First Impression Friday will be a meme where you talk about a book that you JUST STARTED! Maybe you’re only a chapter or two in, maybe a little farther. Based on this sampling of your current read, give a few impressions and predict what you’ll think by the end.

Synopsis:

Fear of Flying is the story of Isadora Wing, a compulsive daydreamer, a seeker of saviors and psychiatrists, the author of a book of supposedly erotic poems, and a full-pledged phobic who fears flying but will not allow that fear to keep her off planes. Isadora relates to her adventures and misadventures with wit, exuberance, and the sort of absolute candor that for centuries before her was permitted only to men.

On a trip to Vienna to attend a psychoanalytic congress with her psychiatrist husband, she meets an uninhibited Laingian analyst who seems the embodiment of all her steamiest fantasies. He lures her away from her husband on an existential jaunt across Europe, sleeping by roadsides, changing partners with people met at campsites, and she reevaluates her life in some painful and funny ways. But the trip proves to be a journey backward in time as well as a reshuffle of the present. Increasingly, Isadora is haunted by ghosts of the past: a conductor who loved his baton; a Florentine philanderer; a professor of philosophy; any number of miscellaneous lays in the night; and her ex-husband, the graduate student who thought he could walk on water and almost tried it in Central Park. She is also haunted by her outrageous and amusing family: an artist mother who adores and resents her children; a father who makes wisecracks and money in abundance; and three sisters who have fled the family to marry a black man, an Arab, and an Israeli, respectively, and are now raising their polyglot children from Boston to Beirut.

Thus Isadora fears flying (in all possible senses of the word), she forces herself to keep traveling, to risk her marriage and her life, until she finds her own brand of liberation.

Originally published in 1973 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Fear of Flying, the internationally bestselling story of Isadora Wing by Erica Jong, coined a new phrase for a sex act and launched a new way of thinking about gender, sexuality, and liberty in our society. 

That’s another workweek in the books. Happy Friday everyone! The weekends are waving. Because of the holiday economics conceptualized by our former President, our November 30 holiday which falls on a Thursday was moved to the nearest Monday. This holiday economics does have its advantages as we have a long weekend. Speaking of November 30, the inevitable end to 2023 is inching ever closer. We have about 37 days before 2023 finally wraps up. I hope that as the year approaches its conclusion, you have achieved everything you wanted to achieve this year. I hope that you have been repaid for the hard work you poured in this year. I hope that the rest of the year will be overflowing with blessings and positive news. As always, I hope everyone will be healthy during the rest of the year and in the coming year.

With the workweek coming to an end, I hope that you are ending it on a high note. I hope everything went smoothly in the office. I hope that you will be sashaying into the weekend without that many worries, at least those that are related to your work. Sure, there were challenges but I hope you were able to accomplish all your tasks for the week. But if it did not go the way you wanted it to, I hope the weekend will provide you a badly needed reprieve. I hope you will be able to find the time to rest and relax during the weekend. I hope will also be spending the weekend with your loved ones or pursuing things you are passionate about. For those who are caught in the crossfire in Israel and Palestine, my prayers are with all of you. It is my fervent wish that the two states will find a peaceful resolution to their decades-old conflict.

While time takes its natural course, there is still plenty of time to complete the goals we set earlier this year. It is also a chance to reverse the series of misfortunes and missed opportunities. Personally, I still have a lot of goals I want to achieve where reading is involved. So far, 2023 has been a record-breaking year. For the second year running, I completed reading over 100 books. More than that, I have reset my personal record of books completed in a year. My previous record was 103 I set last year. I am currently reading my 117th book this year, Erica Jong’s Fear of Flying. This book is also part of my 2023 Top 23 Reading List, one of my outstanding reading challenges this year. This book also marks the commencement of a new literary journey; I am now commencing a literary journey across the United States of America.

It was through must-read lists that I first encountered Fear of Flying about seven or eight years ago. It was a recurring presence in said lists which was more than enough to pique my interest. This was notwithstanding the fact that I barely had any iota about who Erica Jong was nor have I read any of her works previously. I also had no inkling on what the novel was about. These factors did not hold me back from adding the book to my reading list. I tried obtaining a copy of the book but it was only during the 2020 Big Bad Wolf Sale that I was able to obtain one. However, it would take another three years before I finally got the opportunity to read the book; adding it to my 2023 Top 23 Reading List is a measure I took to ensure that I will really read the book.

As mentioned, I did not have an iota of what the book was about. However, reading the book’s introduction written by Jennifer Weiner, Jong’s fellow writer, somehow gave me an idea. It is also seminal in the formation of my perspective of the book, or at least what to expect from it. The novel was originally published in 1973 and charted the fortunes of Isadora Wing, a Jewish journalist from New York City’s Upper West Side. Isadora was also narrating the story from her perspective. When the readers first meet her, she is on a plane traveling to Vienna to attend a convention of psychoanalysts. Her second husband, Bennett, was a psychoanalyst. Bennett joined her at this convention, the first psychoanalysts’ conference held in the city since the end of the Second World War.

Isadora had a fear of flying, hence the book’s title. To distract herself from her fear, she started reflecting on her limited professional network. She focused her narrative lens on a particular subject: the liberty of females. Isadora had an unconscious fear of being rid of male companionship. This turns her fear of flying into an allegory. To appreciate her plight, one must be reminded of the book’s setting. It was the 1970s, a time when the social revolution referred to as the Sexual Revolution (or sexual liberation) took place. Isadora, however, was at a personal crossroads because of her dependency on male presence. After all, she was raised in a traditionally patriarchal society.

I am just a couple of chapters into the story although, as I have mentioned above, the book’s introduction aided me in having a perspective of the book. I can conclude that the book is sans a robust plot. However, Jong made up for this by providing the readers intimate glimpses into Isadora’s mind. For its time, the book was considered controversial. The subjects Jong explored were unconventional, again, during its time. It comes as no surprise that some literary pundits dismissed the book and its influence. However, its message did not escape the attention of critical readers who saw through the book’s layers. It is no wonder why the book is part of the 1,001 Books You Must Read Before You Die.

I still have quite a long way to go. I am hoping that the book won’t disappoint as this is a book that I have been looking forward to for so long. Oh, I just learned that Fear of Flying was Jong’s debut novel. What an accomplished work for a debut novel. How about you fellow reader? What book or books are you taking with you for the weekend? I hope you get to enjoy them. Again, happy weekend everyone!