The Stepford Wives: Stepford is out of step

I finally read The Stepford Wives after finding a copy for sale during one of my I'll-just-stop-in-to-browse-but-I-don't-actually-need-anything trips to the Strand.

You know what's frightening? How relevant the book is today. I don't know why, but I wasn't really expecting that to be the case (despite knowing the story and existing in the present day).

For the few of you who don't know the story (from the book, or the '75 movie , or even the 2004 movie) here's a quick synopsis: Joanna and Walter Eberhart (both very interested in the Women's Liberation movement), and their two children, move from NYC to the Connecticut suburbs, landing in the town of Stepford where the homes are beautiful, and everyone seems so welcoming and...well, perfect.

All of the wives in the town seem happy to clean their homes and cook and tend to their husbands. The husbands have their own men's only club, which Walter assures Joanna is just a throw back being held up by a few of the older members, but many of the younger husbands talk about allowing women to join. But really, nothing interesting is happening up there.

But something is off. It's hard for Joanna to put her finger on exactly what it is. Maybe these women just prefer keeping house to the (long disbanded) women's club. Maybe priorities shift when you're in the suburbs and all of this is just normal.

Levin is a master at building tension and making you question what's really going on (even if you already KNOW what's going on). Joanna second-guesses her self, questions what's in front of her eyes. And the children in town seem to like their new moms, who prefer to dote on them instead of following their own pursuits. The men, too, go from perhaps a little odd and old fashioned, preferring their wives stay at home, to quietly menacing and it's difficult to pinpoint exactly when the change happens.

Who knew one of my favorite reads of the year would be a story I thought I knew already?

Gif rating:

and also some of this

Levin, Ira. The Stepford Wives. Corsair, 2011. Originally published 1972

She didn't know if she was going mad or going sane

It's been a little while since I finished Ira Levin's Rosemary's Baby so I shall do the best I can with this review. Although as I begin this I realize the story has stuck with me more than others have so this shouldn't be too bad. Probably because I had a lot of positive feelings towards the book before even picking it up. See NBC did a miniseries (which I haven't seen BUT WOULD LIKE TO WATCH) and as part of the marketing the ebook was on sale AND I got a free cupcake. These were separate transactions but whatever. The bakery Crumbs was giving out free cupcakes as part of this, I like free things and cupcakes. What I'm saying is my loyalty can be bought fairly easily.

Odds are you already know the story here, so there are going to be some spoilers below, but they're light spoilers since I'm sure you already know what's going on. Housewife Rosemary and her struggling actor husband Guy move into an apartment with a sort of dark history. Guy makes friends with their creepy old neighbors who often seem to have weird music and chanting coming from their place. One night Rosemary dreams she's being raped by someone/something while her creepy neighbors look on and she wakes up the next morning with scratch marks all over and Guy saying he had sex with her while she was asleep cos you know, they don't want to miss their chance to conceive. Because Guy is terrible even though I'm pretty sure this wasn't supposed to be an example of him being terrible which makes you realize how messed up things were. Anyway, Rosemary gets pregnant and her neighbors are SUPER into her pregnancy and even suggest a doctor to her who gives her great advice like "Don't talk to ANYONE else about your pregnancy. Just me. That's not suspicious, right?" What was with Rosemary's dream? What is going on with her neighbors?

Even knowing how things turn out, this was still a suspenseful story. I would like to think that I would have guessed what the neighbors are up to long before Rosemary figures it out (cos Rosemary seems nice but not the brightest) but I could just be flattering myself. It's easy to assume I'd have it all figured out when I already know the ending. Rosemary is frustratingly trusting and naive, but not so much that her actions seemed out of character. So the suspense came less from trying to figure out what is going on and more when will Rosemary figure out what's going on. Levin does an excellent job portraying how alone Rosemary is. Sure she's naive but she also has no one. She doesn't talk to her family, she doesn't seem to have friends in NYC, or at least not ones she talks to very often. It's really just her husband. And given what I mentioned above, with the whole "sex while you're sleeping" thing that even knowing nothing else you probably figured out that he sucks. The tension builds slowly so you can see how it would take so long to figure out something isn't right.

Here are some random thoughts I had while reading this:

• You had a chance to live in the Dakota and you turned it down for...literally any other apartment??? What is wrong with you? (In case you're confused, the Dakota is sort of my dream home.)
• One month rent in advance plus one month rent for security deposit and that was only $583? I know it was a different time and money was worth a lot more but still. I just...I can't comprehend that. I can just get angry at it.
• See, now this is why I don't talk to my neighbors. Who knows what they could be into and if things go sour, you have to MOVE to get away.
• If your doctor's advice is ever "Only trust me and don't talk to anyone else" RUN AWAY QUICKLY. Not just on the off-chance you're hosting a demon spawn. Just general good advice.

There's a reason this story has remained popular for so long. Rosemary's Baby is excellent. It's a classic horror story that builds slowly. It's not really a scary story so much as a tense one. Even if you don't like horror stories I would recommend giving this one a try. It's a short book but it packs a lot in those few pages and knows not to overstay its welcome.

Now I should probably see the movie...

Levin, Ira. Rosemary's Baby. Pegasus Books, 2011. Kindle. Originally published 1967