The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

Review by Elleanore Vance

For the longest time my personal knowledge of "The Stepford Wives" consisted of a trailer for the 2004 movie starring Nicole Kidman and Matthew Broderick. It looked ridiculous, so I wrote it off as a whole.  

My discovery of "Rosemary's Baby" changed all of that. I needed to read Stepford. Once i had...hooo buddy. I was not prepared. At 35 years old, I was having nightmares. My habit is that i read the book, then watch a film adaptation, but i have yet to watch Stepford. It messed with me that bad. 

Photographer Joanna Eberhart and family (husband and 2 children) move to Stepford to get away from the dangers of the city. Immediately upon their arrival, Mr. Eberhart is asked to a meeting of the Stepford Men's Association, which he accepts. But there is no mirroring Women's club. In fact all of the long-term female residents seem to only have mental power to take care of their homes and children.

None of the ladies can have coffee after dinner with Joanna, they must scrub and wax their kitchen floors. When a search of the local library reveals the feminist roots of so many of Joanna's neighbors, she begins to suspect brainwashing. What is revealed to actually be going on is so much worse. 

This book is dark science fiction, and oddly real, or at least possible in a world where people are sexually abusing lifelike androids, and entering into relationships with their sex dolls (no judgement, if that's your thing, it's just a parallel I see between a work of fiction and real life). Like ripples in a pond, the influence of the questions this story asks are still being seen today. "Chobits" by the manga-ka team CLAMP uses some themes, as does "Serenity", and even Star Trek the Next Generation. But nothing has managed to reproduce the terror encapsulated in these pages. Johanna reached out and became one with my soul as she trembled in fear for her own existence. This story.... ooh. Yeah. I am actually making myself upset just writing this, and I will likely have issues sleeping tonight. So... yeah, go to the Library and get scared silly. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐5/5

P.s. I have no idea how Ira Levin did it. Both RB and SW are stories that revolve around the ways women are preyed upon by their environments. Both are told from a female point of view, with authentic female voices, and I have no idea how he did it. Why are these masterpieces not required highschool reading?!

Quick update from 2025:

This piece was originally written three years ago when the blog was still in the Consortium. It sat in a noteb 1ook and collected dust . I have since attempted a re-read and i could not finish it.  Not now that i know the ending. Now that i know that Joanna was right all along. I still believe this should be required reading.  Especially in these post-Roe times. Read this and arm yourselves- EV

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