Parachutes and Kisses is the third in a series of related "autobiographical novels" by Erica Jong. As with the others, P&K is filled with wonderful insights and many fine sentences. I like reading Erica Jong a lot.

My favorite sequence is when the heroine, Isadora Wing, is in the Soviet Union (before its fall, when it was still the big bad bear) to research the background of her late grandfather, who left Odessa as a teenager.

But the pleasure of this novel is offset for me, at least a little bit, by a character toward its end, identified here as "Bean." (He shows up in a slightly different guise in the next in this series of novels, Any Woman's Blues.) To be simple and blunt, Bean is an asshole. Since I know what he's capable of (in the next book) his appearance is unwelcome, even if he is based on a real guy, and even if the events described probably happened, more or less the way they're described.

It isn't just that this guy is an asshole, though. Gotta have some sort of opposition, or villain – something – or what's the point, right? So no, it isn't just that. And it isn't the graphic sex – I'm no prude. No, it's the way Erica/Isadora relates to this guy that really turns me off.

I think most of us, at some point in our lives, have known people who fall into a new relationship – and proceed to act like no one else gets it, that no one else has ever been in love the way they are in love. This is how Bean and Isadora relate. It isn't just that, though. Frankly, it's Jong's repeated use of the word astound that really irked me. "...They astounded themselves by fucking so madly and so often that they were too sore to sightsee [in Venice]. Once, twice, three times, four, five, and six times a day was not enough..." Earlier they astounded themselves by how well they "fit" together, and how well they get along. Astounding. I reached a point where I thought, If I read how astounded these idiots are one more time, I'm gonna throw this fucking book across the room!

Then again, maybe I'm just jealous. Don't we all want some demon lover to keep things interesting?

I've finally put this one to rest. It is too darn long with not much happening. Some parts of it I just loved but I can't seem to get through it no matter what I do.

This is one of the sequels to Fear of Flying. Isadora is now 39, has a young daughter, and her husband of seven years, envious of Isadora's successful career as a writer, has left.

Isadora takes lovers and pines for Josh, and contemplates the liberated woman's problems. I love Isadora's thoughtful ruminations. Every scene of action is made all the better with Isadora's inner reflections and observations, which are perceptive and witty.

One of the ironies Isadora ponders is that the women who "have it all" (as she does), basically have twice the work. A full-time job and all the responsibilities of the children and household (because men don't feel as responsible for the hands-on child-raising and all of that domestic stuff).
This takes place in the early 1980s, and it was fun to see how some things have changed (it's a little more common for a man to be a house-husband nowadays while the kids are young), but also how many things are the same and universally true.

Isadora is vulnerable and strong. She has problems with ridiculous nannies and her writer's block, and men who adore her. Everything is laid bare. The second chapter slows a bit, Isadora reads a long poem at her grandfather's funeral. I was able to patiently stick with it, being in tune with it, as I had just lost Goofy (my cat of 12 years). Isadora then loses her precious dog--lots in here for me to relate to!

Curiosamente, el título de esta novela está extraído de unos versos de Pablo Neruda y aluden claramente a una relación romántica, un tipo de relación precisamente, que la protagonista de la historia trata de superar sin demasiado éxito, atrapada como está por los convencionalismos culturales de la sociedad patriarcal en la que vive. Y sin embargo, Isadora Wing se debate cuestionándolo todo, mientras se esfuerza en superar un duro proceso de separación y sus funciones maternales.
Isadora Wing es un personaje que ya aparecía como protagonista en dos novelas anteriores de la escritora norteamericana de ascendencia judía Erica Jong, concretamente en la famosa novela debut de la autora, conocida como “Miedo a volar” publicada en 1973, que en su momento causó una gran sensación debido al tratamiento de la sexualidad y el deseo femenino. En “Cómo salvar tu propia vida” (1977) y en “Paracaídas y besos” (1984) Erica Jong sigue la misma tónica, incluyendo numerosos elementos psicológicos para abordar el tema de...

