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البذرة الخبيثة
بذور الشر تنتقل وتسري في دماء الآباء والاحفاد، (رودا) الطفلة المثيرة للتساؤلات والمحاطة بالغموض تنتقل مع والدتها لمسكن جديد وتنجح في كسب صداقات كل جيرانها.. تلاحظ الأم الكوارث الغريبة التي تلتصق بابنتها حيثما ذهبت، وتعتبرها مصادفات وحسب.. ولكن لم يخطر ببالها ان سلوك ابنتها المرعب ناتج عن بذرة الشر الخبيثة التي نبتت بداخلها وكشفت لها عن سر مريع.
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First published January 1, 1954
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About the author
William March
40 books86 followersWilliam March (born William Edward Campbell) was an American author and a highly decorated US Marine. The author of six novels and four short-story collections, March was a critical success and heralded as "the unrecognized genius of our time", without attaining popular appeal until after his death. His novels intertwine his own personal torment with the conflicts spawned by unresolved class, family, sexual, and racial matters. March often presents characters who, through no fault of their own, are victims of chance, and writes that freedom can only be obtained by being true to one's nature and humanity.
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October 10, 2018
The Bad Seed by William March is a 1972 Dell publication. This book was originally published in 1954.
Evil children can be found in literature, going back centuries. Matilda from ‘The Monk’ by Matthew Lewis ,written back in 1796, for example. However, evil children became a popular horror novel trope beginning in the fifties and reaching an epic peak in the seventies.
Evil children still make an appearance in movies and novels, never completely going out of style, and of course, are not solely confined to the horror or thriller categories.
If you do a Google search for a list of ‘Evil Children’ in literature, you’ll get an eclectic, and interesting group of lists. However, there is always one child that makes the list every single time: little Rhoda Penmark.
I read this book decades ago, and later watched the 1956 film version. While I remembered the basics of the story, I’d forgotten most of the finer details that made this book such a fantastic thriller. I’m glad I picked this one as part of my October/Halloween reading this year. It’s not a supernatural thriller, but is spine tingling, and hair raising, all the same- even after all these years.
“It seemed to her than violence was an inescapable factor of the heart, perhaps the most important factor of all- an ineradicable thing that lay, like a bad seed, behind kindness, behind compassion, behind the embrace of love itself. Sometimes it lay deeply hidden, sometimes it lay close to the surface; but always it was there, ready to appear, under the right conditions, in all its irrational dreadfulness.”
With her husband away on business for an entire summer, Christine is alone with her smart, clever, and precocious, eight -year old daughter, Rhoda. The summer gets off to a tragic beginning, when a little boy in Rhoda’s class dies. Christina begins to have dark thoughts about her daughter’s peculiar behavior, which sparks a sudden keen interest in crimes and those who commit serial murder. As Christine becomes more aware of her daughter’s lack of conscience, the coldness in her, she becomes increasingly anxious. This does not go unnoticed by Christine’s neighbor, who thinks the world of her and Rhoda.
The deeper Christine researches the mind of murderers, especially female serial killers, she begins to trace her own family tree, which reveals a horrible, shocking truth. Can evil be inherited?
It’s the classic debate of ‘nature versus nurture’.
I am so glad I put everything down and gave this sinister little book another look. I was struck by many things this second time around that my younger self wouldn’t have pondered on for too long, or noticed at all, taking everything at face value – ironically.
The book seems a little ahead of its time and tackled some feminist topics we still face today. Except for Leroy, the female characters outnumber the males and are far more dominant. The psychology, especially in the 50s, is very interesting, and the killers Christine researched were real life murderers, several of whom I’d never heard of. This, of course, required some internet investigations, and informed me of some rather shocking true crime cases!
Now that we’ve all become so jaded, a book like this one wouldn’t raise eyebrows today, as it is all too obvious. But, in the fifties, the female criminal is still considered rare, and forget about suspecting such an adorable, innocent looking little girl of being a cold -blooded killer. But, what makes this book so effective, and still quite chilling, even by today’s desensitized viewpoint, is the calculation and mannerisms Rhoda exhibits, and the cluelessness of everyone around her.
Not only that, it raised pertinent questions about inherited proclivities, and a examines the shrewd, diabolical mind a sociopath, who plans and carries out premeditated crimes without the slightest bit of remorse. I’m still impressed with this book, despite its predictable nature. This is a novel that set a president, a trend-setter, and helped spawn an entire trope, both in books and movies, featuring sinister, evil children.
But, more importantly, we are reminded that looks can be deceiving, that evil has many faces, and despite their cherubic little faces and adorable giggles, even children can not be presumed innocent.
4 stars
Evil children can be found in literature, going back centuries. Matilda from ‘The Monk’ by Matthew Lewis ,written back in 1796, for example. However, evil children became a popular horror novel trope beginning in the fifties and reaching an epic peak in the seventies.
Evil children still make an appearance in movies and novels, never completely going out of style, and of course, are not solely confined to the horror or thriller categories.
If you do a Google search for a list of ‘Evil Children’ in literature, you’ll get an eclectic, and interesting group of lists. However, there is always one child that makes the list every single time: little Rhoda Penmark.
I read this book decades ago, and later watched the 1956 film version. While I remembered the basics of the story, I’d forgotten most of the finer details that made this book such a fantastic thriller. I’m glad I picked this one as part of my October/Halloween reading this year. It’s not a supernatural thriller, but is spine tingling, and hair raising, all the same- even after all these years.
“It seemed to her than violence was an inescapable factor of the heart, perhaps the most important factor of all- an ineradicable thing that lay, like a bad seed, behind kindness, behind compassion, behind the embrace of love itself. Sometimes it lay deeply hidden, sometimes it lay close to the surface; but always it was there, ready to appear, under the right conditions, in all its irrational dreadfulness.”
With her husband away on business for an entire summer, Christine is alone with her smart, clever, and precocious, eight -year old daughter, Rhoda. The summer gets off to a tragic beginning, when a little boy in Rhoda’s class dies. Christina begins to have dark thoughts about her daughter’s peculiar behavior, which sparks a sudden keen interest in crimes and those who commit serial murder. As Christine becomes more aware of her daughter’s lack of conscience, the coldness in her, she becomes increasingly anxious. This does not go unnoticed by Christine’s neighbor, who thinks the world of her and Rhoda.
The deeper Christine researches the mind of murderers, especially female serial killers, she begins to trace her own family tree, which reveals a horrible, shocking truth. Can evil be inherited?
It’s the classic debate of ‘nature versus nurture’.
I am so glad I put everything down and gave this sinister little book another look. I was struck by many things this second time around that my younger self wouldn’t have pondered on for too long, or noticed at all, taking everything at face value – ironically.
The book seems a little ahead of its time and tackled some feminist topics we still face today. Except for Leroy, the female characters outnumber the males and are far more dominant. The psychology, especially in the 50s, is very interesting, and the killers Christine researched were real life murderers, several of whom I’d never heard of. This, of course, required some internet investigations, and informed me of some rather shocking true crime cases!
Now that we’ve all become so jaded, a book like this one wouldn’t raise eyebrows today, as it is all too obvious. But, in the fifties, the female criminal is still considered rare, and forget about suspecting such an adorable, innocent looking little girl of being a cold -blooded killer. But, what makes this book so effective, and still quite chilling, even by today’s desensitized viewpoint, is the calculation and mannerisms Rhoda exhibits, and the cluelessness of everyone around her.
Not only that, it raised pertinent questions about inherited proclivities, and a examines the shrewd, diabolical mind a sociopath, who plans and carries out premeditated crimes without the slightest bit of remorse. I’m still impressed with this book, despite its predictable nature. This is a novel that set a president, a trend-setter, and helped spawn an entire trope, both in books and movies, featuring sinister, evil children.
But, more importantly, we are reminded that looks can be deceiving, that evil has many faces, and despite their cherubic little faces and adorable giggles, even children can not be presumed innocent.
4 stars
May 8, 2019
When a thriller written in 1954 crosses your path and you take a chance on it and happen to really enjoy it, it can only be described as like finding an unopened Christmas Gift in the middle of July.
The Bad Seed is a 1954 novel by American Writer William March and tells the story of a mother’s realization that her young daughter has committed murder.
A short but chilling and suspenseful piece of fiction that really held my interest as is as relevant now as it was back in 1954. What happens when an ordinary family realize their their child may have committed murder and what painful questions must a parent ask themselves. Can evil exist in a child so young and can a parent miss the signs or choose to ignore them.
I loved the character development in this novel especially of the main characters as you get a sense of who they are in a short space of time which is down to good writing on the authors part.
I listened to this one on audible and I honestly can’t recommend it as I found the voices too over played for the story and felt the narrators more suitable for an episode of “ Little House On the Prairie - especially the character of Mrs Olseson so I would recommend purchasing a hard copy of this one as the narration is too dramatized.
A fast paced short thriller that had my attention from the very first line.
The Bad Seed is a 1954 novel by American Writer William March and tells the story of a mother’s realization that her young daughter has committed murder.
A short but chilling and suspenseful piece of fiction that really held my interest as is as relevant now as it was back in 1954. What happens when an ordinary family realize their their child may have committed murder and what painful questions must a parent ask themselves. Can evil exist in a child so young and can a parent miss the signs or choose to ignore them.
I loved the character development in this novel especially of the main characters as you get a sense of who they are in a short space of time which is down to good writing on the authors part.
I listened to this one on audible and I honestly can’t recommend it as I found the voices too over played for the story and felt the narrators more suitable for an episode of “ Little House On the Prairie - especially the character of Mrs Olseson so I would recommend purchasing a hard copy of this one as the narration is too dramatized.
A fast paced short thriller that had my attention from the very first line.
