The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin, Peter Straub
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Book Reviews of The Stepford Wives
Book Review: No Men's clubs for MY husband, you can count on THAT!
Summary: 5 Stars
I can handle watching or reading just about any level of horror... so what was it about this tiny little novella that I read in an hour that truly chilled me? First, I have never seen the movies... so I had no real preconceived notions other than having seen the commercials. Something about being a girl, who was raised in a society where everything tells you that you have to be beautiful, you have to be talented, and above all you have to be perfect or you are nothing... this book really taps into that mantra. The feeling that every little girl has that "I'm not good enough" most of us (hopefully) follow that up with "but at least I'm ME" and that is where the terror of this book lies.
What if the ultimate deceiver, the true villain is the one person who should love you the most, your protector, your partner, your husband. What if he would change you... take away your identity for his own pleasure... and what if everyone was on his side. How would you hold on, how could you escape?
As you can tell this book really hit a nerve with me... true I was born in 1978, so this was a little before my time, but it hasn't changed all that much even though we want to think so. The book is really about men's desires, or Levin's interpretation of them. That they would be willing to sacrifice their wife's very identity, her being, to make her a mindless barbie that did what they pleased. The men in this book are truly horrifying beings... but even more frightening is that this is a doubt shared by all women, across the globe. From a young age we are taught to doubt ourselves, our physical appearance, our mind, our talent, the love of others. I know women with genius IQ's who act like idiots because that is what men want from them. Though there is no magical overnight drug that can do this to a woman... there is the lifelong barrage of the media and society which does a pretty good job in and of itself.
Off my soapbox now. This book freaked me out... it was very well written, very tight and compact, and rediculously short for the price. I would advise getting it from a library, a used book store, or a friend rather than spending the cover amount on it. Mainly because it is so short. Still, I think this book has a lot of meaning, this book should be read and discussed with others... and to the ladies out there... odds are you will end up a bit unsettled and a bit angry at the end of it all.
Book Review: What would life be like if women were perfect?
Summary: 5 Stars
What if life was perfect?Does it mean we'd be insane? Or happy? This book leads one into the world of television-commercial perfection, the ultimate celebration and triumph of our consumer oriented society, and suggests such wonderful fulfillment would leave us totally insane. We're human because of our faults; getting things right every now and then is a rare delight, not a habit.
In the years since the book and the movie originally appeared, it's become a cult classic for gay and lesbian audiences. Honestly. In other words, the so-called "feminist" movement is as sexist, blinkered and hypocritical as most prejudices the so-called "male" culture has ever developed. Geeeee . . . . . I guess we're all human, after all.
There's an old test for prejudice, "How would you like it if THAT applied to you, rather than someone else?" On that basis, don't tell me that women couldn't identify with "perfect" men. If you have any doubts, read a couple of "romance" novels -- there's some 18 million printed every month -- and tell me if the male heroes aren't masculine clones of the perfect housewives portrayed in this book.
In other words, it deals with a very human condition -- what would we do if confronted with perfection? That, of course, is the proposition offered by almost every advertisement and commercial ever produced; use this "product" to make your life better. In Genesis the answer comes in two and one-half chapters, "We'd mess it up."
Of course, Genesis dealt with an apple. This novel substitutes the perfect woman for an apple, which supposedly raises the stakes considerably for the average male. Just how would a man react if he met a perfect woman? What is the perfect woman? One whose bra size (measured in centimeters) matches her IQ ? In other words, it's a savage satire of our media-driven society in which youth, beauty and happiness all come from a bottle.
Does happiness depend on bra size? And, in the case of a woman, whether a man drives a Dodge Viper or a Dodge Neon? After you read this book, you'll never again look at a commercial or advertisement without laughing. Maybe it's just as well the latest film version treats the whole thing as a joke. Ideas can be disturbing, such as the thougtht that our consumer society just may be insane.
Savage, biting, clever, frightening -- it's a great book.
Book Review: Awesome book, always has been!
Summary: 5 Stars
I actually saw the movie first, it was a long time ago and it wasn't the contrived and plot-jumping dreck the former Mrs. Cruise starred in. This was the one with what's her face and that other chick and it actually expanded out the plot pretty well. However, I saw the movie and wanted to read the book and as a result started reading Levin way too early in life to get a lot of his more subtle plot points and his almost indistinguishable exposition. But that's Levin. His pacing is so breakneck he almost guarantees the reread because you have to go back and see what you missed.