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BNF

I've always loved Erica Jong and have often said that reading her has felt like sharing notes with a sister, but Parachutes and Kisses didn't quite cut it for me. It dragged on far too long, and made Isadora Wing seem far less independent and likeable than the first two books in the series did. Though judging the book by the likeability of its protagonist may be unfair - it's never been Isadora's job to be something as plebeian as likeable, and Jong is very honest, sometimes embarrassingly so, about the weaknesses and failings of her alter ego. This is why Fear of Flying was so relatable - Isadora was imperfect, often scared, always hilarious. I'm not sure what the false note is in Parachutes and Kisses, but some such note has certainly been struck. She starts off missing her husband terribly (they are now separated), takes several lovers of varying ages, statuses, backgrounds, and then falls for a boy toy on whom Jong has certainly spent about 100 pages too many.
Still, 2 stars for the passages that resonated most with me... I think of Bean saying, "There's nothing at all wrong with us... sometimes perfection is harder to take than imperfection, and love is harder to take than heartbreak." And of course, Jong's emphatic sign-off, representative perhaps of Isadora's popularity among readers: "We may be monogamous in life, but all bets are off in dreams."

Terzo e ultimo libro della trilogia dedicata alle avventure di Isadora Wing, anche se in effetti poi i romanzi della scrittrice statunitense sono tutti a sfondo autobiografico quindi si potrebbe dire che anche quelli dopo fanno tutti parte dello stesso filone.
Isadora Wing è alle prese con la crisi del suo terzo matrimonio. Il marito Josh, che abbiamo lasciato giovane, intelligente e molto innamorato alla fine dell'ultimo libro, è diventato un marito e padre insoddisfatto, soprattutto per la sua carriera letteraria molto al di sotto di quella invece di Isadora. Dal canto suo, lei, invece, potrebbe dire di avere tutto e invece, come tante donne, non solo deve dividersi tra tutti i suoi compiti ma ha anche un marito che non solo non la sostiene ma addirittura le invidia e le rinfaccia il suo maggiore successo. Con il divorzio, Isadora si ritrova da sola a gestire tutto...
Sarà che quando leggo molti libri della stessa storia finisce che al 90% dei casi mi stufo della storia, però questo è probabilmente quello che mi è piaciuto meno. Isadora è alle prese con i problemi comuni a tutte le donne del mondo, l'affrontare la solitudine, il doversi sentire in colpa perché libera e di successo, e non potersi nemmeno incazzare come si deve perché si farebbe la figura dell'idiota, di quella debole. Ci si ritrova tantissimo in questo libro e a parte qualche scena esageratamente sincera (non sono certo una puritana ma, senza spoiler, sulla fine avrei gradito meno dettagli...) rimane come gli altri, un libro sincero sula vita sentimentale e sessuale di una donna. E' un libro del 1984 ma per molte cose è ancora estremamente attuale.
E adesso, prima di leggere altro della Jong, credo che mi darò un periodo di pausa... non che mi mancano altri libri da leggere!

Parts of this book are laugh-out-loud hilarious, and parts are absolutely maddening. It came out in 1984, sequel to the much-ballyhooed Fear of Flying, and our heroine, Isadora Wing, is clearly Jong's alter ego. She's recently separated from husband number three, a perpetual adolescent she's still pining for, and has a three-year-old daughter she purports to love dearly but who gets very lost in the shuffle. The shuffle of Isadora's sex life, that is - described in exhaustive (sometimes exhausting just to read) detail.

Jong is purportedly a seminal (you should pardon the expression) feminist, but it seems to me that our heroine here, despite all her wealth and beauty, is still waiting for men to define her life. I kept reading because... well, it was extremely entertaining, but I kept muttering to myself about how self-absorbed Isadora was and wondering how, even with all her fame and fortune, she's made such weird choices and then continues to bitch about the results.

Looking up the author just now, I see that she has a new novel, Fear of Dying, coming out in September...

I might not have finished this book if I did not get the flu and long periods of time to read it. I did not like it as much as the previous two. She is truly an intelligent and interesting writer. Once I got used to the abundance of c-words, I enjoyed the plot and the tangents.

Lustful read in a positive note. (:

I was disappointed that this was a rambling self-analysis of an over-indulged character, rather than uplifting or inspiring. Well written, just not that interesting.

Bloated! Fear of flying should be enough to satiate the average reader, pick up how to save your own life if you’re still itching!
Though with the previous two books I wasn’t left all riled up by the sex scenes, there is zero eroticism whatsoever in parachutes of kisses!
Still some great little nuggets, such as a guy saying ‘what a memorable arpeggio - or shall I say cadenza?’ After isadora gives him a bj
Take a shot every time she mentions her waterbed!