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Fear of Flying Mass Market Paperback – May 1, 1995

by Erica Jong (Author, Introduction)

163 customer reviews

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Featuring a new introduction by the author, the influential novel on women's sexuality returns to expose a new generation of women to Isadora Wing's adventures when she meets the man who embodies her most erotic fantasies. Fear of Fifty. Reissue.

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Product Details

Mass Market Paperback: 336 pages
Publisher: Signet (May 1, 1995)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0451185560
ISBN-13: 978-0451185563
Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (163 customer reviews)
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,826,571 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Editorial Reviews

From Bookforum

For all of its class-bound preoccupations and the cramped horizons of its political vision, Fear of Flying does remain an important document, of both the literature and the emerging gender protest of its age. Its greatest triumph is the depiction of a female psyche battling the forces of loneliness while still yearning for pleasure. It’s a brilliant portrayal of how differently women experience existentialism, romance, and solitude. —Natasha Vargas-Cooper --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Extraordinary...at once wildly funny and very wise." - Los Angeles Times

"A picaresque, funny, touching adventure of Isadora Wing...on the run from her psychoanalyst husband, in quest of joy and her own true self." - New York Review of Books

--This text refers to an alternate Mass Market Paperback edition.

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Customer Reviews

(163)

3.7 out of 5 stars

5 star		66
4 star		35
3 star		23
2 star		17
1 star		22

See all 163 customer reviews

This is a great reminder of how far women have come and still many of her fears still ring true.

Grove girl

About halfway through, I found myself despising the main character, which is weird because I tend to be sympathetic to even the most unlikable protagonists.

ejhtec

Every time, I want something good to read, I just simply pull this book out, randomly open at any page and start reading.

Thuy-Linh

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

98 of 108 people found the following review helpful

A valuable gift to women everywhere.

By Jessica Banuet on October 17, 2001

Format: Mass Market Paperback

I bought this book when I was fourteen because I thought it would be sexy. I scanned the book for dirty parts, then shelved it when I couldn't find anything very steamy and returned to the bodice-rippers under my mom's bed. Many years later, I opened the book as a different person. Married, childless, and still confused about what I should do with my life, Isadora Wing spoke straight to my heart. I laughed at myself when I learned that FOF does have a few sexual encounters, but they tend to be awkward, disappointing, and often uncomfortable. No wonder I didn't notice them when I first thumbed through. I was looking for the descriptions of perfect and seamless couplings found in romance novels, and that sort of language just wasn't there, accept for in Isadora Wing's fantasies about the "zipless f---". Isadora has big ideas, firm convictions, passions, but is often held back with fear and insecurity. The plot of the book is not nearly as important or engaging as Isadora's ruminations on love, sex, hypocrise, and searching for good examples of women to look up to. I think every woman should read this book, especially if she is married and getting just a little bit itchy. If it's really bad, have your husband read it, too.

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39 of 43 people found the following review helpful

Not quite so shocking in the 90s

By A Customer on December 22, 1998

Format: Mass Market Paperback

I picked up this book in my mother's garage about 3 years ago, when I was 18. I admit that I was interested in it because of the sexy cover quotes like "steamy!" and "shocking!"
I read it. And it's turned out to be one of my favorite books. Not because it got me hot and bothered.. it wasn't any more "steamy" than an episode of NYPD blue, but because I found myself identifying so much with Isadora's plight... her urge to find herself, to balance her love for her husband with her urge to find the "zipless f***" and to do it all in a society that frowned upon a healthy sexual appetite in women.
Some people have found that the novel is self-serving and self-righteous, but not a drop of that came through to me. As a matter of fact, I was shocked to hear it!
I loved the book and I think most young women would too - which is why you're hearing a heartfel reccomendation from me!

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105 of 128 people found the following review helpful

Powerful Novel Retains Its Place in History.

