The Stepford Wives: A Novel: Amazon.ca: Ira Levin: Books

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From Library Journal

Levin was a hot commodity in the 1960s and 1970s, cranking out horror potboilers like Rosemary's Baby, The Boys from Brazil, and this 1972 title, all of which share the common theme that people aren't always who or what they seem. This slim volume finds protagonist Joanna and husband Walter and kids leaving the wicked city for the bucolic town of Stepford. Despite its ideal facade, the sleepy little storybook town actually is more wicked. Joanna soon notices that her female neighbors are all body and no brains and seemingly exist only to do housework while their husbands gather nightly at a mysterious men's club. Even worse, it appears that the women who moved there just before her suddenly begin morphing into hausfraus built like swimsuit models-and she's next! It's hard to tell if this is a stab at the feminist movement or simply a male fantasy, but it's a fun read and will keep you turning the pages. Note also that a new feature film based on this story is in the works.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

“[Ira Levin] is the Swiss watchmaker of the suspense novel.” (Stephen King )

“An efficient German motorcar of a book--masterful, ridiculously well crafted, and, like the ladies of Stepford themselves, flawless.” (Esquire )

“Chilling...Entertaining...Read it.” (Austin American-Statesman ) --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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First Sentence
THE WELCOME WAGON lady, sixty if she was a day but working at youth and vivacity (ginger hair, red lips, a sunshine-yellow dress), twinkled her eyes and teeth at Joanna and said, You're really going to like it here!" Read the first page

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Customer Reviews

55 Reviews

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4.2 out of 5 stars (55 customer reviews)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sly, Subtle Novel of Ingenious Suspense, Aug 7 2002

By

CD (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stepford Wives (Paperback)

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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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I can relate- I am an officer's wife, April 3 2001

By

h - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Stepford Wives (Mass Market Paperback)

I was terrified at the coincidences between the seemingly perfect and dutiful housewives in Stepford and my own life!! When I married an officer in the Air Force..some friends in college joked I should read this book. The women in Stepford all seem to be living in the past..50's style. A more modern family ..the Eberhart's move in and find this behavior odd and almost silly...I mean it's the 60's! Female Power! Joanna Eberhart, like myself is a modern woman..can handle marriage, life and profession on her own, without relying on her husband. So why are the other Stepford wives so submissive and ancient! Joanna teams up with a few other women, not unlike herself and they vow not to change and become like the "other" women. Weird things start to happen to her new friends. Their husbands take them on "vacations" and they return in an altered state. They return submisssive, strange, and almost robotic-like, abandoning their vows and become like the other Stepford Wives. Joanna and her two remaining friends become frightened until one by one they are also changed...leaving Joanna alone, clinging to her vow not to let anyone change HER. I'll stop here because the ending is horrific and actually almost made me giggle! And YES, I remember being asked to join the officer's wives club along time ago....I recalled the Stepford Wives and laughed to myself inside..and politely declined. Honestly, I am surrounded by "Stepford Wives" everyday of my life. I understand Joanna's struggle to be herself....I take the book all in good fun! :)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars BARBIE RULES!..., Dec 5 2002

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Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Stepford Wives (Paperback)

This is a thought provoking, tautly written novella. A gem of suspense, it was first published in the early nineteen seventies and went on to become a popular movie of the same name, starring Katherine Ross.

The story is very simple but gripping and well written. Joanna Eberhart moves to the seemingly bucolic town of Stepford with her husband, Walter, and two children, leaving behind the dangers of big city living. An independent, assertive, intelligent, and creative woman, Joanna epitomizes the newly liberated women of the nineteen seventies. Looking for like souls with whom to become friends, she seeks out some of the other married women of the town, only to find that they are all uniformly addicted to housework, give their husbands complete obeisance, are made up to the gills, and have figures courtesy of maidenform.

Joanna manages to find several like minded women such as herself. Yet, when they, too, become addicted to housework after having a romantic weekend alone with their respective husbands, Joanna becomes convinced that the Stepford Men's Association has hatched a sinister plot to change all the wives of Stepford into submissive Barbie dolls. Will Joanna manage to escape the fate of the rest of the Stepford wives? Read the book and find out. You will not be disappointed.

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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant and Dark
Something is rotten in the town of Stepford. Having moved there at her husband's insistance to give their children a better life, Joanna Eberheart takes her time to be won over by... Read more

Published on May 1 2009 by Jamieson Villeneuve

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing
The term, "Stepford Wife" is so well-known today, it's hard to believe it all started with this little novella. Read more

Published on Nov 30 2008 by Kona