The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin, Peter Straub
|
List Price: Our Price: $2.48 You Save: $9.51 (79%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Stepford Wives
Book Review: A story about human robots
Summary: 3 Stars
"Stepford wives" from Ira Levin. I have read the book at school and I must say that this book is quite easy to understand, but I don't like the story of the book, because I don't like science fiction. And "Stepford Wives" is a kind of science fiction. The end of the book was a bit difficult to understand. In the book there are a lot of boring parts. It's a book which you cannot take seriously.Book Review: A 3 1/2 star book.
Summary: 3 Stars
Although the book is good, it needs a bit more detail. A few times, when reading, I was not sure what was happening and I had to re-read a paragraph or two. Also, even though the book does not have much detail, you must pay very close attention or you will miss important points in the story. I rate this book 3 1/2 stars.Book Review: A funny book without a happy ending
Summary: 3 Stars
The whole story with was very funny in my opinion. I really liked the robots and their vacuum cleaners. Bobbie was always good for a joke and Joanna brought her back to reality when Bobbie thought that the whole town of Stepford was poisoned by some computer factories.Book Review: Original but not terribly moving
Summary: 3 Stars
A fun morning read of a few thousand words. The men of Stepford are replacing their wives with obedient, sexy robots who love housework. A bit of a satire on men who want such women, but overall, nothing special.Book Review: Entertaining, but bad
Summary: 2 Stars
The fact that the term "Stepford Wife" has somehow made it into our collective cultural vocabulary intrigued me enough to pick up this slim novel and give it a try. I tried to look through the clumsy, artless prose and the dated references and give the book credit for some sort of quirky satire, but to no avail. Reading the Stepford Wives emphasizes to the reader that creating truly timeless fiction requires an author with subtlety and depth, qualities which Levin sorely lacks.
Perhaps in 1972 the book's plot represented some sort of progressive social commentary, with its daring rejection of the woman's role as stay-at-home housefrau and the brave female protagonist's who is interested in creative photography (she can even use a tripod!) and who befriends a Black person. An interesting but unintended revelation from the Stepford Wives is how far the women's liberation movement has actually come since this novel was published. Yesterday's shocking denouncements are today's norm.
That said, however, I have to admit that I did actually read the entire book (not a serious investment; it's short). There's something entertaining about bad faction from the early seventies, but if you're in public you might be tempted to conceal the book's cover with a newspaper so no one knows what you're reading.