A Shirley Jackson Award Finalist.
The Stepford Wives meets the Twilight Zone. Similar to Jim Carrey in the Truman Show, Sophia's life is a facade. She is designed to be the 'perfect" housewife to entertain guests, clean, cook and look flawlessly beautiful everyday. She is essentially there to serve her husband.
They live in Arcadia Gardens which has strict rules about the appearance of your house, garden, driveway and anyone who lives there. Its a neighborhood of beautiful people who have nothing to do but, maintain there beauty as well as their home.
The story is brilliantly nuanced in a such an intriguing way, you are desperate to get to the end to figure out what is going on with these people? The Author drops bread crumbs here and there which adds to the intensity of the storyline.
Essentially these are empty, cookie cutter people living shallow lives, but thats the point! The Author exaggerates this message to an explosive ending that was a fascinating conclusion to a well written novel.
Its definitely weird and at times, unsettling but, the Author writes lyrically and poetically. The undercurent themes of living authentically, valuing independence and truly living a substantive meaningful life are not the basis for this story.
This was a fast paced, quick read at 94 pages. A strange dark atmospheric air of suspense hovers within the pages. But, ultimately, everything is perfect? Correct?
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