January 3, 2017
It seemed to her suddenly that violence was an inescapable factor of the heart, perhaps the most important factor of all - an ineradicable thing that lay, like a bad seed, behind kindness, behind compassion, behind the embrace of love itself. Sometimes it lay deeply hidden, sometimes it lay close to the surface, but always it was there, ready to appear, under the right conditions, in all its irrational dreadfulness.
How many of you I wonder remember or have seen the 1956 movie classic based on the novel starring Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack and William Hopper. I was still a child when I first saw it and it made a lasting impression, I was terrified and it was not because of some demented clown or blood thirsty vampire, no I was petrified of a seemingly sweet and beautiful, golden haired child who was about the same age I was. And I remember very well trying to hide or cover up this fear as my parents were reluctant to let me watch it in the first place. If I was ever going to be allowed to see this kind of thing again it was paramount that I remain unaffected. It was only many years later that I learned that my apparent cool demeanor left my parents more than a little disconcerted.
So here we have a case where the memories of this movie eventually led me to the book. I was not disappointed.
A true thriller from yesteryear, The Bad Seed is the story of a child serial killer. Her name is Rhoda Penmark and as the story opens, it would seem that nobody save Rhoda is aware of her evil side. What they see is a sweet and precocious girl who seems almost to good to be true.
But then terrible things begin to happen and it is odd that Rhoda always happens to be right there. Her mother, Christine begins to think about earlier disturbing events surrounding Rhoda and starts to question things. Meanwhile distressing reports come in from the prestigious school that Rhoda attends. And even more alarming discoveries are made, hidden among Rhoda’s things.
Imagine, if you will for just a moment, that slowly, over time, you discovered incontrovertible proof that your child was in fact a cold blooded killer.
Positively chilling, The Bad Seed is an intelligent, spine tingling thriller that withstands well the test of time. Guaranteed to raise your hackles!
But the little girl was not to be diverted from her game. She did a little pirouette, curtseyed, and said “What will you give me Father? What will you give me if I give you a basket of kisses?”
How many of you I wonder remember or have seen the 1956 movie classic based on the novel starring Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack and William Hopper. I was still a child when I first saw it and it made a lasting impression, I was terrified and it was not because of some demented clown or blood thirsty vampire, no I was petrified of a seemingly sweet and beautiful, golden haired child who was about the same age I was. And I remember very well trying to hide or cover up this fear as my parents were reluctant to let me watch it in the first place. If I was ever going to be allowed to see this kind of thing again it was paramount that I remain unaffected. It was only many years later that I learned that my apparent cool demeanor left my parents more than a little disconcerted.
So here we have a case where the memories of this movie eventually led me to the book. I was not disappointed.
A true thriller from yesteryear, The Bad Seed is the story of a child serial killer. Her name is Rhoda Penmark and as the story opens, it would seem that nobody save Rhoda is aware of her evil side. What they see is a sweet and precocious girl who seems almost to good to be true.
But then terrible things begin to happen and it is odd that Rhoda always happens to be right there. Her mother, Christine begins to think about earlier disturbing events surrounding Rhoda and starts to question things. Meanwhile distressing reports come in from the prestigious school that Rhoda attends. And even more alarming discoveries are made, hidden among Rhoda’s things.
Imagine, if you will for just a moment, that slowly, over time, you discovered incontrovertible proof that your child was in fact a cold blooded killer.
Positively chilling, The Bad Seed is an intelligent, spine tingling thriller that withstands well the test of time. Guaranteed to raise your hackles!
But the little girl was not to be diverted from her game. She did a little pirouette, curtseyed, and said “What will you give me Father? What will you give me if I give you a basket of kisses?”
May 24, 2021
*3.5 stars *
April 5, 2019
The Bad Seed is a riveting, engulfing read. I have seen the 1956 movie version many times and really liked it. I didn't even know there was a book until recently. The book is well researched and well written with characters who stay with you especially the vacilating, weak mother, Christine, the malevolent, cold daughter Rhoda, the landlady and busybody, Mrs. Breedlove, and Leroy, the odious groundskeeper. The author includes stories of real life killers under the guise of a mystery writer friend who keeps files of such things.
Many have written since the book was published that a tendency to kill is not an inherited trait which is the basis of the book. The lack of compassion or empathy in a child and one who starts out killing animals, as Rhoda does in the story, are signs of a psychopath though. The book includes a lot more going on beneath the surface, than the movie, such as the perverse attraction that Leroy has for Rhoda. And there is a lot more killing in the book.
The author also takes advantage of our culture's obsession with beauty, this pretty little girl is overlooked by those closest to her and made allowances for, because she looks and behaves beautifully. Only her teachers and other children have glimpsed the monster beneath the mask. Her seemingly ordinary and polite behavior is a charade she had learned through the years to mirror emotions she is incapable of feeling.
Many have written since the book was published that a tendency to kill is not an inherited trait which is the basis of the book. The lack of compassion or empathy in a child and one who starts out killing animals, as Rhoda does in the story, are signs of a psychopath though. The book includes a lot more going on beneath the surface, than the movie, such as the perverse attraction that Leroy has for Rhoda. And there is a lot more killing in the book.
The author also takes advantage of our culture's obsession with beauty, this pretty little girl is overlooked by those closest to her and made allowances for, because she looks and behaves beautifully. Only her teachers and other children have glimpsed the monster beneath the mask. Her seemingly ordinary and polite behavior is a charade she had learned through the years to mirror emotions she is incapable of feeling.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 12, 2020
I always try to discover the Goth elements within beloved horror classics. There is but a few of them, and so I do this in order to find the true American thread: that of Gothic Horror, found from New World horror fables to Hawthorne; from Poe to Norman Bates. What makes them American, what makes them monstrous? Why are they still relevant? Why are they still imitated and remade?
The Bad Seed is "The Good Son." It is "The Omen." Guess it's this year's "Hereditary."
Except it came first. And for the themes to include homicide by infant, well, it was avant garde, no? For tea ladies to have a book club, for that book to be about a murderous imp!
William March writes similarly to James M. Cain--the mid 50s were a simple time of pulp plots and killer dames. But he's not always exciting--he lingers in the domestic details that are dull as hell. But I guess its to offset the fact that evil bloodlines exist. Especially in idyllic America.
The best surprises: Horrific anecdotes of bloody murder; the picture of a matriarch gettin' roasted in the electric chair.
The Bad Seed is "The Good Son." It is "The Omen." Guess it's this year's "Hereditary."
Except it came first. And for the themes to include homicide by infant, well, it was avant garde, no? For tea ladies to have a book club, for that book to be about a murderous imp!
William March writes similarly to James M. Cain--the mid 50s were a simple time of pulp plots and killer dames. But he's not always exciting--he lingers in the domestic details that are dull as hell. But I guess its to offset the fact that evil bloodlines exist. Especially in idyllic America.
The best surprises: Horrific anecdotes of bloody murder; the picture of a matriarch gettin' roasted in the electric chair.
June 11, 2018
Everyone who pisses off creepy 8 year old Rhoda dies – she couldn’t be murdering them. Could she…? DUuuuuuUUUUuuuuuhhhhh… waaaaaaaaaaaauUUGHghhhhhh! Muauarrrhghhhh! Wap wap waaaaaaap. Sorry, just trying to wrangle my brain to review this garbage semi-coherently!
Awful, just awful. The “pscyho kid that kills” premise might’ve been fun had there been anything more to The Bad Seed than that. Except William March was as unimaginative a storyteller as he was incompetent a writer so does nothing with the concept beyond the initial murder.
Most of the book is spent in the company of Rhoda’s insufferable mother, Christine, a prime candidate for the most stupid, gormless twit in all literature, who putters about wringing her hands wondering if her kid’s evil enough to kill. There’s nothing worse than waiting for the characters in the story to catch up to what the reader already knows, especially when that’s all that’s going on! There’s zero tension, it’s just duller than dull.
What little story there is is pathetic. After the opening murder, a moronic pedo janitor taunts Rhoda that he knows she killed that kid and that he’s gonna blackmail her. Gee, d’you think disturbed Rhoda’s gonna murder the moronic pedo janitor to keep herself safe, considering she’s killed before for much less??! It’s not just obvious, it’s tedious as it takes the entire book for Rhoda to get around to something so predictable.
So what happens between the murder that opens the book and the murder that closes it? Nothing worthwhile. Christine writes letters to her absent husband in an annoying, melodramatic tone and visits her boring friends for endless banal teas – ie. scenes that have nothing to do with anything. Later on – hack that March was – Christine conveniently remembers some key details about her mother that leads her to the retarded genetics explanation for why Rhoda is the way she is. Apparently if you have an ancestor who was a murderer, your lineage is doomed to become murderers too. Beyond. Fucking. Dumb.
The dreary characters are one-dimensional, there’s too much useless padding throughout and all of it was poorly written (those run-on sentences – it’s called a full stop, dude!). It even feels like March was workshopping ideas for the story’s final act as he was writing it and forgot to take them out - Christine and some librarian chat about how to end the novel “she” is writing! Garbage.
This feeble book wasn’t at any point interesting, creepy or suspenseful. Rosemary’s Baby and Psycho are similarly pulpy horror from this era but not nearly as terrible, mostly because Ira Levin and Robert Bloch brought stories to the table! This was absolutely shit - I can see why it’s largely forgotten these days. The Bad Seed is a bad pseudo-horror novel.
Awful, just awful. The “pscyho kid that kills” premise might’ve been fun had there been anything more to The Bad Seed than that. Except William March was as unimaginative a storyteller as he was incompetent a writer so does nothing with the concept beyond the initial murder.
Most of the book is spent in the company of Rhoda’s insufferable mother, Christine, a prime candidate for the most stupid, gormless twit in all literature, who putters about wringing her hands wondering if her kid’s evil enough to kill. There’s nothing worse than waiting for the characters in the story to catch up to what the reader already knows, especially when that’s all that’s going on! There’s zero tension, it’s just duller than dull.
