Ira Levin
The Stepford Wives (1972)
Author: Ira Levin
Genre (and subgenre): Horror/psychological
Plot Summary:
It’s the early 1970s and “liberated” couple Joanna and Walter Eberhart have moved from New York City to Stepford, Connecticut because it seems like a more civilized place to bring up their two kids. The women’s liberation movement has spoken to many women, especially Joanna, who is involved in women’s issues and wants to join or create an activist organization in her new community. But from the Welcome Wagon hostess who touts the town’s “niceness” to the town’s strangely serene, brainless but beautiful wives and mothers, who are obsessed with housework and being homemakers, it becomes clear that something wacko has happened to Stepford women. The local Men’s Association, to which most of the town’s husbands belong, is a mystery too, even though Joanna’s husband is a member. When two of the only “normal” women that Joanna befriends suddenly become zombies like all the others—after spending romantic weekends alone with their husbands—Joanna is convinced that she is next. Her terror grows as she researches the town’s past and learns that its educated women were once activists and that things started to change around the time that Dale “Diz” Coba moved to town; he’d spent six years at Disneyland working with “audio-animatronics…”
Geographical Setting: Stepford, Connecticut outside New York City
Time Period: early 1970s
Appeal Characteristics:
This quickly-paced, plot-driven story builds gradually, with Levin piling layer upon layer of detail. The characters, except for Joanna, Bobbie and their families, are superfluous, they exist as mere instruments to further the plot. The novel’s strength is its psychological torment, which is hinted at throughout but the full impact is not sprung until the end. This kind of story is perfect for readers who don’t like the violence and blood-and-guts of vampire or other monster-oriented horror. Fans of TV series’ such as The Twilight Zone, Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, etc… will find this similar type of intellectual workout quite interesting. The story’s feminist-oriented themes still resonate thirty-three years later, raising issues about women’s roles and our culture’s obsession with beauty and women as objects. This book will also interest modern young women who are not afraid to call themselves feminists and generally any person, female or male, looking for a scary, thought-provoking read.
Similar Authors: Robert Bloch, Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, Shirley Jackson
Red Flags: Profanity is practically nonexistent here. There are two or three instances of sexual situations between married couples but it is very, very tame.
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