It foreshadows certain coming events, and it increases the tension steadily as the plot is still laying down it's floor. It makes for an exciting read!

Three quibbles:

1. The standard form of dialog is not what I expect to find in diary or journal genre. I was expecting paraphrasing at most. Using this form of dialog brings the diary writer, Ellen Rimbauer's reliability into question, since it would be very hard for her to remember every word of these conversations, as it is presented. *edit I started reading this as if it were a first person POV novel rather than an epistemological story (diary entries or letters), and I found that much more engaging and less troubled.

2. The author keeps misusing the word "ironically" which is one of my few literary peeves.

3. I really enjoyed this read but the ending was not great. I would call it a disaster except it was too anticlimactic to be very destructive.

Notes

1. Content warnings: domestic violence, violence against women and children, SA, cheating, loss of child, difficult birth,

2. I don't recommend this book for survivors of SA, but read at your own risk!

3. This book may not be appropriate for YA readers; definitely not for younger readers.

I have a hardback copy of THE DIARY OF ELLEN RIMBAUER by Ridley Pearson. I found an accessible digital copy on Libby. All views are mine.
--------------

[Marisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! It is written pages from Ellen Rimbauer’s diary but it reads like a rich and sophisticated story. It was a slower paced read which usually doesn’t hold my interest but the slower pace here is captivating. Many times the writing is scattered and the characters are too busy in slow reads but not here. The writing flows nicely and the characters easy to follow. The Diary Of Ellen Rimbauer is a lovely read.

[SheriC · Rating 1 out of 5]

About the only thing positive I can say about this book is that the premise is interesting. Of course, the idea of a house that is itself an evil entity isn’t original, but the notion that the house’s owners are also its servants who feed it until they are themselves absorbed is pretty fun. The execution is lacking, though. I finished the book out of mild curiosity to see how the story played out and because I needed the Supernatural bingo square for the 2016 Halloween Bingo.

This book was written as a movie tie-in, intended to serve as a prequel and Blair Witch style marketing hype. It refers to supplemental materials on a now-defunct website for the fake university that the fake author supposedly taught at. I suppose this is one of the downsides to the multimedia book idea that I enjoyed with Night Film. The book is forever, but the online supplementals are transient and render the book itself forever incomplete.

On a side note: I see that I originally rated this book 4 stars when I read it eleven years ago. Funny how our tastes and judgement change over time.

[Edwina Book Anaconda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perfect creep-fest story to go along with the dark and stormy nights that we've been having!

[Tom Garback · Rating 3 out of 5]

⭐️⭐️ 💫
Critical Score: D+
Personal Score: B

I loved the show Rose Red growing up, and in my journey to read every Stephen King book, I figured I’d throw in this promotional book—NOT written by King—as an excuse to revisit the tv show and get the fuller picture.

So this book is trash, but it’s really fascinating trash. I feel guilty saying I had a lot of fun reading this. It was super cozy, like an 80s pulpy gothic suspense, messy and ridiculous.

This book has quite the dichotomy of errors. On one side, it is cozy, derivative pulp. The haunting itself, the atmosphere, the romance, the glamour. That’s all fun if you turn your brain off.

On the other side, this is basically a self-satirizing book about the elite’s classism and racism. Because this is a diary by the elite herself, all it’s problematic politics could be interpreted as critiques rather than flaws of the book itself. Now, do I think Ridley Pearson was going for a sneaky subversion of the early 20th century oil tycoon and his wife? Not at all.

The book is so uncritical in its approach to its politics that I’d be shocked if this was satire. But if you want to take the book away from disappointing authorial intent, it’s pretty easy to do so. The writing is so melodramatic and idiotic that it’s best read as tongue-in-cheek. The indulgent gothic elements keep things fun.

Plus, there’s no historical richness here; Pearson’s research into the era is shallow. The fear factor is weak because the voice is so unserious and the explanations behind the haunting are noncommittal.

