The Stepford Wives
By Ira Levin
Rating 3.5/5
Genre Horror, Fiction, Mystery. Very fast read.
Obviously, this book is not as scary as Ira's most successful book Rosemary's Baby but for someone having to go through this, it is quite nerve wracking and nightmarish. I felt Ira Levin has left a lot to the imagination and not explained how exactly and what exactly happened to all those wives of Stepford..that turned their minds and souls into mush. I think it also makes one wonder with all the focus on the wives, what is also happening to the husbands..are they just becoming complicit in the wicked scheme for the benefits or are they getting brain washed ? I would have loved to have more clarity on these fronts..but for now I m assuming whatever makes most sense to me.
The plot is Joanna and her husband Walter buy a new house in Stepford town and move in with their kids. Right off the bat, she notices something off with the neighborhood wives. They are content and supremely invested in house cleaning and doing household chores for their husbands' happiness than socializing or even having their own lives. She makes friends with a couple of newly moved families and slowly they get changed too..it seems each new comer woman has about 4 months before she becomes one of the others. She figures they are becoming like robots and someone is doing it to them..perhaps the men in the town? Scared out of her wits and wanting to investigate whats going on, Joanna runs away from her husband and home. She is eventually caught..and well..
This book doesn't feel as serious but these women are innocent victims to the ideologies and whims of men..it could stir quite a feminism oriented argument..but just its fiction and meant for one read fun. :)
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