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nurseyrhymes's review
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-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? Yes
4.0
horfhorfhorf's review against another edition
1.0
I wish I had better reason why I borrow this book, star the book, and then never finish it other than I want to like it... but don't. I think it's time for me to accept that a great number of Jong's books cannot hold a candle to how much I enjoyed "Sappho's Leap".
littlelady_28's review against another edition
3.0
Ok, so I really wanted to like this booka lot more than I actually did. The story follows a young married woman as she seeks to find fulfillment in her life in her marriage. This comes in the form of an affair with a guy who, while not the most attractive or skilled man, gives her satisfaction that she fails to find with her husband.
I admire Jong's ability to write such a graphic novel at the time she did, especially a novel that actually showed the world that women have sexual desires too. However, the book tended to drag in places, especially after she ran off with Adrian and so much of the writing dealt with her past. Also, I kind of felt cheated by the ending. She finally goes back to her husband, but the book just stops--the reader is left without a satifying conclusion. Does Bennett take her back? Guess we'll never know. I give it a C+.
I admire Jong's ability to write such a graphic novel at the time she did, especially a novel that actually showed the world that women have sexual desires too. However, the book tended to drag in places, especially after she ran off with Adrian and so much of the writing dealt with her past. Also, I kind of felt cheated by the ending. She finally goes back to her husband, but the book just stops--the reader is left without a satifying conclusion. Does Bennett take her back? Guess we'll never know. I give it a C+.
steller0707's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
cris_tellina's review against another edition
2.0
Abbandonato a metà ... all’epoca sarà stato sicuramente un romanzo di avanguardia, ma ormai secondo me è troppo datato.. personalmente l’ho trovato noioso e riempito di inutili digressioni autobiografiche..
elinlorentsson's review against another edition
3.0
mycket speciell bok som absolut inte passar alla men jag gillade den!
clayjs's review against another edition
5.0
I read this book because I thought for some reason it would be important to read this book. I thought maybe it would have something interesting to say about femininity or sex or second-wave feminism, and it kind of did, but I didn't really expect to really enjoy it.
The first half didn't really convince me, and I didn't really know if it was going anywhere, or how it was going to get there, and I put it down for a few months. It suffered from being not-the-kind-of-book-I-usually-read, which made it even more difficult for me to love it, but somehow it broke through.
Fear of Flying is one of those rare books from one of those rare voices that knows what language is. Erica Jong understands that the English language is malleable and delicious and charming and funny, and once you see it, you feel it in every line. Her prose is rich with allusion and quotation (in the jazz sense, where little strands of of other melodies drift through hers, deepening and broadening its originality and fixing it among the traditions of thought that helped to conceive it). The story is rich with thinly-veiled autobiography and symbolism. It's truth smashed into a novel. It's about what it means to be a woman at the height of feminism, but also about what it means to be a person who's not sure she's really human in a sea of voices shouting at her to assert her humanity. This is a very successful feminist novel, but it's a lot more than that. As a man, I found it amusing and edifying, brave and timid, but completely, unflinchingly honest in its worry that it isn't being honest enough. It is about what it means to be a creator in the honest act of creation, and I appreciate that.
The first half didn't really convince me, and I didn't really know if it was going anywhere, or how it was going to get there, and I put it down for a few months. It suffered from being not-the-kind-of-book-I-usually-read, which made it even more difficult for me to love it, but somehow it broke through.
Fear of Flying is one of those rare books from one of those rare voices that knows what language is. Erica Jong understands that the English language is malleable and delicious and charming and funny, and once you see it, you feel it in every line. Her prose is rich with allusion and quotation (in the jazz sense, where little strands of of other melodies drift through hers, deepening and broadening its originality and fixing it among the traditions of thought that helped to conceive it). The story is rich with thinly-veiled autobiography and symbolism. It's truth smashed into a novel. It's about what it means to be a woman at the height of feminism, but also about what it means to be a person who's not sure she's really human in a sea of voices shouting at her to assert her humanity. This is a very successful feminist novel, but it's a lot more than that. As a man, I found it amusing and edifying, brave and timid, but completely, unflinchingly honest in its worry that it isn't being honest enough. It is about what it means to be a creator in the honest act of creation, and I appreciate that.
trayceebee's review against another edition
5.0
I’ve heard about this book for many years—I’m kind of surprised we didn’t read this in my Women’s Studies class in college. (Maybe if I’d taken more than one Women’s Studies class—I doing know that was an option until I’d graduated!)
There were a bunch of things I found remarkable, but I rarely wanted to stop and write a note somewhere, only for the note to get lost. I’m still working out a way to annotate library books. Anyway, I ended up scanning pages into my Notes app, hoping I’d see the passages that struck me at the time. I *may* be onto something!
I feel that reading this book at this exact time in my life (freshly divorced, NOT in my late 20s, as the protagonist is) was especially poignant. There were many things Isadore was discovering about herself that were relevant to me NOW. I love that!
There were a bunch of things I found remarkable, but I rarely wanted to stop and write a note somewhere, only for the note to get lost. I’m still working out a way to annotate library books. Anyway, I ended up scanning pages into my Notes app, hoping I’d see the passages that struck me at the time. I *may* be onto something!
I feel that reading this book at this exact time in my life (freshly divorced, NOT in my late 20s, as the protagonist is) was especially poignant. There were many things Isadore was discovering about herself that were relevant to me NOW. I love that!
la_cantina_dei_libri_0's review against another edition
2.0
Sarò la voce fuori dal coro - me ne rendo conto - ma ho fatto fatica a leggere questo libro. Non tanto per la storia, ma quanto per lo stile. Spesso non capivo perché veniva raccontato un dettaglio e/o perdevo il filo del discorso per i troppi pensieri (ahimè, ho quale problema con i flussi di coscienza...) o per un pò di confusione nella narrazione. Per il linguaggio esplicito posso capire perché al tempo della pubblicazione abbia fatto scalpore, ma io non ci trovo nulla di eclatante. Ma siamo in tempi diversi e può piacere o non piacere un certo tipo di registro linguistico.
Quindi questo mi ha recato alcuni ostacoli per immedesimarmi a pieno nello spirito del libro.
Detto questo, stile di scrittura a parte, ho sottolineato parecchie citazioni e paragrafi che ritengo siano fonte di riflessioni.
Concludo dicendo che il libro non mi ha fatto impazzire a causa dello stile (ma dipende da gusti personali) però ci sono tratti che ti coinvolgono e ti fanno pensare... E anche ridere, bisogna ammetterlo.
Quindi questo mi ha recato alcuni ostacoli per immedesimarmi a pieno nello spirito del libro.
Detto questo, stile di scrittura a parte, ho sottolineato parecchie citazioni e paragrafi che ritengo siano fonte di riflessioni.
Concludo dicendo che il libro non mi ha fatto impazzire a causa dello stile (ma dipende da gusti personali) però ci sono tratti che ti coinvolgono e ti fanno pensare... E anche ridere, bisogna ammetterlo.
maureen_fox's review against another edition
3.0
For me, too much of the book was devoted to Isadora's inner thoughts. As much as I love character-driven stories, I needed more action!