I did appreciate how queer this book is, but that’s nothing to make up for the racism and classism.

The pacing is super wonky but it didn’t bother me, and I flew through the pages from start to end.

The history behind the conception, publication, and promotion of this book is super fun. I wish those websites with bonus material were still up online, lol.

The foreword and afterword contradict each others’ timelines.

And those are my notes on the book. Now I’d like to review Rose Red, having rewatched it this week.

…

I know now that reviews on the show have always been pretty mixed. And while I see the flaws much more clearly now than when I was a tween, I still love this miniseries.

At its worst, Rose Res is simplistic, derivative, full of offensive tropes and damaging representation, and is stretched out over far too long a runtime.

But at its best it’s one of the funnest haunted house stories out there, one that goes all out in supernatural color and creative set pieces, has a charming hokeyness, a vibrant cast, maximum suspense, some decent scares, rich historical background, and an epically dreadful finale.

It would have worked much better as the originally intended feature film retelling of The Haunting (pitched to Spielberg, no less), but the ‘99 Haunting remake destroyed that promising pitch.

And it would have worked *even* better as a novel, where King could have fleshed out the characters and themes to their full potential. King’s writing isn’t sharp and efficient enough for screenplays. We can see that more closely in the screenplay for Storm of the Century. Rose Red is one of those series where the whole time I’m thinking of ways I’d revise it, which doesn’t make me dislike it; it makes me fonder. It makes me feel inspired and giddy. Like a kid again. I am such a nerd for this series.

So I’d give Rose Red personally an A, even if it’s critically…like, a C+.

[Maika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Esta es la historia de los Rimbauer, Ellen y John, acontecidos entre los años 1907 y 1928, un testimonio que se hallará escrito en el diario de Ellen, testigo en primera persona de lo que les sucedió en su residencia Red Rose, donde Ellen volcará sus miedos, confusiones y sexualidad y sobre todo de las tragedias a las que tuvieron que enfrentarse durante ese período.

Seremos espectadores en primera persona de la inocencia de Ellen cuando ansía casarse con John, hasta la madurez de la protagonista donde se da cuenta de que nada es como ella esperaba. Ella solo quería casarse con un prominente magnate en el negocio del petróleo, y crear una familia dentro del marco de esa preciosa mansión, Rose Red, que John está construyendo en Seattle.
Ellen y Sukeena, su amiga y asistente personal, conocerán desde el principio que la casa es un Ente más, con sus propios planes y deseos, que tiene vida propia.
Pronto comenzarán las desapariciones y las muertes, tanto del personal como de los invitados.

Suena genial ¿verdad? Pues aún con todos estos ingredientes, a mí no ha conseguido convencerme.
Os explico por qué.
Esto es un folletín romántico-dramático de principio a fin con algún sucinto tinte de terror, que no leeremos hasta aproximadamente la página 120 (la novela tiene 284), donde sí se darán rienda suelta a los deseos sexuales y las tribulaciones de los personajes, de las depravaciones inherentes a algunos seres humanos.
Quizá esperaba otra cosa, quizá esperaba que la casa me atemorizase y perturbara mi descanso, pero por desgracia aquellos pasajes oscuros quedaban en segundo plano ya que tras unas imágenes impactantes (que sí las hay) se daba paso de nuevo a las aventuras y escarceos amorosos-sexuales de los personajes, que ya encontraba reiteradas y aburridas.
¿Alguien la ha leído? ¿Qué os ha parecido?

[Christy Swanson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book .
It definitely got me out of my history fiction slup.

[DAISY READS HORROR · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly one of the most spookiest books I have ever read! This book gave me the chills while reading it. I loved the 1900's time setting of the story and the fact that it was written in diary form added a reality element that made it even scarier.