What little story there is is pathetic. After the opening murder, a moronic pedo janitor taunts Rhoda that he knows she killed that kid and that he’s gonna blackmail her. Gee, d’you think disturbed Rhoda’s gonna murder the moronic pedo janitor to keep herself safe, considering she’s killed before for much less??! It’s not just obvious, it’s tedious as it takes the entire book for Rhoda to get around to something so predictable.
So what happens between the murder that opens the book and the murder that closes it? Nothing worthwhile. Christine writes letters to her absent husband in an annoying, melodramatic tone and visits her boring friends for endless banal teas – ie. scenes that have nothing to do with anything. Later on – hack that March was – Christine conveniently remembers some key details about her mother that leads her to the retarded genetics explanation for why Rhoda is the way she is. Apparently if you have an ancestor who was a murderer, your lineage is doomed to become murderers too. Beyond. Fucking. Dumb.
The dreary characters are one-dimensional, there’s too much useless padding throughout and all of it was poorly written (those run-on sentences – it’s called a full stop, dude!). It even feels like March was workshopping ideas for the story’s final act as he was writing it and forgot to take them out - Christine and some librarian chat about how to end the novel “she” is writing! Garbage.
This feeble book wasn’t at any point interesting, creepy or suspenseful. Rosemary’s Baby and Psycho are similarly pulpy horror from this era but not nearly as terrible, mostly because Ira Levin and Robert Bloch brought stories to the table! This was absolutely shit - I can see why it’s largely forgotten these days. The Bad Seed is a bad pseudo-horror novel.
April 16, 2019
I decided it was time to read William March's The Bad Seed, though this Kindle edition was bought long ago, after seeing the 1956 version by Mervyn Leroy last weekend.
All excerpts are from this edition.
"Movie Adaptation of William March’s THE BAD SEED 1956: Produced by Warner Bros. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Starring Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, and Eileen Heckart. Screenplay by John Lee Mahin. Academy Award nominee for Best Actress, Best Actress in a Supporting Role (both McCormack and Heckart were nominated), and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. "
A little bit about the author.
"William March (1893–1954), born William Edward March Campbell in Mobile, Alabama, was an American novelist and short-story writer. He served in the Marines during World War I and was recognized with the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, and the Croix de Guerre. His first novel, Company K, was based largely on his wartime experiences. A prolific writer of short stories, he was a four-time winner of the O. Henry Prize. The Bad Seed was an immediate critical and commercial success, the source for a Tony Award–winning Broadway play, and a finalist for the National Book Award. Sadly, March died of a heart attack just weeks after publication. "
I come away from this book and the movie in a lesser degree with horror of the evil tendency and actual evil ways of some. The book had a more chilling effect on me, though the movie was quite an excellent in its portrayal, it did not go into certain details and feelings that the mother had for her daughter when she comes to the point of no return concerning the evil doing and other factors described. In the spoiler section at the end I will compare and contrast the movie and the book.
Before going on more I wanted to comment on this quote from the Foreword.
"It probably says something about the evolution in attitudes about gender and girlhood—not to mention mental illness and sociopathy—that William March’s book would be unlikely to have the same chilling or shocking effect were it published for the first time today. For one thing, our ideas about good and evil have been complicated and expanded upon thanks to advances in the fields of psychology and criminology, not to mention child development. "
Maybe this had a chilling effect on me because of the idea of evil vs. good which to me is not an "evolution in attitudes" that has complicated the two into a gray area. I think society has taken a step towards looking at evil more normal that it should be; that good goes into the gray area making things unclear but for continual excuses of behavior. Is there mental illness? Of course but there is human tendency in all that must reach for the good and not give way to the evil that should remain dormant. When society has story after story, movie after movie, and yes book after book with such that things are not clear but muddled, is society to benefit? Are there truly people that are born bad, "bad seeds"? I certainly think so. Can they be helped? Some many but many may not. What does society do? It has to wait because someone's mind is not known but actions are known and bad thoughts without action are not a crime; but only to God.
You can certainly disagree with me.
I suppose it was the time when authors like to push buttons on the reading public with the talk of sex and psychoanalysis which goes along this line. Leroy's comments about the women around him and what they need. This was not my favorite part but I suppose it laid out the characters but in my opinion, not necessary.
For those who are "true crime" fans the discussion on this subject and the many real names mentioned might add to your enjoyment. Though this book was chilling I found it a thoughtful wonderful read about a mother who must come to terms with what life sent her way.
The story in short - Christine Penmark must care for her daughter herself while her husband is working far away. Neighbors help her take care of her young daughter, Rhoda who seems to have manners in perfection but they do not know what her mother knows especially about a little boy who has drowned at a class picnic.
I wanted to add this quote from another author and book written 100 years or so before The Bad Seed, that sums up a bad seed of a person.
“In most criminals, however abandoned, there are touches of humanity, — relics of virtue; and the true delineator of mankind often incurs the taunt of bad hearts and dull minds, for showing that even the worst alloy has some particles of gold, and even the best that come stamped from the mint of Nature have some adulteration of the dross. But there are exceptions, though few, to the general rule, — exceptions, when the conscience lies utterly dead, and when good or bad are things indifferent but as means to some selfish end. So was it with the protege of the atheist. Envy and hate filled up his whole being, and the consciousness of superior talent only made him curse the more all who passed him in the sunlight with a fairer form or happier fortunes.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Zanoni
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Spoiler Alert!
I liked the ending of the movie because Rhoda gets what she deserves and the mother lives but the book ending was the one based more on reality. The daughter is taken to the hospital so the pills did not kill her. The mother is dead and the husband has no idea about what his wife went through because she burned her unsent letters to him. In the movie Rhoda is killed by lightning and the mother lives.
In the book Christine's father had died in the war whereas in the movie her father sees her. In the book research about the Denkers and her memories give her the truth, whereas in the movie the father helps full in the blanks, that they adopted her.
In the movie Leroy is killed but Rhoda is not near, as in the book Rhoda talks to the dying man and Christine sees and is horrified.
There are also more details of the other characters which makes the book more engaging.
Overall, I liked them both but the book is much more and even if you had seen the movie reading the book is worth it.
I finally saw the new version with Rob Lowe, it was done well but several differences that the mother died at child birth and father starts to unwind the horror of his daughter being a killer of those who stand in her way. Patty McCormick, the daughter in the older version, played the psychiatrist. They modernized it and a female Leroy who dies in a fire. I like the older version but the newer was watchable. I prefer both parents being alive and especially the angst of the mother. One thing the newer version had the daughter live and the parent die being wise to her father trying to overdose her. In the book and first movie, the daughter was saved from overdose, she was not wise to her parent trying to kill her.
All excerpts are from this edition.
"Movie Adaptation of William March’s THE BAD SEED 1956: Produced by Warner Bros. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Starring Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, and Eileen Heckart. Screenplay by John Lee Mahin. Academy Award nominee for Best Actress, Best Actress in a Supporting Role (both McCormack and Heckart were nominated), and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. "
A little bit about the author.
"William March (1893–1954), born William Edward March Campbell in Mobile, Alabama, was an American novelist and short-story writer. He served in the Marines during World War I and was recognized with the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, and the Croix de Guerre. His first novel, Company K, was based largely on his wartime experiences. A prolific writer of short stories, he was a four-time winner of the O. Henry Prize. The Bad Seed was an immediate critical and commercial success, the source for a Tony Award–winning Broadway play, and a finalist for the National Book Award. Sadly, March died of a heart attack just weeks after publication. "
I come away from this book and the movie in a lesser degree with horror of the evil tendency and actual evil ways of some. The book had a more chilling effect on me, though the movie was quite an excellent in its portrayal, it did not go into certain details and feelings that the mother had for her daughter when she comes to the point of no return concerning the evil doing and other factors described. In the spoiler section at the end I will compare and contrast the movie and the book.
Before going on more I wanted to comment on this quote from the Foreword.
"It probably says something about the evolution in attitudes about gender and girlhood—not to mention mental illness and sociopathy—that William March’s book would be unlikely to have the same chilling or shocking effect were it published for the first time today. For one thing, our ideas about good and evil have been complicated and expanded upon thanks to advances in the fields of psychology and criminology, not to mention child development. "
Maybe this had a chilling effect on me because of the idea of evil vs. good which to me is not an "evolution in attitudes" that has complicated the two into a gray area. I think society has taken a step towards looking at evil more normal that it should be; that good goes into the gray area making things unclear but for continual excuses of behavior. Is there mental illness? Of course but there is human tendency in all that must reach for the good and not give way to the evil that should remain dormant. When society has story after story, movie after movie, and yes book after book with such that things are not clear but muddled, is society to benefit? Are there truly people that are born bad, "bad seeds"? I certainly think so. Can they be helped? Some many but many may not. What does society do? It has to wait because someone's mind is not known but actions are known and bad thoughts without action are not a crime; but only to God.
You can certainly disagree with me.
I suppose it was the time when authors like to push buttons on the reading public with the talk of sex and psychoanalysis which goes along this line. Leroy's comments about the women around him and what they need. This was not my favorite part but I suppose it laid out the characters but in my opinion, not necessary.
For those who are "true crime" fans the discussion on this subject and the many real names mentioned might add to your enjoyment. Though this book was chilling I found it a thoughtful wonderful read about a mother who must come to terms with what life sent her way.
The story in short - Christine Penmark must care for her daughter herself while her husband is working far away. Neighbors help her take care of her young daughter, Rhoda who seems to have manners in perfection but they do not know what her mother knows especially about a little boy who has drowned at a class picnic.
I wanted to add this quote from another author and book written 100 years or so before The Bad Seed, that sums up a bad seed of a person.
