Match Book
The Stepford Wives
Ira Levin
1972 · Horror
How it reads
The Stepford Wives is horror (social horror, specifically), and its dominant mood is eerie. It's atmospheric and uncanny, with a sense that something is wrong. The pace is moderate — neither a page-turner nor a slow burn — so it holds up whether you read it in long sittings or short ones.
It's set in a suburban setting, in the recent past, told in the third person, staying close to one character. Its central concerns are identity, power and politics and secrets. In weight it's heavy and literary — denser, more serious, and more demanding of you.
It stands alone, so there's nothing else you need to read first or after. The ending is dark — no rescue, no neat bow. It's a short book. It's a mega-bestseller — the book everyone seems to have read.
Pick it up if…
- you're in the mood for something eerie
- you want something to chew on
- you want a complete story in one book
Maybe not if…
- you need something cosy or heartwarming
- you need a happy ending
All 15 dimensions
- Genre
- horror
- Author gender
- male
- Author experience
- prolific veteran
- Setting: place
- suburban
- Setting: time
- recent past
- Mood / feeling
- eerie
- Pace
- moderate
- Tone / weight
- heavy and literary
- Length
- short
- Narrative style
- third person, one viewpoint
- Publication era
- modern classic
- Popularity
- mega-bestseller
- Series vs standalone
- standalone
- Themes
- identity, power and politics, secrets
- Ending style
- dark
What these mean: the 15 dimensions of a book.
Books with a similar reading
The closest books in Match Book's catalogue across the same dimensions, and what they share.
MaryNat CassidyShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace- Devil's CreekTodd KeislingShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
- The ElementalsMichael McDowellShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
- The Worm In Every HeartGemma FilesShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
- Chlorophobia: An Eco-Horror AnthologyA.R. WardShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
- Desert CreaturesKay ChronisterShares: horror, eerie mood, heavy and literary tone, moderate pace
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