The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin, Peter Straub
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Book Reviews of The Stepford Wives
Book Review: how to kill your wife and get away with it..?
Summary: 4 Stars
I finished this book at one sitting. It was definitely a page-turner, with a lot of amusing/awakening observations on the life of American suburban 'hausfraus'. At first I assumed it to be a recent book, first published probably in the 90s, and the reference early in the book to Women's Lib, forming a NOW chapter in the town, having Betty Friedan as a speaker in a women's gathering, etc. seemed out of time and place. Later, I checked the book information page, and finding out that it was originally published in 1972, I could see how it can be read as a book on male paranoia about feminism that'd begun having visible impact back then. Reading this as a story about how to kill your wife and justify the act is but one of several possible readings, though. Even after the 'unhappy' ending where our heroine goes through the same horrible fate as the other women in Stepford did, it is difficult to say whether the message is "Women, be docile!" or "Look, men can be so wicked." It all depends on how you look at it. It can be a satire on feminism. Or, it can be a satire on male resistance to it. At any rate, it is a book that rarely stops engaging the reader.
Book Review: A small novel with a big impact...
Summary: 4 Stars
The Stepford Wives is a funny novel - everybody knows of it, most people have seen the movies, either the old version or the newer version, and some poor people have even heard of The Stepford Husbands, a movie which was a spin off of the older version. Even the term, The Stepford Wife, has entered our language.
Yet how many have read the book? At only about 123 pages it doesn't take that long to absorb.
It is interesting to watch the world unfold from the point of view of the main character, Joanna Eberhart, and to see it as a mirror image of our society. After a few chapters you start to wonder if you are seeing the town as it is or as Joanna sees it. Is her reality cracking or is she really in danger? Is this science gone crazy? Is this culture sucking in the new comers and changing them? Or is this the beautiful American dream, the final goal of having a ideal family, the stable and stale happiness that all people wish for?
Get it used or new. Read it at least once.
Book Review: Intelligent and engaging
Summary: 4 Stars
Like many others, I was able to read this short story in one sitting. It is a very well-written book in my opinion, and the main characters of Joanne and Bobbie are well-developed and interesting. With the new Mathew Broderick movie coming out, I imagine there will be a lot of renewed interest in the original story. I think it is somewhat of a misnomer to call this book "science fiction." Though judging from the trailers the new movie has a lot of explicit science fictiony scenes, the book does not. In fact, in the end the true nature of the Stepford Wives is never revealed, and it is up to the reader to draw his own conclusion based on a series of clues and hints the author reveals in the book's three chapters.
I must admit, I was initally disappointed with the story's anti-climactic ending, but it has since grown on me. This is a highly intelligent story that does not patronize the reader. I think it will easily be regarded as a 20th century classic decades from now.
Book Review: Quite a good book
Summary: 4 Stars
It was good, that we could read a book in the English classes. I didn't know the novel Stepford Wives, but I was suprised about the book, because I don't think, that the title and the front of the book looked very promising. But the story is good. I like the fact that Joanna is such a powerful, lovely woman. She has her own life, and she doesn't only care about housework. The men aren't sympathetic, they deal with women as if their only duty was to stay at home the whole time and clean the home like it was some 50 years ago. I suppose that there are some men who would still to turn back the wheel of time. My only criticism is the end, which is a little bit unbelievable. Why does Joanna go with the men to Bobbie's house? She knows that they want to kill her. I don't think that this is very logical. Joanna isn't stupid, why should she do that? Why doesn't she run away to get help?Book Review: A thriller about a disputed subject
Summary: 4 Stars
The central figure is Joanna Eberhart. She personifies the perfect woman of the early seventies. And for that she also has her own desires and wishes, to the great disappointment of her husband. After the family moved to the new rural town of Stepford something really strange happens: All the wives in Stepford are just interested in housework and do exactly what their husbands, or rather masters, want from them. Joanna can't believe it and her friend Bobby Markow has the same opinion. Together they search a reason for the strange manner of acting of the Stepford wives. But after a weekend of Bobby and her husband alone, she turned to a typical Stepford woman. What will happen to Joanna?For me it was a little bit difficult because I'm not very good at English.
It is an unreal but thrilling story. You have no idea what has happened to all the Stepford wives.