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Fear of Flying

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Fear of Flying

By: Erica Jong
Narrated by: Hope Davis
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Originally published in 1973, the groundbreaking, uninhibited story of Isadora Wing and her desire to fly free caused a national sensation. In The New York Times, Henry Miller compared it to his own classic, Tropic of Cancer and predicted that "this book will make literary history..." It has sold more than 12-million copies. Now, after 30 years, the revolutionary novel known as Fear of Flying still stands as a timeless tale of self-discovery, liberation, and womanhood.©1973, 2001 Erica Mann Jong (P)2006 HarperCollins Publishers Contemporary Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Satire Women's Fiction

Critic reviews

"Extraordinary....At once wildly funny and very wise." (Los Angeles Times)
"An amazing tour de force." (Cosmopolitan)

Featured Article: Far Out—The Best Audiobooks of and About the 1970s


Whether you were alive in the 1970s or born decades after, here are some of the best books about the 1970s and some of the most popular best sellers published during the 1970s to give you a better look at this fab, fascinating, and influential era. Whether you're nostalgic or curious about the decade that brought us Watergate and women's lib, Luke Skywalker and the Bee Gees, check out this list of out of sight audiobooks.

Featured Article Far Out The Best Audiobooks of and About the 1970s
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both entertaining and educational! I feel the readers performance makes this audible version even better than the printed copy! the reader helped me intuit things that I would have otherwise struggled to understand.

Highly Recommend

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This book is really well written. I love the prose and descriptions of the characters. The humor is also really great throughout. However, I didn’t completely fall in love this book. I really had trouble connecting with the protagonist, Isadora. She just came off as this really privileged woman who at times was not relatable. The author’s descriptions of emotions and the neuroses of the character were poignant, but the character at her core just seemed spoiled and entitled. It honestly felt like a story for upper class women not for all women, and maybe that was the intention? The whole narrative of this woman galavanting around Europe complaining about her kept life was nauseating. Maybe if character was a little less narcissistic and little more “woke”, she would be more dynamic. *spoiler alert, her redemption is getting over codependency, but I think if she examined her own privilege it would truly been a more well rounded feminist novel. Overall, I did enjoy this book and it’s worth the read for the brilliant writing style.

Really wanted to love this book!

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She just whines and complains about her life. I also had a hard time with the back and forth in her story. The past, the way past, and the present. I was confused at times as to where in the story I was.

I could not finish this book.

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What did you love best about Fear of Flying?

Jong's unflinching narrator finds her voice and her core through the course of this book. Many contemporary culture makers such as Lena Dunham owe a debt to this book.

What other book might you compare Fear of Flying to and why?

Books? Movies. I would compare all of Woody Allen's movies and later Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture and Girls to Fear of Flying.

Have you listened to any of Hope Davis’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

She carries the right outrage and coolness the book's narrator contains.

If you could rename Fear of Flying, what would you call it?

Handbook for Young Women: How to Avoid Distraction Through a Series of Questions

Any additional comments?

I can't wait for my daughter to be old enough to read this. I hope it will provide her with iconography that she can identify necessary and sometimes painful transitions by. It is not theory, this conversational book, it is literature.

If you make it to the end, listen to the interview with Erica Jong. It reveals her lifelong support of women's voices.

Why Didn't I Read This When I Was 16?

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narrator had a somewhat nasal voice and I did not really enjoy the story. I know this book was considered revolutionary in it's time but to me, it was not, and I did not like the neurotic protagonist.

didn't like the story

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I read this book about 20 years ago and wanted to re-read it now to see how it holds up with the passage of time. I really enjoyed it a lot. Hope Davis is great as the narrator. Really believable. I can still see why this book was considered "ground-breaking". Isadora's unembarrassed search for who she is still speaks to me and her open acceptance of her sexuality still seems pretty radical and brave. And not just because she talks openly about sex and uses a lot of "swear words". But because it really isn't about finding the right man, which she eventually figures out.

An enjoyably readable classic

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What did you love best about Fear of Flying?

I loved the narration by Hope Davis it made the book come perfectly alive. I loved the way she did the British and French accents (her German was a bit off). It was like listening to someone talking to you.

What did you like best about this story?

I enjoyed getting an insight into the mindset of a woman growing up in the 50-60s and being fully emancipated. I did constantly have to remind myself of the period the story takes place. Amazing how progressive in tought and subject matter Fear of Flying must have been when it was first published. Today, after Sex and the City and 50 Shades of Gray, we are used to women being so outspoken about such topics. No way was that so in the 70s!Self-analysis was a bit annoying at times. I kept thinking whether I was so naive and clueless when I was 27. But then again, I had to remind myself of when Izadora grew up and how analysis was the answer to everything at that time.

Which character – as performed by Hope Davis – was your favorite?

Izadora! Her attitude and internal monologues and dialogues cracked me up

Any additional comments?

Don't try to judge the book according to 21st Century standards and background because you will have a completely different experience.

Put it in perspective

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I’m the son of a single parent. So many overdue triggers that will be with me to death.

Amazing read for this 66yo guy

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I very nearly gave up on this one. I'm a woman in my 30's. I have always considered myself a modern, liberated woman. I had a memory of this book on my (feminist) mother's bookshelf, and of being titillated by the racey cover. I had heard that it was a seminal feminist book. So, I finally decided I should fill in this gap in my literary repertoir and "read" it for myself.

However, as I listened I found I really despised the main character. I was completely unable to relate to her. My generation is very different from hers. I am happy in my marriage, my interpersonal relationships, and my self-image. I've never felt oppressed or smothered by anyone. This woman just seemed disgustingly whiney, neurotic, and childish.

I am stubborn, though. At first I kept myself going by telling myself how good it was to see how far we'd really come since then. I thought it was heading for all kinds of extreme endorsements-- live in communes, forsake all commitments, want nothing more from life than perpetual free sex and empty "freedom". I kept thinking, thank goodness the pendulum has swung back from that extreme into some sanity!

In the end though it didn't go where I feared it would. It more than redeemed itself, and I'm glad I stuck with it. It's about a woman finding her own identity, and while the details of path she took to get there ARE rather dated, the journey itself is as pertinent today as it ever was. It IS a wonderful insight into the dilemmas of being a woman, of the differences and conflicts between the sexes, and of what it means to really grow up and be a whole person.

Glad I didn't give up on it...

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If you could sum up Fear of Flying in three words, what would they be?

Amazing. Like iris Murdoch but happier.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Narrarator was good but a tad too bubbly for me. I like hope Davis but she had a desperation in her voice which frustrated me. But I can't imagine another reader now

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I couldn't stop listening to it - the authors insight
And experience were so real yet outrageous at times.

Any additional comments?

Wish I had read this one - think I'll have to re-read it now!

Surprised and impressed

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