By RALPH PETERS on July 23, 2003

Format: Mass Market Paperback Verified Purchase

I get a little peeved when I read some reviews of this novel passing it off as some sort of salacious, "Peyton Place"-ish trifle meant to shock midwestern Americans. The truth is, over thirty years since its appearance, that the reviews Henry Miller and John Updike offered were no less than prophetic. The book is a genuine work of literary art and craft, frank but necessarily so in the same way "Lady Chatterley's Lover" was. Jong's style is compelling; her opinions, questions, and searches for her character's validations are no less valuable today. Perhaps a good portion of people were in a more open state of mind in the early seventies, more willing to experiment with lifestyle, substances, morality, even music and art. But are people today in less need of this kind of open consciousness? One only needs to examine the current political climate to see that we're heading for a revisionist version of McCarthyism. So perhaps the views expressed in "Fear of Flying" bear reexamination.
This book has so many ways to praise it one hardly knows where to begin. But as a man too young to read it in 1973, I am profoundly grateful to Ms. Jong for the opportunity to read and grow with it now and, no doubt, many times in the future (seeing it back in print, I quickly purchased 3 copies to get me through several more planned readings in the coming years). This edition features the new 2002 afterword by the author, which is invaluable. Jong's perspective on the value of the book, its uncertain early history, publishing stats, and humbling effect on the lady herself add to the novel's resonance. This may be told from a much-needed woman's persepective, but I refuse to label it as "women's" or "feminine" lit. This towering work should not be so conveniently monikered. Its far too challenging, and important, for that. How about simply "classic"?

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30 of 35 people found the following review helpful

A thirty year journey that is true today in 2003!!!

By girldiver on August 4, 2003

Format: Mass Market Paperback

I saw the book in one of those big franchise book stores and the cover caught my eye, white with a zipper half unzipped revealing red underneath. Now that I have read "Fear of Flying" the cover seems very symbolic and provacative just like the book.
From the dedication to the afterword I was captivated by this book, a true literary work about a woman seeking self. It is not a chick lit book but true literature. I couldn't beleive I missed this book all my life, I am in my early thirties and had never heard about it but wish I had it starting in my teens.
Every woman, every man should read this book it gives great insight on the insecurities of women. From sentence one I felt like Isadora Zelda White Wing spoke to me of my own doubts and emotional struggles. All of a sudden I was not alone...I was not lost, her journey was mine and mine hers.
This book was about getting your passion back along with your identity, not sex or fantasies as so many want to dwell on. Although she is very candid about her sexual exploits(Isadora's) and the language is very forward but its relevent to the story.
As a woman, I can say that the idea of the zipless f...k has had an appeal but after reading her encounters with Dr. Goodlove you have to re-address your impulses and figure out what you really are looking for. I think that was the true teaching of this book........find out who you really are not what or who defines you.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

Running all the bases.

This story, Fear of Flying, is told from the perspective of a woman so I found it awkward being a man reading its words and imagining in this frame of reference. Read more

Published 4 days ago by M.W.Heishman

Five Stars

She must have had a lot of fun writing this book. It's funny, clever, erudite and outrageous.

Published 15 days ago by fergus moylan

the book seemed kind of like a time capsule into the 1970s

When I first started reading this book, I read the introduction and realized what a different time period it was written in. Read more

Published 25 days ago by David's Wife

what a waste of money and time

Horribly boring, stopped reading because it had me falling asleep
Please someone ,tell me its worth the time to keep reading
So unhappy
Heard nothing but good things... Read more

Published 29 days ago by sandra maertens

Three Stars

Takes a while to really be a good read

Published 1 month ago by spiridoula sanchez

One Star

So bored with it, that I did even finish it.

Published 1 month ago by Renee Manzetti

All fluff, no heart

I didn't read this when it first came out in the 70s, and I guess it was kind of earth-shattering then, but to me it just read more like: memoir (disguised as a novel) of a spoiled... Read more

Published 2 months ago by jp

Four Stars

It' s a book that is still worth reading.

Published 2 months ago by alessandra butté

Good story. I liked the way Jong allowed us ...

Good story. I liked the way Jong allowed us inside the head of the character (the good, the bad, and the ugly). Read more

Published 2 months ago by Cyn.D.J.

Fear of choosing between stuffy husband and bad boy

This book was quite controversial when it first came out, so I probably would have given it 5 stars back then. Read more

Published 2 months ago by MRC