Reading the 20th Century discussion

I posted this in the horror and supernatural thread but have also decided to set up a separate discussion thread.


A friend recommended Ira Levin to me earlier

Anyone read any?

Ira was author of the suspense classics Rosemary's Baby, The Boys from Brazil, and The Stepford Wives

His novels - and their cinematic interpretations - gained cult followings, paving the way for the modern popularity of the horror genre.

Stephen King described Levin as "the Swiss watchmaker of suspense novels", adding: "He makes what the rest of us do look like cheap watchmakers in drugstores."

My friend recommends reading Ira Levin chronologically.


Start with A Kiss Before Dying and work onward from there, so that's what I'm going to to.

I have just ordered a copy of A Kiss Before Dying

I'll keep you posted

Thanks for your words of encouragement (on the other thread)....


Susan wrote: "I read Rosemary's Baby and The Stepford Wives some years ago, Nigeyb. I seem to recall liking them."

Roman Clodia wrote: "I read Rosemary's Baby and Stepford Wives as a teenager - I thought they were interesting rather than scary as such (and I also scare easily). "

Jan C wrote: "I read Rosemary's Baby and A Kiss Before Dying. I think Baby on a long-distance train and have a vague memory of being easily startled."

To be honest, I read those books a long time ago - maybe while at college, or uni. I picked up a few by him on kindle deals over the years. Looking at my kindle, I have A Kiss Before Dying, Rosemary's Baby, Stepford Wives and Boys From Brazil. Must re-read him, as I liked them at the time.

Thanks Susan. I’m hoping he’s a bit more than just a competent purveyor of best selling page turners.

To add a bit of variety to the other two books I am currently reading...


Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties

Hotel Years: Wanderings in Europe between the Wars


...I'm underway with my first book by Ira Levin...

A Kiss Before Dying (1953)

I have to say it's started very promisingly

A Kiss Before Dying not only debuted the talent of best-selling novelist Ira Levin to rave reviews, it also set a new standard in the art of mystery and suspense.

Now a modern classic, as gripping in its tautly plotted action as it is penetrating in its exploration of a criminal mind, it tells the shocking tale of a young man who will stop at nothing--not even murder--to get where he wants to go. For he has dreams; plans. He also has charm, good looks, sex appeal, intelligence. And he has a problem. Her name is Dorothy; she loves him, and she's pregnant. The solution may demand desperate measures. But, then, he looks like the kind of guy who could get away with murder. Compellingly, step by determined step, the novel follows this young man in his execution of one plan he had neither dreamed nor foreseen. Nor does he foresee how inexorably he will be enmeshed in the consequences of his own extreme deed.

I picked up some Ira Levin books reduced in price a while ago, but haven't got around to reading them yet. Will be interested to hear your thoughts, Nigeyb.

I really enjoyed The Stepford Wives - it's short and funnier than I expected, in a sardonic way.

Thanks Susan, thanks RC


My anticipation levels have just gone up a few notches

Oh, yes, I have read The Stepford Wives - some time ago, but it was better than the film.

Nigeyb wrote: "To add a bit of variety to the other two books I am currently reading...


Chaos: Charles Manson, the CIA, and the Secret History of the Sixties

Hotel Years: Wanderings in Eu..."</i>

I read it a number of years ago. Quick read. I'd already read [book:Rosemary's Baby. Not sure if I read any others or if this put me off Levin. Maybe I just didn't find any more.

I know they had loads for 99p a while back and I downloaded them at the time. If Nigeyb inspires me, I might actually read one of these books lurking on my kindle :)

Of Levin's oeuvre I've only read Rosemary's Baby but I would heartily recommend that.

Thanks CQM. I will be reading all seven Ira Levin novels.


A Kiss Before Dying (1953), his first novel, is a taut and tense suspense novel. It reminded me of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr Ripley, which it predates by a year. It really stands up too and does not feel remotely dated.

Here’s my review

4/5

Ooh, this sounds good - especially if it has a Ripley vibe!

I've seen the old Mia Farrow film of Rosemary's Baby - very creepy - I could definitely be persuaded into reading the book.

I think you’d really like it RC

I remember when I read it I was quite surprised to find out how long ago it had been published (and this was 50+ years ago).

Yes, published in 1953 but it has hardly dated at all. Indeed A Kiss Before Dying felt really contemporary. A very impressive debut novel.

Giving this a bump as we’ve had a bit of recent Levin chat

Haven't read A Kiss before Dying though I have seen it being universally praised.