“In most criminals, however abandoned, there are touches of humanity, — relics of virtue; and the true delineator of mankind often incurs the taunt of bad hearts and dull minds, for showing that even the worst alloy has some particles of gold, and even the best that come stamped from the mint of Nature have some adulteration of the dross. But there are exceptions, though few, to the general rule, — exceptions, when the conscience lies utterly dead, and when good or bad are things indifferent but as means to some selfish end. So was it with the protege of the atheist. Envy and hate filled up his whole being, and the consciousness of superior talent only made him curse the more all who passed him in the sunlight with a fairer form or happier fortunes.”
Edward Bulwer-Lytton's Zanoni
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Spoiler Alert!
I liked the ending of the movie because Rhoda gets what she deserves and the mother lives but the book ending was the one based more on reality. The daughter is taken to the hospital so the pills did not kill her. The mother is dead and the husband has no idea about what his wife went through because she burned her unsent letters to him. In the movie Rhoda is killed by lightning and the mother lives.
In the book Christine's father had died in the war whereas in the movie her father sees her. In the book research about the Denkers and her memories give her the truth, whereas in the movie the father helps full in the blanks, that they adopted her.
In the movie Leroy is killed but Rhoda is not near, as in the book Rhoda talks to the dying man and Christine sees and is horrified.
There are also more details of the other characters which makes the book more engaging.
Overall, I liked them both but the book is much more and even if you had seen the movie reading the book is worth it.
I finally saw the new version with Rob Lowe, it was done well but several differences that the mother died at child birth and father starts to unwind the horror of his daughter being a killer of those who stand in her way. Patty McCormick, the daughter in the older version, played the psychiatrist. They modernized it and a female Leroy who dies in a fire. I like the older version but the newer was watchable. I prefer both parents being alive and especially the angst of the mother. One thing the newer version had the daughter live and the parent die being wise to her father trying to overdose her. In the book and first movie, the daughter was saved from overdose, she was not wise to her parent trying to kill her.
February 6, 2017
...the monsters of real life usually looked and behaved in a more normal manner than their actually normal brothers and sisters; they presented a more convincing picture of virtue than virtue presented of itself - just as the wax rosebud or the plastic peach seemed more perfect to the eye, more what the mind thought a rose-bud or a peach should be, than the imperfect original from which it had been modelled.
William March's classic thriller focuses on a child killer - the pristine Rhoda Penmark, who enchants all adults with her shallow dimple, her charming curtsy, her innocent, serious expression. She dresses formally, never gets dirty, is never late or unseemly. Like the creepy doll that she is, she wears her hair in "hangman noose" braids. And, she worries her mother.
Though written in 1954, I found the story timeless and told in a very disturbing manner. As truth is slowly revealed, Mrs. Penmark becomes more and more suspicious of her daughter's cold, calculating ways. She does research using the guise of writing a novel. This adds a wonderful literary component to the story, in which people make suggestions of how the plot should unravel. She is advised in many ways, but above all to "keep the tension high". The tension is indeed maintained, throughout.
I've not seen the film, but the book has such a cinematic quality to it, I can see it (in glorious black and white) in my mind's eye.
It seemed to her suddenly that violence was an inescapable factor of the heart, perhaps the most important factor of all - an ineradicable thing that lay, like a bad seed, behind kindness, behind compassion, behind the embrace of love itself. Sometimes it lay deeply hidden, sometimes it lay close to the surface; but always it was there, ready to appear, under the right conditions, in all its irrational dreadfulness.
William March's classic thriller focuses on a child killer - the pristine Rhoda Penmark, who enchants all adults with her shallow dimple, her charming curtsy, her innocent, serious expression. She dresses formally, never gets dirty, is never late or unseemly. Like the creepy doll that she is, she wears her hair in "hangman noose" braids. And, she worries her mother.
Though written in 1954, I found the story timeless and told in a very disturbing manner. As truth is slowly revealed, Mrs. Penmark becomes more and more suspicious of her daughter's cold, calculating ways. She does research using the guise of writing a novel. This adds a wonderful literary component to the story, in which people make suggestions of how the plot should unravel. She is advised in many ways, but above all to "keep the tension high". The tension is indeed maintained, throughout.
I've not seen the film, but the book has such a cinematic quality to it, I can see it (in glorious black and white) in my mind's eye.
It seemed to her suddenly that violence was an inescapable factor of the heart, perhaps the most important factor of all - an ineradicable thing that lay, like a bad seed, behind kindness, behind compassion, behind the embrace of love itself. Sometimes it lay deeply hidden, sometimes it lay close to the surface; but always it was there, ready to appear, under the right conditions, in all its irrational dreadfulness.
January 27, 2018
“It seemed to her suddenly that violence was an inescapable factor of the heart, perhaps the most important factor of all - an ineradicable thing that lay, like a bad seed, behind kindness, behind compassion, behind the embrace of love itself. Sometimes it lay deeply hidden, sometimes it lay close to the surface; but always it was there, ready to appear, under the right conditions, in all its irrational dreadfulness.”
It's amazing to think this book is almost 60 years old - it was definitely a chilling and thought-provoking story for it's time, spawning at least two film adaptions. Rhoda Penmark is a charming, old-fashioned little girl with zero conscience and the mind and heart of a killer. Written in the 50's, the author dared to be bold and unapologetic about the possibility of a soulless child born due to bad genetics. Since I've seen both films more than once, I already knew the storyline well - they followed the book closely - but the well-done pen of March kept it alive and interesting.
While not high in suspense of quickly paced, it's more of a slow unraveling of a horrible discovery and its fallout. The book is primarily told through the point of view of the mother, Christine, who has her own morbid past that comes to light when she discovers how empty her daughter is. Some of the book is written through forms of letters to her husband who works off in the military and leaves her alone to have to deal with this horror on her own. The neighbors in the apartment of major characters - some there to admire little Rhoda, the janitor who keeps teasing her and discovers for himself how horrible the child really is, and convenient writers on serial killers and past crimes who help lead Christine conveniently on the right paths.
A slower pace isn't a crutch for the book since the psychological dread basically coats the pages. When a violent crime is discovered, it's soul-wrenching and beyond disturbing. The reader keeps seeing the mother of a dead child having frequent meltdowns, and the backstory with Rhoda and an elderly lady is unsettling. There is a murder that takes place on page, and it's definitely just as horrifying. The ending is an ironic twist on how sometimes creepiness lives on despite the good guy's best efforts.
It gets into your head, makes you think about things in a different light, and gives you the creeps. Psychologically disturbing and highly recommended to readers of any type of fiction. Nonfiction fans who like True Crime will likely enjoy it as well.
Note - Apparently Lifetime is remaking this movie - let's hope they avoid the melodrama they tend to produce. The foreword focusing on feminism implications may have been interesting in its way, but it also felt out of place. I think it was simply a case of the author choosing a small girl with skirts and pigtails as the more unassuming of the gender in comparison to the brawling and more hyper boys in the 50s.
It's amazing to think this book is almost 60 years old - it was definitely a chilling and thought-provoking story for it's time, spawning at least two film adaptions. Rhoda Penmark is a charming, old-fashioned little girl with zero conscience and the mind and heart of a killer. Written in the 50's, the author dared to be bold and unapologetic about the possibility of a soulless child born due to bad genetics. Since I've seen both films more than once, I already knew the storyline well - they followed the book closely - but the well-done pen of March kept it alive and interesting.
While not high in suspense of quickly paced, it's more of a slow unraveling of a horrible discovery and its fallout. The book is primarily told through the point of view of the mother, Christine, who has her own morbid past that comes to light when she discovers how empty her daughter is. Some of the book is written through forms of letters to her husband who works off in the military and leaves her alone to have to deal with this horror on her own. The neighbors in the apartment of major characters - some there to admire little Rhoda, the janitor who keeps teasing her and discovers for himself how horrible the child really is, and convenient writers on serial killers and past crimes who help lead Christine conveniently on the right paths.
A slower pace isn't a crutch for the book since the psychological dread basically coats the pages. When a violent crime is discovered, it's soul-wrenching and beyond disturbing. The reader keeps seeing the mother of a dead child having frequent meltdowns, and the backstory with Rhoda and an elderly lady is unsettling. There is a murder that takes place on page, and it's definitely just as horrifying. The ending is an ironic twist on how sometimes creepiness lives on despite the good guy's best efforts.
It gets into your head, makes you think about things in a different light, and gives you the creeps. Psychologically disturbing and highly recommended to readers of any type of fiction. Nonfiction fans who like True Crime will likely enjoy it as well.
Note - Apparently Lifetime is remaking this movie - let's hope they avoid the melodrama they tend to produce. The foreword focusing on feminism implications may have been interesting in its way, but it also felt out of place. I think it was simply a case of the author choosing a small girl with skirts and pigtails as the more unassuming of the gender in comparison to the brawling and more hyper boys in the 50s.
June 16, 2016
Eu fiquei vários minutos pensando en quantas estrelas dar. A verdade é que eu não consigo pensar em nada pra mudar. Acho que 4,5 estrelas seria o ideal, porque eu terminei com uma sensação de que queria um pouquinho mais de profundidade na história. Eu me peguei pensando que já li/vi essa história antes, mas precisa se levar em consideração que o livro é de 1954!! Com certeza pra essa época foi inovador.
O livro fala de uma menina de 8 anos que já é uma pequena máquina de matança. O thriller psicológico aqui é de ótima qualidade. Eu fiquei extremamente intrigado e viciado em ver mais cenas da Rhoda. Eu não sabia de torcia contra ou a favor dela, porque queria ver badalos e mortes.
Foi uma surpresa até. Fiquei com medo de ficar entediado, de ser muito abstrato, mas é intrigante 100% do tempo e eu queria desesperadamente saber o fim. Recomendo forte.
O livro fala de uma menina de 8 anos que já é uma pequena máquina de matança. O thriller psicológico aqui é de ótima qualidade. Eu fiquei extremamente intrigado e viciado em ver mais cenas da Rhoda. Eu não sabia de torcia contra ou a favor dela, porque queria ver badalos e mortes.
