Reviews with content warning for Misogyny - The Stepford Wives

Reviews tagging 'Misogyny'

The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin

26 reviews

pantslint's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I picked up this book because I've read that Don't Worry Darling (2022) was a poorly-done film copycat of The Stepford Wives. I love Levin's writing style; it's straightforward and easy to read, all the while being so descriptive that I can visually see the scenes and settings.

The premise is still so relevant (sadly) and the language and mechanics still hold up pretty well, so I can see how this book is a timeless classic. However, it's interesting to see how far feminist theory and female characters have come—it's clear in Joanna's characterization.

She's not a perfect feminist (no one is), though the way that she, Charmaine, and Bobbie are written feel a little bit like caricatures in present-day. They're bad housewives: messy, loud, and they shirk responsibilities in favor of their personal hobbies. They eat McDonald's cheeseburgers in the car and play tennis. There is such a sharp contrast between them and the robotic Stepford Wives, for emphasis on how different and liberated they are in comparison, I guess?

Though now, I'd say there's room for more nuance in feminist literature, and not so not-like-other-girls.

When Joanna meets Carol in the very first chapter, she observes how beautiful Carol is, and how perfect of a housewife she is. But Joanna's attitude irks the hell out of me.

No, she didn't know how it was, thank God. Not to be like that, a compulsive hausfrau. Who could blame Ted for taking advantage of such an asking-to-be-exploited patsy?

Like, ew, Joanna. Way to be a girl-hater. You don't have to hate housework and hate women who choose to be home to be a feminist... though I think this kind of characterization is just of-the-time!

I have to read more of Levin's work. And I don't think I'll watch Olivia Wilde's movie.

Content Warnings

matchamarimo's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Content Warnings

looney_lily's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

mfrisk's review against another edition

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dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I was surprised to find how relevant this book felt 50+ years later.

This book discusses feminism, women’s rights and liberation within the context of its time. However reading this now with misogynistic men’s rights activists feeling emboldened to spew more vitriol than ever without even sugarcoating it as the men in this book do is chilling. Considering men still are choosing to be willfully incompetent to avoid splitting the work often taken on solely by women and men continuing to commit violence against women (and to greater degrees those with marginalized identities) this book still holds immense weight.

Ultimately, the women in this book are asking for similar issues as we are today (with of course additional added pressures) in terms of division of household labor, feeling heard in their relationships, and feeling they can be a whole person with hobbies, interests, and civic engagement that isn’t solely tied to their romantic partner. This isn’t necessarily a feel good read but it’s one I’d highly recommend.

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abmochapman's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

an incredible psychological thriller (apart from peter straub’s introduction, which — rather than introducing the novel — explains its entire plot)

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hookerkitty's review against another edition

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Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

…what in the hell did I just read? I borrowed this on Hoopla, so I’m not sure just how much was formatting errors from Hoopla or if it’s the actual book’s fault.

There was rarely any indication that there’d be a scene change between lines/paragraphs, which was hella confusing (once in a while I’d get a — between lines, or an extra space between lines, but the majority of the time I got neither).

I also had to keep checking to see if I accidentally skipped a page, because it’d seem like I was missing gaps of info. But judging by other reviews I’ve seen, that’s how the book was actually written. Which is atrocious. Especially when giant gaps take place at the end. There was no huge twist, you just have to decide for yourself what happened. Or, in the case of the edition I read with Peter Straub’s (awful) intro, you can basically read a quick summary/cliffs note version of the book, before you actually read any of it yet. Who the hell approved that‽

I’m glad this was a short book, because I would’ve been hella pissed wasting more time than I did (still irked even with it being shorter though). I’m SO glad I didn’t buy it in a whim to make sure I had the entire book.

I mean, just, why? I picked this book for one of my challenges, both because it fit, but mostly because Rosemary’s Baby wasn’t available to borrow on Libby or Hoopla. I’d always wanted to read Rosemary’s Baby, but now I’m questioning whether or not it’ll be worth my time because this was so bad. Argh.

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caughtbetweenpages's review against another edition

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dark reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book is haunting me and I don't think it'll ever stop.

The story is simple: something weird is happening to women in Stepford, where the longer they live there, the less agency they exert, the more their attentions turn toward domesticity and making themselves look "perfect", and the cagier their husbands get about discussing the changes that have happened in their wives. However, despite many a decade passing since Levin first wrote this story, the underpinnings of misogyny in the men of Stepford echo all too closely the grumblings of alphaholes in the mannosphere demaning trad-wives and a return to a hyperpatriarchal familial structure (as though our backs aren't already breaking under the yoke of patriarchy even now). ( If you don't understand those words, please tell me where you're from so I can go there and escape, since it's not too late for me quite yet.) Given the twitter and reddit threads that pop up in the year of our lord 2023 where men fully talk about the "part of the relationship where you start to hate your girlfriend/wife" as though that's a normal relationship step and the gaslighting and emotional abuse they put her through is par for the course since she's being annoying enough to try to make things work... yeah, it's not a far stretch of the imagination to think men like that would love the option to have a council of techbros in a little boy's club

kill their female partners and have them replaced with cooking, cleaning, child-minding robots who never gain weight or smell bad or aren't fully made up and dressed to the nines

. Hating women and yet wanting them as a trophy for proof of one's own masculinity is a disease and it looks like it's reaching pandemic proportions. I only hope it's not terminal.

On a structural level, Levin's mastery of pacing can't be overstated. The exponential ramping up of the tension in the story as the characters within became more aware of Something Going On made me real-life nervous, and I felt true sorrow when

the protagonist, whose name escapes me, is killed by a robot wearing her former friend's face even as she's trying to escape the town and her husband's attempted murder

. The slow attitude change on the protagonist's husband was chilling and so insidious, it very much felt like I turned a page and realized "oh. oh, despite his promise to try to change the patriarchal structure from within, he has found in it a way to assert power and feel in control, and he's forsaken the woman he claimed to love for it. got it. nobody is safe here." The final chapter, where the cycle begins anew made me full body shiver. The prose is tight, the characters feel modern and resonant even decades after they were written, and the themes stick with you long after you close this book. Absolute masterpiece.

Content Warnings