A woman is reunited with her son, whilst a battle between good and evil
is played out on a global scale, one which has frightening and
far-reaching consequences, not only for the mother and son, but for all
humanity.
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It'd be hard to make a sequel that worked but Levin manages, the guy's a great author with a strangely serious themed style. His wording is short and to the point, being slow and psychological but never without action or importance of some sort. Told all through Rosemary's POV again, the reader is left in the air as to what is really going on with the son Andy. Is he really bad as the devil's son should be? Or are his words convincing and he's turned in the right direction as he's said?
Rosemary herself is grating. You would think she'd be more remorseful for longer on how she lost 28 years of her life, but perhaps Levin just wants to keep it action-filled and not dwell on the past. Still I would have liked to see her reflect more, and I couldn't held find it odd how quickly she became wrapped up with not only Joe, but with the whole Andy campaign and welcoming arms with the public. It's obvious she'd want to be proud and supportive of her offspring, but with her former life having so little to do with the general public, didn't she accept the spotlight a bit too easily? Her character, from it's clothing and strangely lighthearted manner, was certainly eccentric. She irritated me with latching on to things too simply and felt unreal.
Andy himself was a fascinating characterization, not only because you didn't know what to think of him, but he was charismatic in his own way, and strangely appealing with his incestuous cravings. Or else I'm just that twisted.
Either way, the two together were interesting to read about, even if at times they didn't make a whole lot of sense. In the beginning I was hooked with the unsettling opening, carried along speedily through the juicy middle to find my questions answered, but let down harshly at the ending. I've seen debates between readers on there perhaps being a cop-out of sorts to wrap the story up. I'm not sure on that, but I didn't like the last pages either way. I didn't like the ending at all, wishing it had remained Andy as the focal point. Some parts of the ending weren't surprising, such as the candles, but other parts I didn't expect (which were, ironically, the parts I didn't like)
I also wondered what happened to Guy. It would have been nice to have known for a wrap-up of sorts. I wouldn't say the book makes 100% sense either, but it remains a fun, if not frilly and slightly silly, guilty pleasure sort of read. If you're a big fan of the film or original book, you may end up enjoying this one. The story isn't the best, but there's something about the characters that glues you to the pages. The ending is sadly weaker, but upon a re-read I get it more than before.
BTW, I don't see the end saying it was a dream at all. To me it was clearly not and I think some are misinterpreting.
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