Sappho's Leap: A Novel (Paperback)

~ (Author) "THE LESBOS OF my childhood was an enchanted land..." (more)
Key Phrases: divine delta, amazon maidens, native isle, Land of the Dead, Cyrus of Sardis, Oracle of Delphi (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From The New Yorker

What if the poet Sappho had paused to tell the story of her life in the moment before her legendary leap from the cliff? It's a neat premise, and the grab bag of brilliant bits that is all we know of Sappho's life might, in defter hands, have been fashioned into shimmering whole cloth. Instead, we get a windy, chaotic tale, which owes more to Bob Guccione's "Caligula" than to classical scholarship (sample chapter headings: "Aesop at the Orgy," "The Binding of the Babe"). Jong can't resist turning Sappho into a sandal-shod Isadora Wing, careering from one rapt, cartoonish embrace to another while occasionally crooning verses that as an imitation of Sappho's ravishing, elusive poetry are hopelessly inadequate.
Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Sappho's Leap delights. -- USA Today

I've been a grateful reader of her rich and varied work for decades. But no book has excited and delighted me as much as Sappho's Leap. (Jay Parini )

If Odysseus had been a woman, this is the journey he might have taken. (Susan Cheever )

If Odysseus had been a woman, this is the journey he might have taken. -- Susan Cheever

Jong's warm-blooded Sappho...is a champion of squirmy physicality, epic love and—best of all—heroic nonconformity. -- New York Observer

Jong's warm-blooded Sappho...is a champion of squirmy physicality, epic love and—best of all—heroic nonconformity. (New York Observer )

Read Sappho's Leap. It will give you a lot of fresh new ideas about life, love, and sex. -- New York Post

Read Sappho's Leap. It will give you a lot of fresh new ideas about life, love, and sex. (New York Post 20030301)

What a romp, what fun, what good sex, what a pleasure it is to read Sappho. Who would think that the distant dim classical world could be transformed into such a startling adventure...? (Anne Roiphe )

[H]ighly entertaining....One of Jong's most enjoyable books. (Kirkus Reviews )

[H]ighly entertaining....One of Jong's most enjoyable books. -- Kirkus Reviews, 1 March 2003

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: W.W. Norton & Co. (May 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 039332561X
• ISBN-13: 978-0393325614
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #651,766 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #19 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( J ) > Jong, Erica

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Syrupy, predictable, and plagiaristic, January 4, 2005

By	Sam Glover (Minneapolis, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sappho's Leap: A Novel (Hardcover)

On our recent road trip, my girlfriend and I brought along some audio books to help us stay awake. Both were historical fiction set in ancient Greece. Sappho's Leap was read by the author, and her mangled pronunciations and over-dramatic tone may have influenced my reaction, but I don't think so.

Unlike Thermopylae, the subject of Gates of Fire (review coming soon), virtually nothing about Sappho is known, Ms. Jong was free to make up just about any story she liked. And she did. Sappho's Leap is a sappy love story with a long interlude where Jong basically plagiarizes Homer, only watering him down to speed the plot. Further, and to make matters worse, Sappho's Leap is not very well-written. It is melodramatic, banal, and overly adjectival. It reads like syrup. Jong apparently can't think of a word for vagina other than "delta" and nothing for penis other than "phallus," which words are like comedy catchphrases by the end of the novel.

The book starts out well. Sappho has climbed a cliff, but pauses to reflect on the story of her life (in media res, like every Greek story). She starts at the beginning, relating how she runs away from hom with Alceous, a famous Lesbian singer. They are exiled from Lesbos for trying to overthrow its tyrant, and her adventures begin. She is married off to a paunchy lush who lives in Syracuse, although pregnant with Alceous's child, to be named Cleis (mispronounced by Jong). When her husband dies, the adventure begins in earnest. After a stay in Egypt, Sappho takes off with the fabulist, Aesop, for Delphi, but is frequently sidetracked along the way. Jong sends Sappho to the Amazons on Crete (?!?) where she causes the return of Pegasus, the island of the centaurs, the underworld, Medusa's sister, etc. In an age where the Greeks occupied the majority of the Mediterranean, Sappho manages to elude everyone for a space of ten years or more, which occupy maybe four chapters of the book.