Foi uma surpresa até. Fiquei com medo de ficar entediado, de ser muito abstrato, mas é intrigante 100% do tempo e eu queria desesperadamente saber o fim. Recomendo forte.
September 5, 2025
From 1954
The psychopathic child in this story is driven by acquisitiveness more than the drive to kill. But she does kill to get what she wants. This is well researched, talks about murderers through the years, how in the 1800s female killers did it for insurance money. Genetics and inheritance plays a big part in this.
01/2011
A surprisingly serious book, very 1950s with its emphasis on psychoanalysis and genetic disposition, yet seemingly ahead of its time too, with its examination of an eight-year-old psychopathic serial killer.
The psychopathic child in this story is driven by acquisitiveness more than the drive to kill. But she does kill to get what she wants. This is well researched, talks about murderers through the years, how in the 1800s female killers did it for insurance money. Genetics and inheritance plays a big part in this.
01/2011
A surprisingly serious book, very 1950s with its emphasis on psychoanalysis and genetic disposition, yet seemingly ahead of its time too, with its examination of an eight-year-old psychopathic serial killer.
December 4, 2024
Okay, so you know when you read a book and it just claws its way under your skin? That’s The Bad Seed by William March. This one left me sitting in silence, staring at the wall, questioning EVERYTHING!
The thing about The Bad Seed that really wrecked me—like, kept-me-up-at-night level wrecked—is how it digs into the idea of evil. Is it something you’re born with? Can you inherit it? Or is it society that twists you? March doesn’t give you any easy answers, and that just makes it worse. You’ll find yourself thinking, “What would I do if this was my kid?” I hated feeling like this book was poking at me.
This is also suburban housewife horror. It’s so fake and shiny on the surface—everyone’s polite, everything looks fine—but you know there’s rot under it all. It’s like peeling back the wallpaper in a perfect house and finding mold everywhere. Or eating a pretty cake and finding a long blonde hair. One character sees Rhoda's mother, Christine and asks what's wrong with her, then she says she looks sick, SLOPPY. That word "sloppy" rattled around in my brain!
I can’t even tell you how many times I wanted to scream at the pages. How many times my eyes widened or my mouth dropped open. So much more realistic/brutal than the movie.
Look, if you haven’t read this yet, please do yourself a favor. It’s not just a horror classic—it's the iconic book of a whole sub-genre. This IS THE creepy kid book. Everything else is measured by it.
I was gonna dock a star for the dad, I hated him, but I think I just convinced myself he adds that extra layer of creepy on so thick.
The thing about The Bad Seed that really wrecked me—like, kept-me-up-at-night level wrecked—is how it digs into the idea of evil. Is it something you’re born with? Can you inherit it? Or is it society that twists you? March doesn’t give you any easy answers, and that just makes it worse. You’ll find yourself thinking, “What would I do if this was my kid?” I hated feeling like this book was poking at me.
This is also suburban housewife horror. It’s so fake and shiny on the surface—everyone’s polite, everything looks fine—but you know there’s rot under it all. It’s like peeling back the wallpaper in a perfect house and finding mold everywhere. Or eating a pretty cake and finding a long blonde hair. One character sees Rhoda's mother, Christine and asks what's wrong with her, then she says she looks sick, SLOPPY. That word "sloppy" rattled around in my brain!
I can’t even tell you how many times I wanted to scream at the pages. How many times my eyes widened or my mouth dropped open. So much more realistic/brutal than the movie.
Look, if you haven’t read this yet, please do yourself a favor. It’s not just a horror classic—it's the iconic book of a whole sub-genre. This IS THE creepy kid book. Everything else is measured by it.
I was gonna dock a star for the dad, I hated him, but I think I just convinced myself he adds that extra layer of creepy on so thick.
February 26, 2025
"What happens to ordinary families into whose midst a child serial killer is born?"
That is the question at the center of this Classic Thriller...
Charming little Rhoda Penmark, with her hangman braids, is the original creepy kid. The author uses interesting words to describe her hairdo, but as the story progresses and the plot thickens, you begin to understand its significance.
The Bad Seed was originally published in 1954 and became a bestselling novel, a successful Broadway play, and was made into a movie in 1956. I remember watching this black and white movie on TV years ago. The child actress who played Rhoda was scarily perfect for the part.
There is a 2018 color remake of the movie that is loosely based on the book. The black and white version is the real deal. Trust me on this!
I listened to the audiobook, expertly narrated by Elizabeth Wiley, and of course, it follows the book word for word.
The Bad Seed, written by William March, is an intense, chilling, and suspenseful in-depth character study. The title infers that nature prevails over nurture, suggesting that some individuals are born evil.
This is how you write a Thriller, ladies and gentlemen!
5⭐Highly recommend!
That is the question at the center of this Classic Thriller...
Charming little Rhoda Penmark, with her hangman braids, is the original creepy kid. The author uses interesting words to describe her hairdo, but as the story progresses and the plot thickens, you begin to understand its significance.
The Bad Seed was originally published in 1954 and became a bestselling novel, a successful Broadway play, and was made into a movie in 1956. I remember watching this black and white movie on TV years ago. The child actress who played Rhoda was scarily perfect for the part.
There is a 2018 color remake of the movie that is loosely based on the book. The black and white version is the real deal. Trust me on this!
I listened to the audiobook, expertly narrated by Elizabeth Wiley, and of course, it follows the book word for word.
The Bad Seed, written by William March, is an intense, chilling, and suspenseful in-depth character study. The title infers that nature prevails over nurture, suggesting that some individuals are born evil.
This is how you write a Thriller, ladies and gentlemen!
5⭐Highly recommend!
February 18, 2017
This creepy 1954 classic tale of the evil Rhoda Penmark must have been quite a shocker in its day, and IMHO still is today. I was hardly one-third of the way into the story, and I already wanted to ring the little monster's neck and run and hide from the repulsive handyman! Not the ending I hoped for, but it definitely added to the creep-factor of the book. (hope to track down the movie)
Update: August 2,2014
OMGOSH! I do not know how I missed this excellent horror flick, and I must admit I thought it much creepier than the book, but best of all is the shockingly different (and better) ending. What is so cool too is at the conclusion of the film, viewer's are asked not to divulge its outcome.....which I won't do here. If you have only read the book, be sure to see the movie too!
February 15, 2018
5 Oh, the Memories it Brings Back Stars
* * * * * Spoiler Free
This book and the movie has a huge place in my heart...no, not because of an identification with the characters....but due to childhood memory of my sister being in Forensics during high school.
My sister is 4 years older than me and was a drama student. She would try out for plays and also participate in the Forensics competitions. During her senior year, she chose to do a monologue from The Bad Seed.
For months I would either hear practicing or performance on this script. She first had to learn the words and I would be her partner in crime...holding the paper and prompting her if she forgot a line or two. After she had the words down... then she would flesh it out with the right inflections to make the words real...cutting and down right scary. It became a game of sorts as to which one of us could recite the lines just right... and sometimes I felt really important when she would say I did it better and then copied how I said them.
As a family we would go to the tournaments and watch her become Rhoda Penmark, as sickly sweet and then evil bit by bit...and many times she won first place with her performance. She brought into the room the feeling of something very wrong with this little girl she was supposed to be... and every time she did it, it made me proud I helped her get to that place.
Now what the hell does any of this have to reviewing a book....
Well, I think the reissue of this is fantastic because it gives new generations the experience of why there are so many other books and movies with this idea. It was the first... strong and unknown at the time...it was groundbreaking and for readers to experience the root of where genres come from is always a plus to me.
So, thank you for indulging me on the telling of my memory and please look to others on the site because I have seen some extraordinary reviews on this book.
For more Reviews, Free E-books and Giveaways
* * * * * Spoiler Free
This book and the movie has a huge place in my heart...no, not because of an identification with the characters....but due to childhood memory of my sister being in Forensics during high school.
My sister is 4 years older than me and was a drama student. She would try out for plays and also participate in the Forensics competitions. During her senior year, she chose to do a monologue from The Bad Seed.
For months I would either hear practicing or performance on this script. She first had to learn the words and I would be her partner in crime...holding the paper and prompting her if she forgot a line or two. After she had the words down... then she would flesh it out with the right inflections to make the words real...cutting and down right scary. It became a game of sorts as to which one of us could recite the lines just right... and sometimes I felt really important when she would say I did it better and then copied how I said them.
As a family we would go to the tournaments and watch her become Rhoda Penmark, as sickly sweet and then evil bit by bit...and many times she won first place with her performance. She brought into the room the feeling of something very wrong with this little girl she was supposed to be... and every time she did it, it made me proud I helped her get to that place.
Now what the hell does any of this have to reviewing a book....
Well, I think the reissue of this is fantastic because it gives new generations the experience of why there are so many other books and movies with this idea. It was the first... strong and unknown at the time...it was groundbreaking and for readers to experience the root of where genres come from is always a plus to me.
So, thank you for indulging me on the telling of my memory and please look to others on the site because I have seen some extraordinary reviews on this book.
For more Reviews, Free E-books and Giveaways
October 24, 2023
Ha sido un libro de cocción lenta, de una niña que no es lo que parece, que tiene unos instintos primarios muy diferentes del resto de los niños, muy adelantada tanto en aptitud y conocimientos, de los niños de su edad, con una falta de valores y sentimientos casi robóticos, con una falta de empatía por el prójimo máxima. ¿Unos valores que son hereditarios?
¿Es culpa suya ser asi o es de los padres o familiares que la niña se comporte así?
Todo un dilema para la familia si conoce como es la niña...
Me ha gustado como se puede observar.
