Product Description

The internationally bestselling novel by the author of A Kiss Before Dying, The Boys from Brazil, and Rosemary's Baby

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.

At once a masterpiece of psychological suspense and a savage commentary on a media-driven society that values the pursuit of youth and beauty at all costs, The Stepford Wives is a novel so frightening in its final implications that the title itself has earned a place in the American lexicon.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #53456 in Books
• Published on: 2002-07-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

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.

Review
"Chilling...Entertaining...Read it." (Austin American-Statesman )

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

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

About the Author
Ira Levin was born and lives in New York City. His novels -- A Kiss Before Dying, Rosemary’s Baby, This Perfect Day, The Stepford Wives, The Boys from Brazil, and Sliver -- have all been international bestsellers. Mr. Levin also wrote the longest-running thriller in Broadway history, Deathtrap, and the lyrics of the Barbra Streisand classic "He Touched Me." A two-time winner of the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Allan Poe Award, he recently received the Horror Writers Association’s Bram Stoker Award for lifetime achievement.

Customer Reviews

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 the small town. Slightly bitter at leaving behind a budding photography career in New York, she hopes that she be able to find a fellow shutterbug in the town and perhaps a fellow feminist.

Joanna soon discovers that there is no time for feminism in Stepford. There is little time for anything else but housework. Every woman she speaks to keeps to herself and cleans their houses. They have time for nothing else but house work. Joanna is a little disappointed and despairs of ever meeting a normal woman in Stepford when she meets Bobbi, another new Stepfordite. Bobbi moved to Stepford two months before Joanna and the two women strike up a quick friendship. Her husband Walter decides to join the Men's Association, the men's club in Stepford.

Bobbi has also noticed the Stepford woman's penchant for housework. She also mentions that all the woman have perfect bodies and aren't too swift upstairs. They aspire to bring the woman's movement to Stepford and try to drum up interest in a woman's liberation group, with poor results. None of the women think woman's liberation is important, and how could they join such a group when there was so much house work to do?

They do meet one woman, Charmaine, who is interested. Inviting them up to play tennis for an afternoon, they learn that Charmaine's husband Ed also belongs to the Men's Association, as does Bobbi's husband. They also learn that women who come to Stepford change for some reason. One of Charmaine's past tennis partners, who used to love tennis, now cleans her house all day like the rest of the Stepford wives. Then Charmaine herself changes; her tennis court is filled in and she is always beautiful, always immaculate.

Bobbi and Joanna are now convinced that something is happening in Stepford. They even decide to have the water tested, to see if there is a chemical present that turns women into pan scrubbing zombies. When Bobbi goes away for a weekend and comes back as a Stepford Wife, Joanna knows that her time is limited and that she may be next. When she finds out the truth, it will shatter everything she believes...

Everyone has heard of "The Stepford Wives". Whether it's the 1975 movie that was made from Ira Levin's 1972 physiological thriller, or the 2004 remake, the word "Stepford" has become a part of our vocabulary. The original movie has achieved cult fame, but the book is by far the better deal of the two. Like most movies based on books, the book is far better.

What I loved about the book was that it had a lot more to do with feminism than the movie did. It made more of a comment on the woman's movement and female independence. This seemed to be lost in the movie. As well, the characters were more finely defined, more developed. There is a sense of familiarity with the characters in the book that was lost in the movie, as if Joanna could jump up from the pages and come to life.

What really threw me for a loop was how creepy the book was. At 146 pages long, you don't expect such a slim novel to have the impact it did, but "The Stepford Wives" creeped the stuffing right out of me. I have never read any of his work, so had little idea what to expect. Needless to say, I was hooked. I started the book in the morning and finished it that afternoon.

It is clear after reading the book why it has played such an important part in pop culture. Though it is a little dated, the novel is still a wonderful commentary on feminism and conformity and independence. The writing is crisp and stripped down, simple. The characters are real, flawed and live off the page in our mind.

In short, everything that makes great fiction is in "The Stepford Wives." If you want an excellent, creepy read, look no further than the town of Stepford.

Disappointing
The term, "Stepford Wife" is so well-known today, it's hard to believe it all started with this little novella. In it, Joanna and her husband move out of the big city to the idyllic suburb of Stepford, Connecticut, where life seems perfect. Joanna hopes to be active in Women's Lib activities but soon finds all the wives in town want nothing more than spotlessly clean homes. And all the husbands go to the Men's Association every night. Why?

Having loved the 1975 movie version of The Stepford Wives, I expected the book to be just as intense, but it was a big let-down. The book isn't the least bit scary - or interesting. The writing is spare and uninvolving, the characters sketchy and bland, and there's no action. The story is frozen in 1972 with all the references to Betty Friedan and NOW.

If you're looking for thrills and chills, watch the movie. Even the silly 2004 remake is more interesting than the book.

Great book
Ira Levin is a writer who keeps you turning pages. In the 1960s and 1970s he wrote such classic horror novels as Rosemary's Baby and The Boys from Brazil. This is another classic. It's a fast read and a quick story but it's thought-provoking to be sure. I saw the remake and don't know what the author thinks of it. It's a very different tone from the original movie, but it has its own merits. In any event, this is the classic novel on which both movies were based and well worth checking out! Also, check out ROSEMARY'S BABY! Great novel AND movie!!!