Review – The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin (4/5 stars)
Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Horror
Length: 148 pages
Publisher: HarperCollins e-books
Release Date: April 26, 2011 (re-print)
ASIN: B004T4N366
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Borrowed eBook from Library
Rating: 4/5 stars
“For Joanna, her husband, Walter, and their children, the move to beautiful Stepford seems almost too good to be true. It is. For behind the town’s idyllic facade lies a terrible secret — a secret so shattering that no one who encounters it will ever be the same.”
Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from the library.
Thoughts: This is one of those classic books (it was originally published in 1972) that I have been meaning to read for years. It was a quick and engaging read and I can understand why it was groundbreaking for its time.
The story involves Joanna and her family moving to the town of Stepford where Joanna notices the women are a bit too involved in their housekeeping. Joanna and her friend Bobbie try to stir up some feminist anger over the fact that there is a men’s club seemingly running everything but can’t seem to find any women who care. Now, they are both worried that something is happening to the women of Stepford to make them compliant.
This is engaging and well done and does breech a lot of intriguing issues around women’s rights. However, at the same time it is a bit goofy. The unraveled mystery felt a bit silly and forced to me…I mean Disney World and robots…really? Still it is a bit chilling how accepted everything seems throughout the book and how easily these women’s lives are stolen from them. It says something that the term “stepford wife” has stuck as part of our modern vocabulary.
The book also feels very unfinished with a very typical type of horror-twist ending. I have never watched a movie or series based on this book but the story still felt very formulaic and maybe that’s because so many books since then have used this book as a model?
My Summary (4/5): Overall this was a quick and engaging read, I am glad I read it. However, I also felt a bit disappointed by how unsurprising the plot twists were and at how unfinished the whole story feels. It was good to read and now I can check out the numerous series and movies based on this book without feeling bad about not having read the book first.