I've been reading him coherently and delightedly for about five years and have absolutely loved every one of his books. I love love LOVE the eerie tension he weaves into his plots, the way you never quite know what is going to happen until it does.
Speaking exclusively on Stepford Wives, a review by Stephen King says that Levin goes from Joanna's horrified realization to the book's denouement in just under 300 words. Not sentences. Words. That's pacing, man. Levin's the best.
Now someone else on here said she submits rather submissively to her fate. I thought that, too, the first time I read this and it pissed me off no end. She'd figured it out, she was savvy to the situation and as much as the character got on my nerves (most of Levin's female leads do, sorry to say) I was actually rooting for her to win. Then she just gives in and becomes a mindless drone. WTF was THAT?
Ahhh, but subtext is Levin's bread and butter. He comments on the social landscape through his novels. Joanna doesn't submit so much as she surrenders to the inevitable. His view of the feminist movement and the true and underlying feeling of hopelessness and eventual assimilation that precluded it is retold so accurately here. It's really quite amazing and makes the satire in the book that much more amusing.
Seeing myself as somewhat more learned and mature, I can really enjoy him now, whereas before I was just confused and disappointed that he didn't flush the plot more extensively.
Taken as a whole and for the social satire that it is, Stepford Wives is probably my favorite Levin novel. I'm giving it the stars it deserves!
Book Review: Great read
Summary: 5 Stars
THE STEPFORD WIVES is a psychological thriller that will keep you guessing until the end. The book is very well paced and will keep you turning pages, until you've turned the last page. Joanna Eberhart moves from a big city to the small village of Stepford with her husband and two kids. She finds the women in this town a little strange, they appear to have no brains and to be soul-less, enjoying the chores of being a housewife and taking care of the kids. She meets Bobbie, to whom she immediately befriends. Bobbie agrees that something isn't up to par. When they move her husband joins the Men's Association. Bobbie and Joanna wonder what happened to the Woman's organization, that disbanded a few years ago. When their friend suddenly turns into one of those women, they start to wonder if there's something in the water or the air that is making these women turn into these housewives with no other aspirations. Bobbie & Joanna decide to try to uproot and move their families. Then Bobbie goes away for a weekend with her husband, and boom she comes back a changed woman as well. Joanna's suspicions are piqued and she heads off to do some research, and finds out a man who once lived in California at Disneyland, who made robots, is the president of the Men's Association. Their initial friend came in July, and four months later, had changed. Bobbie came in August, and a month after their friend, also changed. Joanna knew she was next, and with her proof, she went to her husband and told him she was leaving town with the kids, only to find they were gone! She knew she was next, and escaped, only to be found by the men who tried to convince them that they weren't turning women into robots. They convince her to go to Bobbie's and she will cut herself to prove she's human, and then suddenly, Joanna is one of them. The implications of this is truly astounding and quite frightening. It was a quick read, quite a short book but fast paced.Book Review: A Sly, Subtle Novel of Ingenious Suspense
Summary: 5 Stars
Ira Levin never fails to impress me. I've only had the great luck of reading "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Stepford Wives." Rosemary's Baby was unbelievable, and reading it was like watching a speeding train coming at you. Part Two of that novel (it's written in three parts) becomes so incredibly frantic towards the end, yet Levin himself is so calm about it all. It's as if he's merely opening the doors to the insane asylum and letting you in, without ever stepping in himself. It's brilliant. And he manages to best that book with "The Stepford Wives," which if anything, should be used in a study for subtlety, less-is-more, and incredible foreshadowing. Re-reading the novel and knowing what's going to happen, it's amazing the way he drops clues, in the most inconspicuous of places. And the way he writes scenes--he's very concise about what details he puts in, and while he doesn't go overboard, he gives you the one or two details that are absolutely perfect, and you feel like you know everything.
The characters are also finely drawn. You learn a lot about Joanna, just in tiny details, and how she is with her children, her husband, and her friends. ...P>Levin's ending, as others have noted, is also quite amazing, and you're almost too out of breath to realize what has happened. I remember the first time I read the last section, with Ruthanne (a black woman who's the newest to move to Stepford after Joanna) and her husband, and it wasn't until I read it a second time that I just got so freaked out, just in the subtle hints. And how it almost seems to end abruptly, and yet ends at the perfect moment.
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