I read the book after watching the movie and I am very glad I did! The book goes hand in hand. The movie Rose Red picks up where the book leaves off. This story had very odd occurences and very scary scenarios. I found Ellen to be mad and creepy herself. Her praying to the dark side was chilly. Sukeena was just as spooky. Then to have their relationship be exposed was just a shocker. Rose Red is a mansion I would be terrified of visiting let alone live there! Oh My goodness all of the freaky things that happened there!! Thank goodness this is a work of fiction or I would be super scared to sleep right now! lol

[Sarah Asp · Rating 1 out of 5]

I got half way through and since reading is a joy to me and something I do for relaxation and fun I could not read any more. It was truly awful. If I run out of toilet paper I know what to reach for. The premise was ridiculous and the long long description of life with her terrible sexually deviant husband was mind numbing. Really I don't have anything good to say about the book except it looked intriguing from the front cover. Good job I got it at goodwill for $1 or I'd have another regret to add to the regret I have over the hours of my life I can't get back.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

No wonder it read like Fiction - it is fiction! LOL Apparently it was written by Stephen King, which also explains why I devoured it in one sitting. He's one of my favourites. I'm now left wondering who wrote the online blog about the subsequent investigation that I read a few months ago. It didn't read like King at all, and was pretty incomplete. A horror of a house, reminiscent of the one in the Flowers in the Attic series.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Ellen married industrialist John Rimbauer she started a diary to keep track of all her activities throughout her honeymoon and life. Along with her handmaid, Sukeena, Ellen’s diary became her best friend and she tells it all the secrets behind the doors of her mansion, Rose Red. Those secrets include many horrific and unexplained tragedies and disappearances.

This book had a great creep factor to it. I think it was the way Ellen described things that had me looking over my shoulder a few times because I thought I heard someone/thing. Ellen’s slow descent into paranoia and madness is heartbreaking. I also got very agitated with how John treated her right from the start. He was demanding and controlling. He also had a roaming eye for younger women. I often had to remind myself of the time period this book takes place in because I could not understand why she stayed with him. I understand that the house had something to do with it, but she could have left him sooner. He treated her so badly.
Overall it was a good quick read with some interesting and some creepy moments.

[Elyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wanted it to be longer!

[Roy Pierce III · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a reread for me, as I was swept up in the media/marketing hype when the book and tv series were released. I thoroughly enjoyed the read, even if it was a little… contrived. The formula is fairly predictable, but still enjoyable. Worth the time if you enjoy the genre.

[J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a lesson in what constitutes progress. Found this on a rainy day in Venice Public Library and decided it might be sort of time-capsule creepy, a mouse-hole view into another era.

If I had had any idea whatsoever that this was in fact a companion novelization to a popular Stephen King miniseries... it would've remained on the shelf. But on this day I needed something to read, and my holds had yet to appear in the arrivals stack. Nothing about cover, flyleaf notes, or interior designations indicate that it was anything other than a 1902 diary, brought to light as historical artifact. So it was chosen the old fashioned way, without resort to pre-release info, review-page or online investigation.

We now forget how valuable those guidelines can be for choosing books. A few pages in, I wagered that the "actual diary excerpts" guarantee here was fake, but things proceed slowly enough in the initial chapters for that to stay a non-issue. After some chapters had passed, though, there was ample reason to think that this was all phony.

Most conspicuously Our Heroine, who is shockingly worldly and composed for a blushing Edwardian teenage bride. Considerations of corporate responsibility in the world markets, and an amazing openess to other cultures, combined with a virtual Our Bodies Our Selves enlightenment on things feminine conspire to give the game away.

By the middle of the book I realized I was thinking of her as some kind of turn-of-the-century Sarah Palin, all at once conversant on any theme that arises, and yet-- so permanently clueless.

This was once a tiny little penny-candy sitting on some counter of future delights, an unopened Bazooka Bubble Gum of a good idea. As it is, it's a black gooey blob on the underside of lost endeavors. But who really wrote this, who reworked it into senseless oblivion, and who really cares---- will all have to remain unanswered.

