Rose Red/ The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer ABC TV/Hyperion 288 Pages Publication: Book: 2001 Miniseries: 01-27-02 | 01-28-02 | 01-31-02

A Diary Critique

This is one of those Stephen King conundrums, something along the lines of his dual publication of Desperation and The Regulators, or the serialization of The Green Mile or The Plant. King has never been one to stay within the mainstream, publishing graphic novels or screenplays whenever the world of straight-on novels didn’t suit his fancy.

Now, we’ve been presented with The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer, a true oddity even in the world of King literature. What makes it unique? We have no idea who wrote it. Could this be a Richard Bachman-style pseudonymous work, published under the “edited by Joyce Reardon” disclaimer? Could King have hired out a ghostwriter to use jumping-off points in his screenplay to construct a full “history” of Rose Red, so as to lend the miniseries verisimilitude? (My personal theory: this book reads quite a lot like Patrick McGrath’s Asylum, and since King wrote a screenplay based on that book, perhaps McGrath wrote a book based on King’s screenplay. Hey, weirder things have happened.)

Regardless, the connection between the book and the miniseries is pretty neat, no matter who wrote it. The utilization of multiple media is nothing new (the makers of The Blair Witch Project performed the feat quite well a few years back by marketing the film as a real documentary, and cross-marketing it with the website, which also gave no indication that it was all made up. In fact, the Rose Red people have also decided to go the website route, creating a splash page for a faux university and publishing “Joyce Reardon’s” notes, as well as “missing chapters” from Ellen Rimbaur’s diary.) But still, the Diary is somewhat unique, not discussing the events of the miniseries at all. Instead, it tells the history of the house, as seen through the eyes of the woman who became its ruler. Most interesting is when the characters in the miniseries discuss the diary; sometimes you’ll catch yourself saying, “Yes, that’s just what Ellen thought, too.” Give yourself into King’s insanity and you’ll be happier for it.

How is the book itself? Quite good. Through the device of the diary format, we’re able to watch Ellen’s viewpoint change subtly over the years (during the reading, I was constantly reminded of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple, at least in terms of structure.) It’s fascinating to watch her transform from meek young lady to society woman to rage-driven maniac. Also interesting is watching the house – Rose Red herself – grow with Ellen, becoming more and more violent as the years roll past. One wonders, at times, whether the house was “born bad” – a phrase used throughout the miniseries – or whether the presence of Ellen herself is to blame for Rose Red’s dangerous history. (King has explored ambiguous parasitic evil of this type before, most notably in Christine.)

What’s maybe not so good is the Gerald’s Game-like insistence that all men are bad. Throughout the book, the only trustworthy characters are women, and are generally the only characters who elicit sympathy. There’s some concern over a homosexual man’s suicide (in one of the neater points in the miniseries, the characters discuss this event, and get significant parts of it wrong; no matter how much you know about the past, you can’t know everything), but in general, all men are evil, corrupt, violent, or all three. One could explain this away in two ways: 1, given the time period it takes place, and given the people Ellen surrounds herself with, all men in her life could be bad; 2, this being Ellen’s viewpoint, it’s entirely possible that she could be clouding the facts with her own perceptions. Still, it’s a little disheartening to travel down this type of road again, after the headway made in books like Dolores Claiborne and Rose Madder.

Taken as a whole, though, The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is entertaining. It treads no new ground plot-wise (The Shining is very much in evidence here, and King – or whoever the author is – borrows greatly from Rebecca), but the diary format is well-utilized and Ellen’s singular voice is quite engaging. Even without the miniseries (which might be seen as sort of a sequel to this book), The Diary of Ellen Rimbauer is a worthy addition to your King collection.

The Facts