A quick, easy read Neer

How fun! I saw the film A Kiss Before Dying with Robert Wagner when I was young--very memorable!

And I just read The Stepford Wives. Very quick read. I remembered the 70's film that I found funny and campy, but reading it, in this political climate ... scary.

Sounds like I should read the other Levin titles too!

According to an online search these are the novels....



• A Kiss Before Dying (1953)
• Rosemary's Baby (1967)
• This Perfect Day (1970)
• The Stepford Wives (1972)
• The Boys from Brazil (1976)
• Sliver (1991)
• Son of Rosemary (1997)


I've read most of them but not for eons (except A Kiss Before Dying)

Finished Stepford Wives. It scared me the same way Vera did.

Neer wrote: "Finished Stepford Wives. It scared me the same way Vera did."

Interesting connection. I was interested that Stepford Wives was written by a man.

Roman, Stepford seems like such a misogynist male fantasy. To me it would be more surprising if it had been written by a woman. I haven't read the book since the 70s so i could be completely forgetting its tone.

Barbara wrote: "Roman, Stepford seems like such a misogynist male fantasy."

Oh yes, it is - but it's one held by the male characters in the book, not endorsed by the author whose book exposes the idea.

It's also not that far from the contemporary women pushing the 'trad wife' lifestyle - feminist backlash is coming from women as well as men.

Roman Clodia wrote: "Barbara wrote: "Roman, Stepford seems like such a misogynist male fantasy."

Oh yes, it is - but it's one held by the male characters in the book, not endorsed by the author whose book exposes the ..."

I've always assumed it was essentially a feminist satire. Levin had been reading de Beauvoir and Betty Friedan at the time. Their work, along with predictions about robotics, apparently inspired his novel. And the story very much fits with the growth of second-wave feminism and the likely backlash. The Stepford men are represented as villainous and toxic.

Rosemary's Baby also strikes me as a feminist piece. I watched it recently with a friend who'd never seen it and they found the way it depicted insidious forms of violence against women chilling. In many ways it's a portrait of coercive control, and Rosemary's growing isolation once pregnant, her treatment by a largely male medical establishment all very much echo contemporary recognition of the ramping up of abuse during pregnancy, misogyny and the medical profession and so on...

Alwynne wrote: "I've always assumed it was essentially a feminist satire."

Yes, one written by a male ally, which was what I was trying to say oh so clumsily!

I remember Rosemary's Baby from reading it as a teenager going through my horror phase but I'm sure I'd get more out of it now as you've outlined.

I have the feeling I read something else by Levin which was about male voyeurism and sexual surveillance in an apartment block which also merged technology with gendered power - but might be mixing it up with someone else.

Roman Clodia wrote: "Alwynne wrote: "I've always assumed it was essentially a feminist satire."

Yes, one written by a male ally, which was what I was trying to say oh so clumsily!

I remember Rosemary's Baby from rea..."

I think that's probably Sliver it was made into a film with Sharon Stone. I've seen a lot of schlock horror films!

I read Rosemary's Baby a few years ago. I thought it whizzed along nicely. I expected the straight-up horror elements. What I didn't expect was the scariness & creepiness at a completely different level -- one that resonates a lot with #MeToo, gaslighting being a common term today, & mental/emotional abuse being recognized as part of domestic violence. It's all still so very relevant.

I was surprised at the depths hiding under the zippy exterior of this one.

This discussion prompted me to listen to [book:The Stepford Wives|52350. I remember that my parents went to the movie (memorable because they went out together on average about once in 3-5 years) when it was new. My mom, who adored sci fi & horror, loved the film, and liked its message, but my dad was appalled by the immorality of the men sleeping with someone not their wives. (He was not appalled by the immorality of getting rid of the human wives and replacing them with lookalike moving dolls.) Mom did tell me that in the film the plot is unmasked and all is made right again. Is that how the movie goes, or was she lying?

G wrote: "This discussion prompted me to listen to The Stepford Wives

Did you watch Friends? Do you remember the one where Phoebe talks about the point in the film of Old Yeller where her mum always turned it off? So Phoebe thought it had a completely different ending? Your mum was doing something similar.

Stacia wrote: "I read Rosemary's Baby a few years ago. I thought it whizzed along nicely. I expected the straight-up horror elements. What I didn't expect was the scariness & creepiness at a completely different ..."

Completely, I watched the prequel recently Apartment 7a - mainly because of Julia Garner - and that brings a number of those elements to the fore, although that doesn't work as well as the approach in the original adaptation.