Book Review: The Stepford Wives

That's right! I read stuff! I have been reading a lot more recently because of the back problems and how I generally avoid most of the people that I know since I am trying to not drink very much anymore. I know I know, I should just hang out and not drink but that is not how a borderline alcoholic functions.

Nadi is happy that I am staying home more often though, and that makes me happy enough.

I have completely run out of actual books to read so now I am being subjected to my 2nd generation of Kindle, which still works almost 100%. The "home" button no longer works because I let a friend of mine borrow it for a while and he returned it to me broken. I presume he dropped it or something and he is a jerk for not pointing that out. The home button has never worked since that day and while I suppose it is possible that it is just a coincidence the chance of it being mistreated on his part is a lot higher. he should have just offered to get me a new one, which is what I would have done if the situation were different.

Anyway, now I have to hard restart it every time I want to change books and this takes about 1 minute so it's not the end of the world.

I would prefer to be reading this in an actual book with paper in it but I live in Vietnam and we don't have great access to books for a couple of reasons stemming mostly from the fact that people generally don't buy books anymore and they certainly don't buy them in the English language over here. If you are lucky enough to find books in English they are normally prohibitively expensive as well.

Anyway, let's move on to this book whose name you have probably heard of and maybe you have even seen the film.

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This book has been published MANY times since its original release in 1972 so there are a lot of different cover options but the following is the first edition and if you have one of these you are likely sitting on something quite valuable.

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Ok, so how to classify this book is a tough call. It is kind of dystopian, kind of a sneaky science fiction thing, and also a bit of a thriller with an inconclusive ending. All of these things mesh together exceptionally well and I am going to be vague on purpose when I talk about it, so as not to spoil it for potential readers.

This takes place in a semi-advanced version of the 70's in which it was written, it could very well be the 60's. I cant say for sure because if that is referenced in the book, I don't remember it. Well things are starting to heat up as far as women's rights are concerned and there are a number of women that push for equality and what not which is something that in reality had been legally accomplished in the United States decades prior to when this book is meant to take place, but as someone that grew up in the 70's and 80's, most women were still housewives and for the most part, a lot of them seemed content with that.

I'm not trying to get political so let's just say that this is a theme in the book. A new family has moved to town in Stepford and at first the Ebergarts are just enamored by how wonderful this little community is. Everyone is so nice, everything is so clean. But one thing really stands out to Joanna Eberhart (the person whose perspective the book is written in) in that the women are all exceptionally gorgeous but none of the husbands have those characteristics. She also notices that all of the women are submissive and completely at the beck and call of their husbands. They rarely leave the house and are obsessed with "housework."

At first Joanna feels as though he is maybe just misinterpreting things and is just behaving like a liberal "city girl" but as time goes on the level of disinterest that the women of Stepford have in doing anything other than being homemakers starts to get extremely weird.

She tries to "roll with the punches" and do what is best for her family but starts to feel as though the entire community is working against her and that there is a dark secret that she must uncover.

I've probably already said too much but these are things that are just kind of known about this story even if you haven't read it.

If I've spoiled it for you I'm sorry, but there is so much more to this book than just what I have written above. This book is so perfectly written that there are times that you, the reader, aren't entirely convinced that Joanna herself isn't just losing her mind and imagining these things around her and that she actually is becoming hysterical and DOES need the therapy that is being suggested to her by the people in Stepford. You go back and forth feeling terror for Joanna and feeling sympathy for her and then later feeling as though she is making problems that don't actually exist and it just being a pain in the ass to all those around her including her own family.

_{it was a real page-turner and Nadi finished it in two sittings}

There are a lot of reasons why you should read this book: It talks about an important moment in time as far as women's rights are concerned without being too preachy about it. It isn't trying to convince you of some sort of ideology or anything - it is merely presenting these very real (at the time) social issues in a terrifying way. Another reason to read it is that it wastes zero time and gets to the point, tells you what is going on, then moves to the next section. The total book is only 145 pages and I finished it in two evenings without ever having my mind wander. Take that Stephen King and your unnecessarily long fantasy books!

This book is almost certainly available in every book store and every library in the western world and it is very easy to read. It leaves you thinking after it is over as well and can reveal a little bit about yourself if you allow it to as well. It's also written in mostly plain language: I only had to look up a word on the page twice which if you have a Kindle you know is as easy as just holding your finger on the screen.

I highly recommend this very easy to read and very accessible book.