Valoración: 7/10
Sinopsis: Rhoda Penmark es una niña modelo, estudiosa, educada, pulcra, aunque sus propios compañeros y aun algunos adultos perciban en ella algo turbio. Su madre, Christine, también advierte en ella ciertas cosas extrañas, comportamientos inquietantes, una frialdad, un egoísmo, una falta de empatía. Con su marido ausente por negocios, poco a poco entra en la terrible sospecha de que su hija puede tener algo que ver con algunos episodios terribles que han pasado por accidentales. En su soledad casi claustrofóbica, va progresando en su dolorosa y terrible averiguación, hasta que no puede seguir ocultándose que quizá sea la responsable directa de haber transmitido una mala semilla.
¿Es culpa suya ser asi o es de los padres o familiares que la niña se comporte así?
Todo un dilema para la familia si conoce como es la niña...
Me ha gustado como se puede observar.
Valoración: 7/10
Sinopsis: Rhoda Penmark es una niña modelo, estudiosa, educada, pulcra, aunque sus propios compañeros y aun algunos adultos perciban en ella algo turbio. Su madre, Christine, también advierte en ella ciertas cosas extrañas, comportamientos inquietantes, una frialdad, un egoísmo, una falta de empatía. Con su marido ausente por negocios, poco a poco entra en la terrible sospecha de que su hija puede tener algo que ver con algunos episodios terribles que han pasado por accidentales. En su soledad casi claustrofóbica, va progresando en su dolorosa y terrible averiguación, hasta que no puede seguir ocultándose que quizá sea la responsable directa de haber transmitido una mala semilla.
March 14, 2018
...
1.5 Stars
This book was bloody tiring and reading it felt like a chore.
I'm now of the opinion that most books regarded as brilliant aren't so much about the plot but more about the time it was released. Take this book, i bet it would have shocked a shit load of people that someone would consider a child to be capable of cold, calculating often unfeeling murders. And not just any type of child, a sweet, well mannered child. So i'm thinking of course people are going to be intrigued, of course they're going to hail the book as some sort of landmark.
Do i think this book is worth the hype? Nope!
I went into this book thinking (naively, in hindsight) that this book would be about delving into the mind of a child psychopath. Alas, 99% of the book is spent on Rhoda's mother fussing about what she thinks Rhoda is and you learning about inconsequential things that have absolutely nothing to do with the book or the plot. Take chapter 8, where there's a lengthy one sided conversation about the arrogance of sales people and a soap dish. So in essence through out the book, you mostly have this sort of thing going on:
Character: yammering on bla bla bla
Mrs Penmark: (thinking to herself) Rhoda might be a killer.. What do i do? i can't report her she's my child
Character: bla bla bla
Mrs Penmark : (thinking to herself) Rhoda might be a killer.. What do i do? Do i tell my husband? Oh mercy me
yadi yadi ya.
Do you get to meet Rhoda in her element? yeah a little bit. but really for the bulk of this book you're running around in Mrs Penmark's head constantly CONSTANTLY worrying about whether Rhoda is or isn't a psychopath and when that hurdle is finally cleared you're back to wondering how to solve this issue.
This was not a good read for me, the premise of the book is enough to drag you in but that's basically it. You're teased about a psychopath that you more or less never see in action.
September 29, 2025
There was somebody screaming somewhere, and she kept wondering who it could be. She turned to the people who watched her and said in a lost, chiding voice, "Quit screaming, please! Screaming doesn't help!" She closed her eyes and leaned against the fence; and then she knew the person screaming was herself.
With his final novel, published shortly before his death, William March weighs in heavily on the Nature vs Nurture debate and the title of the book should give you a pretty good idea which he comes down heavily on. The story of a precocious little girl with an overactive id is awash in the pop psychology of the 1950s, and the suspense peaks about midway through, with the second half bloated with mom's internal guilt-ridden monologues as the tragedy meanders down to its inevitable conclusion. Those who have seen the lauded 1956 film version may be surprised by the bleaker and less sensational ending of the book.
With his final novel, published shortly before his death, William March weighs in heavily on the Nature vs Nurture debate and the title of the book should give you a pretty good idea which he comes down heavily on. The story of a precocious little girl with an overactive id is awash in the pop psychology of the 1950s, and the suspense peaks about midway through, with the second half bloated with mom's internal guilt-ridden monologues as the tragedy meanders down to its inevitable conclusion. Those who have seen the lauded 1956 film version may be surprised by the bleaker and less sensational ending of the book.
October 30, 2021
Before there was an entire genre of murderous children, before even the term “serial killer” was coined, there was The Bad Seed by William March. I want to say it was Gillian Flynn who first put this book on my radar years ago, when I was desperate to find something to fill the place of Sharp Objects after finishing that cruelly brilliant debut.
In a premise that might sound familiar nowadays, a typical 1950s mother and housewife, Christine Penmark, has growing concerns about her daughter, Rhoda, as bad things continue to happen around the child. She’s well-mannered and charming to adults but children her own age are spooked by her presence. Though she always seems to know exactly the right thing to say, her parents have noticed a calculating quality to her actions and words, as if she’s learned this behavior and is simply mimicking it. Christine’s husband is away for work for almost the entire novel, and so she must decide how to handle the concerning behavior of their child completely on her own.
As an almost 70-year-old book, The Bad Seed does it’s best to pathologize Rhoda as well as it can. March, to his credit, writes the two female characters at its center with more agency than I was expecting. The way Christine acts, dismissing her own thoughts and feelings, reducing feminine traits as inferior to masculine ones, is probably not too far off of how some women of the era would think. I’m sure a modern interpretation of both the psychology of Rhoda and Christine as well as their socialization would be more incisive and accurate, but even outside of the time period the book was set in I think March was very thoughtful in his analysis of both of these characters.
I haven’t read many reviews of this one yet because I didn’t want to spoil it for myself but I loved seeing the starting point of many popular horror tropes of the past several decades. I was afraid there wouldn’t be any surprises in a book that’s been part of the lexicon for so long, but that was not the case here. I was still shocked by the way the story turned out, even if it feels inevitable once you know. Though a lot of what was revealed about Rhoda may be expected by readers, the biggest twists for me centered around Christine. Their relationship is a big answer to the classic ‘nature or nurture’ question that writers have loved to explore in their works.
Thanks to Chandra ( @wherethereadergrows ) who sent me this book last Christmas (oops)—I’m sorry it took so long to get to! I’m interested in watching the movie adaptation from 1956 now, and hope it lives up to the source material!
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
In a premise that might sound familiar nowadays, a typical 1950s mother and housewife, Christine Penmark, has growing concerns about her daughter, Rhoda, as bad things continue to happen around the child. She’s well-mannered and charming to adults but children her own age are spooked by her presence. Though she always seems to know exactly the right thing to say, her parents have noticed a calculating quality to her actions and words, as if she’s learned this behavior and is simply mimicking it. Christine’s husband is away for work for almost the entire novel, and so she must decide how to handle the concerning behavior of their child completely on her own.
As an almost 70-year-old book, The Bad Seed does it’s best to pathologize Rhoda as well as it can. March, to his credit, writes the two female characters at its center with more agency than I was expecting. The way Christine acts, dismissing her own thoughts and feelings, reducing feminine traits as inferior to masculine ones, is probably not too far off of how some women of the era would think. I’m sure a modern interpretation of both the psychology of Rhoda and Christine as well as their socialization would be more incisive and accurate, but even outside of the time period the book was set in I think March was very thoughtful in his analysis of both of these characters.
I haven’t read many reviews of this one yet because I didn’t want to spoil it for myself but I loved seeing the starting point of many popular horror tropes of the past several decades. I was afraid there wouldn’t be any surprises in a book that’s been part of the lexicon for so long, but that was not the case here. I was still shocked by the way the story turned out, even if it feels inevitable once you know. Though a lot of what was revealed about Rhoda may be expected by readers, the biggest twists for me centered around Christine. Their relationship is a big answer to the classic ‘nature or nurture’ question that writers have loved to explore in their works.
Thanks to Chandra ( @wherethereadergrows ) who sent me this book last Christmas (oops)—I’m sorry it took so long to get to! I’m interested in watching the movie adaptation from 1956 now, and hope it lives up to the source material!
**For more book talk & reviews, follow me on Instagram at @elle_mentbooks!
September 29, 2020
Empecé a leer este libro sin tener ni idea que fuera un clásico ni que tuviera una adaptación cinematográfica en 1956. Así como del fatal desenlace que tuvo su autor, que apenas pudo disfrutar de la fama de la novela, ya que murió sólo un mes después de su publicación.
Si bien es cierto que la forma de narrar no hace que te percates de los años que tiene, aunque sí la forma de expresarse al hablar los personajes y por los detalles tecnológicos que te encuentras, como la máquina de escribir que usa la madre para cartearse con su marido relatando sus sospechas con la niña.
De resto yo casi me lo he imaginado como si fuera una novela actual. Tiene muy buen ritmo aunque reconozco que la protagonista es demasiado pasiva para mi gusto y me sacaba de quicio demasiado a menudo 😂
El eje principal de toda la novela es la pequeña Rhoda de 8 años, una niña aparentemente perfecta que esconde algo mucho más oscuro en su interior. Su madre, Christine Penmark se va dando cuenta muy poco a poco de que muchos de los actos sin aparente explicación que les vienen sucediendo desde hace algunos años van tomando sentido a partir del accidente de uno de los compañeros del colegio de Rhoda, Claude Daigle.
El marido está ausente por trabajo durante toda la trama y sólo aparece al final de la novela.
Un personaje que me encantó fue la vecina, la señora Breedlove, una mujer con la determinación y el carácter que le faltan a la protagonista 😃 Y odié al jardinero Leroy, el único personaje que tenía calado a Rhoda, pero le cogí manía, no me pregunten por qué jajajaja.