If I were a nine-year old girl in some pre-internet culture, who had never read any worthwhile fiction, I would love this book. As it actually stands, well ..... no.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Considering this was written as promotional material for a TV movie, there's actually something to The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer. There's not a lot to it, but it's not bad by any means.

There are a lot of clichés here (all of them, in fact), but who doesn't love a good haunted house book? The tone is inconsistent and the story doesn't make a lot of sense, but you've got a philandering oil baron husband, a psychically-sensitive housewife, a spooky African housemaid with powers, a Chinese medium with broken English, an Indian burial ground... the book relies on racial stereotypes of the time (early 1900's), which is a little gross but lends it authenticity. The house eats women and kills unfaithful men, and there are implications that the forces at play are something more than the Native Americans whose graves were disturbed, but nothing is really fleshed out.

The house changes shape sometimes. Sometimes there are ghosts but other times there are visions. Sometimes the house is the whim of Ellen Rimbauer, sometimes it is not. You just sort of have to go with it.

... now that I think about it, the book was kinda bad. But there is something readable and blithely enjoyable about it. I can't put my finger on what I found so appealing because when I think back critically, all I have is downsides.

There are a couple moments when the author breaks the diary-style in a jarring way with "I would later come to realize..." phrases and the like. If you're writing this in 1907, how do you know what you will come to realize many years from now? That's a pretty bad mistake.

Anyway I've got two TV movies to watch (Rose Red, for which this was written, and The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, which I suppose was made after the success of Rose Red.) They're probably terrible good too.

[Sistermagpie · Rating 1 out of 5]

As haunted house books go, this one had an interesting premise but I didn't find the story interesting. The biggest problem was the narrator, for me. The diary conceit is always difficult to pull off, perhaps especially when the book's set in the past. Ellen Rimbauer was, for me, an annoying combination of self-conscious historical voice and modern novel habits. For instance, I'm not going to say what a teenaged bride at the turn of the century would or wouldn't possibly know about, she did seem to have the standard interest in recording bodily functions, sex crimes and pretty much anything to do with sex.

Although she says over and over she never wants anyone to read the diary, she still feels the need to explain things to herself she would presumably already know. For instance, if you've bought a set of autographed books by Jack London, you would think you would know who Jack London was and not have to remind yourself he's a clever new writer. There's of course also a lot of very self-conscious references to past events and people innocently mentioned with no idea they will one day be household names.

Ellen occasionally takes time out of living a life that seems like would make her conservative to express concern for less privileged people or note how she's much more comfortable with them than she was at first. This is especially uncomfortable given that her "best friend" is her maid, a magical negro that she brought home from her honeymoon. Serious magical negro trope going on.

Presumably the idea was inspired by the Winchester Mystery house, but the idea of an ever-growing house that eats people is a more interesting idea than the tale of the abusive marriage it reflects here, imo.

[Sabrina Barnett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I went back an re-watched "Rose Red" recently (on VHS no less! Recorded straight from the magic talking box! Remnant of an ABC in whose programming only lawyers existed!), a mini-series remembered fondly by myself and about five other Americans, and decided to read (or, more accurately, listen) to this book. I found myself very pleasantly surprised by this lil' story, a nice spooky tale to enjoy of an evening, particularly for Winchester Mystery House enthusiasts such as myself. Nothing terribly deep, nothing terribly innovative, but an oddly soothing, almost old-fashioned, haunted house tale.



*I feel like I should also qualify my positive review, after reading many very negative ones, thusly: this book is what it is: a fun, if somewhat silly, ghost story in the tradition of "The House On Haunted Hill" and other Vincent Price gems. This is a good book to listen to; it might be less entertaining to read. It is, to me painfully obviously, NOT an actual diary of an actual Edwardian lady, this broad is way too open-minded and saucy in her writings to be real, but it is an enjoyably campy take on what an anonymous writer writing a fake diary as a companion to a Stephen King mini-series would think an Edwardian lady's thoughts would be like. Don't overthink this thing and you might just enjoy the ride.