[.ca] The Stepford Wives (ISBN 0060080841)

What would life be like if women were perfect?:
What if life was perfect? Does it mean we'd be insane? Or happy? This book leads one into the world of television-commercial perfection, the ultimate celebration and triumph of our consumer oriented society, and suggests such wonderful fulfillment would leave us totally insane. We're human because of our faults; getting things right every now and then is a rare delight, not a habit. In the years since the book and the movie originally appeared, it's become a cult classic for gay and lesbian audiences. Honestly. In other words, the so-called "feminist" movement is as sexist, blinkered and hypocritical as most prejudices the so-called "male" culture has ever developed. Geeeee . . . . . I guess we're all human, after all. There's an old test for prejudice, "How would you like it if THAT applied to you, rather than someone else?" On that basis, don't tell me that women couldn't identify with "perfect" men. If you have any doubts, read a couple of "romance" novels -- there's some 18 million printed every month -- and tell me if the male heroes aren't masculine clones of the perfect housewives portrayed in this book. In other words, it deals with a very human condition -- what would we do if confronted with perfection? That, of course, is the proposition offered by almost every advertisement and commercial ever produced; use this "product" to make your life better. In Genesis the answer comes in two and one-half chapters, "We'd mess it up." Of course, Genesis dealt with an apple. This novel substitutes the perfect woman for an apple, which supposedly raises the stakes considerably for the average male. Just how would a man react if he met a perfect woman? What is the perfect woman? One whose bra size (measured in centimeters) matches her IQ ? In other words, it's a savage satire of our media-driven society in which youth, beauty and happiness all come from a bottle. Does happiness depend on bra size? And, in the case of a woman, whether a man drives a Dodge Viper or a Dodge Neon? After you read this book, you'll never again look at a commercial or advertisement without laughing. Maybe it's just as well the latest film version treats the whole thing as a joke. Ideas can be disturbing, such as the thougtht that our consumer society just may be insane. Savage, biting, clever, frightening -- it's a great book.

Scary Movie:
The original Stepford Wives was far more terrifying than the re-make. In the 1970s, women's lib was at it's height and lets face it: it scared men. They didn't know if we were going to take their jobs, leave them or what. We were becoming finacially independent and for many men, the did not like losing this sort of control over their wives. It meant that they could leave if they weren't happy. So what to do? Why you make women all docile, dependent and dumb as a post with absolutely no ambition beyond making you very happy, (...). What was so disturbing isn't really about the possibility of this happening---we probably won't have the technology to make life like robots like this for another 200 years--but the question it raised "IF we DID have the technology, would men in fact, murder their wives and replace them with docile replacement robots? While men in general I think have come to accept a woman working outside the home, there are still men out there that most certainly WOULD do this if they could.

Horror-fied:
I was dying-haha-to know what happened to the main character after seeing all those commercials with Nichole Kidman leaping back from that robot of herself. "Did that really happen? Is that really a story?" Coming from the man who wrote, "Rosemary's Baby" anything is possible. Its quite short and quite disturbing. After finishing the story, I didn't want to turn out the light. But nothing was going to get me! It wasn't the same horror as a classic horror movie, slash and trash the girl... It was almost like a "threatening" horror. What would happen if women lost everything---what if it were all taken away and replaced with what your husband and children want as a wife and mother? It makes me think about how central a womans role is in her household....the whole story makes me think---totally! Disturbing, very disturbing. I can't help but wonder what a man would feel and say about this, or a woman who has grown children and a lifelong relationship with her husband. Would these people feel powerless, unsettled? Or just creeped out with a smile on their face? Whatever the feeling, the marvelous and unusual feeling, this story evokes these strongly in me. It was published the year I was born....

A wonderful read!:
The Stepford Wives is a masterpiece, a brilliant and chilling satire on the feminist movement, that not only manages to entertain, but provides enough material for deep discussion. It's a quick, effortless read, marvelously plotted, and full of page-turning, as opposed to nail-biting, suspense. Ira Levin has created a pop-culture phenomenon, and the title has etched its way into our vocabulary, and for good reason. The Stepford Wives is truly a memorable book; shocking and original. This book is at times hilarious, and at times extremely disturbing, especially the ending. Levin leaves a lot of the secrets unsolved, allowing our imagination to run wild trying to interpret what has actually happened and is actually happening. He never goes into detail, making everything seem all the scarier. This book is a must-read for anyone. It is truly one of the best books ever written and highly recommended. My only complaint is that it was too short. I would have loved to spend more time with these 'perfect' women. Give the women of Stepford a chance, you might thank yourself later.

A 3 1/2 star book.:
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.