Se suceden muchas cosas que me esperaba por previsibles pero reconozco que ese final no era para nada lo que estaba pensando y te deja muy tocada 😱
Una obra que no hay que dejar pasar, nos hará deleitarnos con los hechos que provoca ésta pequeña sociópata en potencia, la reina de la manipulación que se esconde tras una fachada de aparente inocencia. No tiene desperdicio. Muy recomendable.
https://lalocadeloslibrosdemisterio.b...
Si bien es cierto que la forma de narrar no hace que te percates de los años que tiene, aunque sí la forma de expresarse al hablar los personajes y por los detalles tecnológicos que te encuentras, como la máquina de escribir que usa la madre para cartearse con su marido relatando sus sospechas con la niña.
De resto yo casi me lo he imaginado como si fuera una novela actual. Tiene muy buen ritmo aunque reconozco que la protagonista es demasiado pasiva para mi gusto y me sacaba de quicio demasiado a menudo 😂
El eje principal de toda la novela es la pequeña Rhoda de 8 años, una niña aparentemente perfecta que esconde algo mucho más oscuro en su interior. Su madre, Christine Penmark se va dando cuenta muy poco a poco de que muchos de los actos sin aparente explicación que les vienen sucediendo desde hace algunos años van tomando sentido a partir del accidente de uno de los compañeros del colegio de Rhoda, Claude Daigle.
El marido está ausente por trabajo durante toda la trama y sólo aparece al final de la novela.
Un personaje que me encantó fue la vecina, la señora Breedlove, una mujer con la determinación y el carácter que le faltan a la protagonista 😃 Y odié al jardinero Leroy, el único personaje que tenía calado a Rhoda, pero le cogí manía, no me pregunten por qué jajajaja.
Se suceden muchas cosas que me esperaba por previsibles pero reconozco que ese final no era para nada lo que estaba pensando y te deja muy tocada 😱
Una obra que no hay que dejar pasar, nos hará deleitarnos con los hechos que provoca ésta pequeña sociópata en potencia, la reina de la manipulación que se esconde tras una fachada de aparente inocencia. No tiene desperdicio. Muy recomendable.
https://lalocadeloslibrosdemisterio.b...
January 2, 2011
I can see why this book had popular appeal and shock value back in 1954. Ted Bundy was still just a fledgling psychopath, and Freudian analysis was still a big fad. The word "psychopath" wasn't even in use, and is never mentioned in the novel. Some of the analysis and conclusions are way off base, but William March got a lot of things right.
Rhoda Penmark, the eight-year-old serial killer, is quite chilling and convincing given what we now know about the psychopathic personality profile. Born without a conscience, avaricious, charming, manipulative, and able only to mimic normal social behavior in a scripted fashion.
March has been criticized for concluding that the "bad seed" was hereditary. I don't think he was saying that. He merely showed how the mother, Christine Penmark, decided on that explanation for her daughter's behavior.
The distracting and unnecessary chatter and Freud-speak from the Monica Breedlove character weakens the novel and prevents me from giving it a higher rating.
This was my second reading of the book. I saw the film in high school, and then of course had to read the book. Supposedly the filmmakers took the liberty of giving it a happy ending. I don't remember that. I just remember the creepy and convincing performance of the girl (Patty McCormack?) who played Rhoda Penmark. I can still remember her facial expressions. The book does NOT have a happy ending, but the last chapter is perhaps the strongest one in the book.
Rhoda Penmark, the eight-year-old serial killer, is quite chilling and convincing given what we now know about the psychopathic personality profile. Born without a conscience, avaricious, charming, manipulative, and able only to mimic normal social behavior in a scripted fashion.
March has been criticized for concluding that the "bad seed" was hereditary. I don't think he was saying that. He merely showed how the mother, Christine Penmark, decided on that explanation for her daughter's behavior.
The distracting and unnecessary chatter and Freud-speak from the Monica Breedlove character weakens the novel and prevents me from giving it a higher rating.
This was my second reading of the book. I saw the film in high school, and then of course had to read the book. Supposedly the filmmakers took the liberty of giving it a happy ending. I don't remember that. I just remember the creepy and convincing performance of the girl (Patty McCormack?) who played Rhoda Penmark. I can still remember her facial expressions. The book does NOT have a happy ending, but the last chapter is perhaps the strongest one in the book.
July 6, 2022
Una buena novela demasiado corta para mi gusto. Con más páginas habría dado más juego tanto en el desarrollo de la trama como con los personajes.
Pese a su brevedad, a ser relectura y a haber visto las dos adapataciones cinematográficas, ha conseguido engancharme de nuevo. El personaje de Rhoda es de los que ponen los pelos de punta.
El final muy bueno aunque no haya sido el que me hubiera gustado.
Recomendable.
Pese a su brevedad, a ser relectura y a haber visto las dos adapataciones cinematográficas, ha conseguido engancharme de nuevo. El personaje de Rhoda es de los que ponen los pelos de punta.
El final muy bueno aunque no haya sido el que me hubiera gustado.
Recomendable.
February 26, 2023
3.5 rounded up to 4.
I found it a tad tiresome to get through because a lot of the characters were just so irritating or drippy… but I have to say that if I’d read the book in the 50s when it was released it probably would have blown my mind. Shows you how desensitised to violence and murder we have all become in the 21st century… slightly perturbing!
I found it a tad tiresome to get through because a lot of the characters were just so irritating or drippy… but I have to say that if I’d read the book in the 50s when it was released it probably would have blown my mind. Shows you how desensitised to violence and murder we have all become in the 21st century… slightly perturbing!
February 21, 2024
“What was to be their duty in future both to their child, and to the society in which they lived?”
― William March, The Bad Seed
For some reason, horror novels featuring creepy, evil little children really scare the heck out of me. I mean..everyone has their thing that scares them and that's mine. The Bad seed is one of those horror classics where you say to yourself, "they just don't make em like that anymore".
This is without a doubt one of the best horror books ever written. And I used to read a whole lot of horror though not so much anymore.
It was my mom, from whom I inherited my love of reading who made me aware of this little creeper of a book. And yes I loved it as much as she did. Thank you mamacita!
If you want to know what a sociopath is..read this book. Read about Rhoda. She is but a mere slip of a child and she is absolutely terrifying.
AND see the movie. In my opinion, this book is at the level of "The Other", another gem, and it is so freakin sick! I mean it wowed me.
OK. Here's the thing. I read this again and yes it is still a good well written, genuinely terrifying book. BUT IT STILL SCARES.
It has lost none of its power to scare over the years. You know how hard it is to find a book like that?
See the movie too if you can. But ONLY if you don't mind being scared shitless. This is no light thriller.....
I should also say for those who maybe not familiar with this book at all..there is barely any gore or anything..they really knew how to make quality horror back then. The Bad Seed doesn't need gore or any plot device. It is pure horror from beginning to end. Read it horror fans.
PS: Just edited this review after I accidently wrote "Rhonda" instead of "Rhoda". I guess maybe I had the beach boys on my mind..
― William March, The Bad Seed
For some reason, horror novels featuring creepy, evil little children really scare the heck out of me. I mean..everyone has their thing that scares them and that's mine. The Bad seed is one of those horror classics where you say to yourself, "they just don't make em like that anymore".
This is without a doubt one of the best horror books ever written. And I used to read a whole lot of horror though not so much anymore.
It was my mom, from whom I inherited my love of reading who made me aware of this little creeper of a book. And yes I loved it as much as she did. Thank you mamacita!
If you want to know what a sociopath is..read this book. Read about Rhoda. She is but a mere slip of a child and she is absolutely terrifying.
AND see the movie. In my opinion, this book is at the level of "The Other", another gem, and it is so freakin sick! I mean it wowed me.
OK. Here's the thing. I read this again and yes it is still a good well written, genuinely terrifying book. BUT IT STILL SCARES.
It has lost none of its power to scare over the years. You know how hard it is to find a book like that?
See the movie too if you can. But ONLY if you don't mind being scared shitless. This is no light thriller.....
I should also say for those who maybe not familiar with this book at all..there is barely any gore or anything..they really knew how to make quality horror back then. The Bad Seed doesn't need gore or any plot device. It is pure horror from beginning to end. Read it horror fans.
PS: Just edited this review after I accidently wrote "Rhonda" instead of "Rhoda". I guess maybe I had the beach boys on my mind..
December 23, 2024
Reading this novel a second time - years after my first reading of it - was an unusual experience. There's more than a fair amount that I'd forgotten.
The main revisit-expectation mistake I made was 'recalling' that the book and the film were rather similar (aside from the 'moral' ending forced on the film by the censor code of the day). But, in fact, March's novel - along with having a richer texture - is still much darker in its overall tone.
The additional darkness (and intermittent bawdiness) is not particularly subtle and there are mainly three aspects to it:
1) In the book, the character of Leroy, the caretaker, is much more vulgar.
2) While the play version and the film retain the idea of the mother toying with the idea of writing a novel about a serial killer, the book goes into grisly detail describing what the mother discovers in the midst of her research on infamous murderers of the past.
3) In March's story, the only father that the protagonist (Christine Penmark) has ever known has been dead for many years. On-stage and on-screen, however, he is still alive. This seems a calculated way of adding a more positive element to both the play and the film.
Small sidebar: There is some exploration of neighbor Mrs. Breedlove's brother Emory's supposed homosexuality. (I suspect that this avenue may have been edited down before publication - although he is a minor character. Was March himself the gay man he seems to have been? He certainly seems to have edited himself down in life.)
In short, the film remains potent in its shock factor (in spite of pointless criticism that it is too much like a filmed play and that the performances are too over-the-top - when it's the *situation* that is OTT). But the book is still even creepier... and a good deal of its psychology is certainly thorough (esp. the much-more-extensive hell that Christine Penmark puts herself through).
My own research into the life of author William March revealed the claim that March didn't particularly like - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say he wasn't all that proud of - the novel. If that's the case, why did he write it?