These adventures are trite, simplified copies of the Odyssey, and add almost nothing to the plot. Nothing really improves from there. Once Sappho returns to the land of the real, Jong wraps things up quickly and predictably. The novel ends with a syrupy, happy ending. Sappho and all her lovers and friends end up living on another random island with her friends, until her daughter sails up with her grandchildren. Ugh.

And don't get me started on the "poems" at the end.

This was my first Erica Jong book, and I think it will be my last. It gets two stars only because I need a lower rung for truly pulp romance, which this book just barely isn't.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transcending time and traditions. . ., May 2, 2003

By	Chiarascura (New York, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sappho's Leap: A Novel (Hardcover)

Erica Jong does it again. This is her third historical novel, and it is absolutely glorious to read. Flawlessly incorporating historical facts into the novel (after reading it, you'll be able to hold your own with many classics majors), she creates a full, three-dimensional portrait of Sappho and the world she lived in. The writing is beautiful as ever, seamlessly weaving in Sappho's fragments. Jong captures the ancient voice of the original storytellers, but isn't afraid to deviate from that with hilarious language anachronisms (hint: at one point, Zeus says "Plato, schmato."). She takes historical figures, such as Rhodopis (the Egyptian Cinderella), Aesop (the famed fabulist) and Alcaeus (Sappho's contemporary poet) and fleshes them out into characters that, while not always complex, are always compelling.

Jong's Sappho is indeed a female Odysseus, traveling through lands both real and mythical, learning lessons along the way and leaving behind her songs. Sappho, like Jong's other heroines, is a consummate woman - independent, yet warm and motherly; sensual and romantic, yet able to take positions of leadership; vulnerable, yet protective of those close to her; brilliant, yet often ruled by her emotions.

"Sappho's Leap" lets us take a closer look at the poetry of the woman Plato termed the 'Tenth Muse'. It shows us how timeless the themes in her poetry really are, and points out what an enormous impact this woman has made on our own language and poetry. That, and it's a fun, exciting read that I wasn't able to put down. Hope you enjoy it! :)

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Love Comes In Many Forms: Erica Jong At Her Best, May 4, 2003

By	Rachel Garret (Beverly Hills) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sappho's Leap: A Novel (Hardcover)

Erica Jong is best known for her first novel "Fear of Flying" which was immersed in tremendous success. Pro-feminist, spiritual, poetic, tolerant and highly intellectual, Erica Jong has written numerous novels that deal with women, men, true love, lust, bad relationships, good relationships, the list is endless. Her novels are of the highest literary caliber, and the erotica she writes goes far beyond sensual pleasure. It becomes a religious experience.

Erica Jong's "Sappho's Leap" is about the historic lesbian poet Sappho, who lived in thousands of years ago in the Greek island of Lesbos. From Lesbos, we get the term "lesbian." And it was Sappho who encouraged free love, female independence, equal rights and a lot of modern ideals that were considered unorthodox in her day. Sappho was enamored with women, as well as men, and this quasi-historic novel does not merely serve to titillate the reader with her erotic adventures, it is instead a great portrayal of the great Greek poetess, a mystic journey back in time and a fervent celebration of life.

Sappho is born to an aristocratic family. When she was born, a prophetess announced that she would become famous one day. Aphrodite champions Sappho's cause and makes a bet with Zeus. Zeus and Aphrodite play a game with her life... will Sappho become the famous singer and Greek philosopher she wants to be ? Or will, as Zeus, insists, merely conform to women of her time and marry an unworthy man ? It is Sappho, in the end, who decides her own destiny. The novel is romantic, highly dramatic and full of historic accuracies, enhanced visually by the involvement of gods, goddesses and historic figures such as Queen Jezabel from the Old Testament and the fable writer Aesop. A good read for men and women alike, this novel is sure to touch you with its humor, sadness, and profound wisdom. Viva Erica Jong!