Fear of Flying
by Erica Jong
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Book Summary Information
Author: Erica JongEdition: Paperback
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 2003-10-31
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 480
Book Reviews of Fear of Flying
Book Review: 36 Years After
Summary: 3 Stars
Before making reservations for a solo trip to (and in) China that will require six flights and leaving my husband of 20 years home for two weeks, I pulled my 36-year-old, faded, hardcover copy of "Fear of Flying" off the shelf. I spent the last two days re-reading it. We have come a long way, baby. I bought "Fear of Flying" when I moved to New York, solo, at age 22, and it's survived numerous purges of the bookshelves ever since. Why? I guess it's classic in its own way, a relic of the era before AIDS and before being socially conscious meant doing something, not just wearing hippie-inspired garb and having vaguely liberal attitudes.
The thing that consistently struck me about the character Isadora White Wing was that she is not a fictional character. Through every scene I felt that I was reading a memoir, a self-portrait, not a novel. It's all GIVE, GIVE, GIVE to ME, ME, ME because I am so SPECIAL, SPECIAL, SPECIAL. Not once does Jong describe an event or situation in which Isadora does something giving or caring for another person, for a husband or lover, other than opening her legs or mouth -- which was one hundred percent for her benefit or pleasure anyway. She does not cook a meal, make a home, give a gift, bestow any genuine affection. She does not have a kind word for anyone, including, of course, her sisters and parents, all of whom are skewered relentlessly. It is supposed to be satire, I guess. But it is not funny. Especially the chapter about visiting her sister's family in Beirut, Lebanon.
She describes hiding as a girl among the mink coats in her mother's closet which reeked of "Joy" perfume, and pretending to disown her parents on family trips to Paris and London. She makes fun of secretaries and in fact anyone who has a job. Poor, poor Isadora. What about the rest of us who grew up in small tract houses -- not sprawling apartments on Central Park West or Riverside Drive -- and never got to eat at a Denny's, much less in Paris cafés or the first-class dining room of a luxury liner. We attended public universities and got jobs where we had to be at a desk every morning. To me feminism means supporting all women, not just those as privileged as she. In a later book (okay, I admit I've read more of Jong's oeuvre) she makes fun of "gray-faced commuters." At the time, I was commuting via Metro North into Manhattan every day and I did not find her description amusing.
In 1973, yes, it was daring for a woman to lard her prose with four-letter words beginning with F, C, and S. Now it is a little sad to read so many of them, sprinkled on so many pages, apparently for their "bravery" and "honesty."
Rereading the book has actually made me interested in finding out about her "crazy" first husband, the model for Brian. What happened to him -- he who typed all her college papers because she wouldn't learn to type? And her psychiatrist second husband, the model for Bennett. How did he feel about being an army doctor in Germany? How did being married to her affect his life and career?
It is remarkable how every human with a penis (and without) found Isadora so irresistible. And welcomed her back, no matter what she did. Perhaps inspired by this book, way back when, I behaved a bit unconventionally with two men in my life. It didn't work out so well for me. When my "crazy" first husband learned that I has spent an evening with someone else, I got beaten up. After a lot of hard work I ended up with an order of protection, not a book contract.
It is ironic that Amazon sells this title with nonfiction, self-help books about overcoming fear of flying written by pilots and flight attendants. Which book would be more helpful? Hmmm...
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