For an answer to that, it's instructive to read March's earlier work - novels and short stories which were apparently met with praise and respect but which nevertheless did not sell all that well.
~ which is certainly a shame. I intend to read more of March's work but, so far, I have only read his novel 'The Looking-Glass' and the collection 'Trial Balance' - which I'm guessing includes all of his short stories. They are both astonishingly good. But, as a reader, you would be hard-pressed in recognizing March as the same man who eventually wrote 'The Bad Seed'. His earlier work affords scant evidence that it's the same writer. Though there may be the occasional hint of the dark underbelly of certain characters, the earlier work is a marvel of insight into the human condition. March's range of understanding is surprising and wide, and often a window to his sense of compassion.
In coming to some sort of conclusion re: what 'possessed' March to pull 'The Bad Seed' from his depths, I came upon one possibility: It seems certain that March wanted to be remembered as a writer. His work prior to 'The Bad Seed' was not - as it may have (erroneously, imo) seemed to him - likely to resonate with time. However, something with the aim of grabbing readers by the lapels and holding them there was likely to be a different story. To that end, he applied himself.
~ and soon after publication of 'The Bad Seed', March died. He knew it was an instant critical and commercial success, but he had only the smallest realization of that. He did not live to see its new life as a Broadway play or as a film. But he had finally created something that would be remembered. Even today, there is not another novel quite like it.
Still... I urge you to search out some of March's earlier work as well - esp. the rich feast that is 'Trial Balance: The Collected Short Stories of William March'.
The main revisit-expectation mistake I made was 'recalling' that the book and the film were rather similar (aside from the 'moral' ending forced on the film by the censor code of the day). But, in fact, March's novel - along with having a richer texture - is still much darker in its overall tone.
The additional darkness (and intermittent bawdiness) is not particularly subtle and there are mainly three aspects to it:
1) In the book, the character of Leroy, the caretaker, is much more vulgar.
2) While the play version and the film retain the idea of the mother toying with the idea of writing a novel about a serial killer, the book goes into grisly detail describing what the mother discovers in the midst of her research on infamous murderers of the past.
3) In March's story, the only father that the protagonist (Christine Penmark) has ever known has been dead for many years. On-stage and on-screen, however, he is still alive. This seems a calculated way of adding a more positive element to both the play and the film.
Small sidebar: There is some exploration of neighbor Mrs. Breedlove's brother Emory's supposed homosexuality. (I suspect that this avenue may have been edited down before publication - although he is a minor character. Was March himself the gay man he seems to have been? He certainly seems to have edited himself down in life.)
In short, the film remains potent in its shock factor (in spite of pointless criticism that it is too much like a filmed play and that the performances are too over-the-top - when it's the *situation* that is OTT). But the book is still even creepier... and a good deal of its psychology is certainly thorough (esp. the much-more-extensive hell that Christine Penmark puts herself through).
My own research into the life of author William March revealed the claim that March didn't particularly like - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say he wasn't all that proud of - the novel. If that's the case, why did he write it?
For an answer to that, it's instructive to read March's earlier work - novels and short stories which were apparently met with praise and respect but which nevertheless did not sell all that well.
~ which is certainly a shame. I intend to read more of March's work but, so far, I have only read his novel 'The Looking-Glass' and the collection 'Trial Balance' - which I'm guessing includes all of his short stories. They are both astonishingly good. But, as a reader, you would be hard-pressed in recognizing March as the same man who eventually wrote 'The Bad Seed'. His earlier work affords scant evidence that it's the same writer. Though there may be the occasional hint of the dark underbelly of certain characters, the earlier work is a marvel of insight into the human condition. March's range of understanding is surprising and wide, and often a window to his sense of compassion.
In coming to some sort of conclusion re: what 'possessed' March to pull 'The Bad Seed' from his depths, I came upon one possibility: It seems certain that March wanted to be remembered as a writer. His work prior to 'The Bad Seed' was not - as it may have (erroneously, imo) seemed to him - likely to resonate with time. However, something with the aim of grabbing readers by the lapels and holding them there was likely to be a different story. To that end, he applied himself.
~ and soon after publication of 'The Bad Seed', March died. He knew it was an instant critical and commercial success, but he had only the smallest realization of that. He did not live to see its new life as a Broadway play or as a film. But he had finally created something that would be remembered. Even today, there is not another novel quite like it.
Still... I urge you to search out some of March's earlier work as well - esp. the rich feast that is 'Trial Balance: The Collected Short Stories of William March'.
September 28, 2022
Cierre con broche de oro del maratón de niños perversos. Niña perversa y psicótica como ella sola.
Novela muy interesante y tensa que recomiendo.
Como perteneciente al maratón de niños perversos la encuentro la ganadora. Mala y perversa como ella sóla. Tal vez el gemelo de "El otro", el del gato, le podía disputar el título, pero dado que no fue capaz de matar un gato sin acabar como acabó, habrá que deducir que a la niña esta se le daba mejor, que realizó hazañas mucho más difíciles sin despeinarse. El gemelo superviviente era tan buen malo como ella pero con mucha más culpa y lloriqueo, así que la niña perversa y amoral estaba mucho más tranquila con su condición.
Hubo otros niños aterradores en el maratón, pero por razones de supervivencia como los cuclillos o muy manipulados por los adultos como la semilla del diablo. Así que encuentro que esta niña y el Damien de La profecía, son los más perversos de todos en mi opinion.
Novela muy interesante y tensa que recomiendo.
Como perteneciente al maratón de niños perversos la encuentro la ganadora. Mala y perversa como ella sóla. Tal vez el gemelo de "El otro", el del gato, le podía disputar el título, pero dado que no fue capaz de matar un gato sin acabar como acabó, habrá que deducir que a la niña esta se le daba mejor, que realizó hazañas mucho más difíciles sin despeinarse. El gemelo superviviente era tan buen malo como ella pero con mucha más culpa y lloriqueo, así que la niña perversa y amoral estaba mucho más tranquila con su condición.
Hubo otros niños aterradores en el maratón, pero por razones de supervivencia como los cuclillos o muy manipulados por los adultos como la semilla del diablo. Así que encuentro que esta niña y el Damien de La profecía, son los más perversos de todos en mi opinion.
December 29, 2016
This classis thriller written in 1954 is an outstanding and thought provoking story. This must have also been quite confronting for its time. Young Rhoda presents as a cute, delightful and innocent child but believe me she also has an extremely evil side and she is a killer. It is really hard to try to comprehend what this child does and brings up the old age question, 'can someone be born evil'?. After reading this I am leaning more towards believing that this could be true, but how does this occur? The book is full of tension and suspence, I spent the whole time having to remind myself that the crimes committed here are that of a child. Rhoda's father spends a lot of time working away but her mother is well aware of what her daughter is but it torn between protecting her child or turning to the police for help. The end totally threw me and I am still thinking about the book as I write this today. Highly recommended.
February 26, 2014
Find all of my reviews at: http://52bookminimum.blogspot.com/
What would you do if you suspect your child isn’t simply odd, but might just be a serial killer?
If I didn’t already know, there is no way I would have guessed this book to be 60 years old. A chilling thriller about Rhoda Penmark and how she always makes sure to get whatever her little heart desires. If you like tales of the macabre that keep you on the edge of your seat up to the last page, put this classic on your to-read list.
Buddy read with Mitchell the Book Boar, who thought this selection was simply hilarious. He’s one twisted side of bacon . . .
What would you do if you suspect your child isn’t simply odd, but might just be a serial killer?
If I didn’t already know, there is no way I would have guessed this book to be 60 years old. A chilling thriller about Rhoda Penmark and how she always makes sure to get whatever her little heart desires. If you like tales of the macabre that keep you on the edge of your seat up to the last page, put this classic on your to-read list.
Buddy read with Mitchell the Book Boar, who thought this selection was simply hilarious. He’s one twisted side of bacon . . .
September 28, 2017
I remember watching that Macaulay Culkin movie a few years ago, "The Good Son" and realize that it was a homage to "The Bad Seed." I remember being freaked out at how Culkin acted in that movie. I have to say that Rhoda in "The Bad Seed" would have wiped out that character without breaking a sweat.
"The Bad Seed" is about a mother (Christine) at home waiting for her husband and realizing that her daughter (Rhoda) is not like the other boys and girls. When Christine starts to have suspicions about Rhoda's involvement in an accident that left a classmate of her's dead, more secrets that Christine has tried to forget come out.
Christine's increasing horror at who her daughter really is was interesting to read. I just think with her going back and forth to the true crime writer to keep getting his opinions about a hypothetical which we readers realize is not a hypothetical was boring.
And I had to roll my eyes about Christine's background reveal. I liked it better when we just had a story about the world's scariest little girl ever.
Rhoda is scary as anything though. We get to hear about things she has done and we get to actually witness something she does do.
I did enjoy this book, but don't think this is something I would read repeatedly in the future. I just think the main problem is that there was a lot of fluff to me in the middle that could have been cut back.
"The Bad Seed" is about a mother (Christine) at home waiting for her husband and realizing that her daughter (Rhoda) is not like the other boys and girls. When Christine starts to have suspicions about Rhoda's involvement in an accident that left a classmate of her's dead, more secrets that Christine has tried to forget come out.
Christine's increasing horror at who her daughter really is was interesting to read. I just think with her going back and forth to the true crime writer to keep getting his opinions about a hypothetical which we readers realize is not a hypothetical was boring.
And I had to roll my eyes about Christine's background reveal. I liked it better when we just had a story about the world's scariest little girl ever.
Rhoda is scary as anything though. We get to hear about things she has done and we get to actually witness something she does do.
I did enjoy this book, but don't think this is something I would read repeatedly in the future. I just think the main problem is that there was a lot of fluff to me in the middle that could have been cut back.
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