DNF. Got sick of a retconned (spelling?) character and gratuitous and gross sexual experiences. I also got pissed off when she (a wealthy, successful, conventionally attractive white woman) compared herself to a black maid. Screw off.

OMG I KNOW WHERE  FIFTY SHADES OF GREY GOT THE IDEA FOR THE TAMPON SCENE.

If you thought the tampon scene from Fifty was gross, then wait till you hear about this one. It's beyond nasty.

If you want to read the nastiness that is the tampon scene, click here ->  

"He dove into her muff with great exuberance, parted it, found the white string that dangled chastely there and pulled her Tampax triumphantly out with his teeth"

. THAT ISN'T EVEN THE NASTY PART YET. He then proceeds to chew and suck on the tampon which somehow turned Isadora on.



After some lengthy cunilingus and intercourse,

"The sheets were mad with blood. His face, his cock, his belly ringed with it. He wore a mustache of blood, a beard of blood, war stripes of blood on his cheekbones; and she wore blood all over her belly."

Lady, if this turns you on, then you're one sick psychopath.




Isadora Wing is a celebrated author who is recovering from the aftershocks of her third divorce. How does a successful, rich and newly single mother cope with such a devastating event? Booze, drugs, and sex. She literally sleeps with every man that she encounters. By 100 pages in, I've lost track of the number of lovers that Isadora was juggling at a time. But none of that seems enough to erase the memory of her third ex-husband, Josh. No matter what she does, she keeps longing for him. For about 300 pages, all Isadora seems to know how to do is have doped-up or drunken sex while pining for Josh.

n  "No one else Isadora has slept with since Josh feels quite right to her. The bodies are unfamiliar, the cocks strange; she can never bear to spend the whole night. She wants the man astrally transported out of her arms by three A.M. - so she allows no one to stay with her all night, no one."n

Of course, by page 300, Isadora finally meets her perfect man. The man that makes her want to end her promiscuity. The man that can finally make her forget about Josh.

I don't know how I managed to read through 500 pages of Isadora's annoying and repetitive 'feminist' rants, complaints, and sexual exploits. She's such an unlikable person - her obsession with Josh, crazy sexual needs and random impulses to quote poetry makes her appear crazy. Not to mention, she's probably the worst mother ever (oh yea, that's right. She has a kid.).

n  "Isadora hardly remembers a time in her life when she did so much drugs and booze. It seems her head is always a bit scrambled from dope, a bit woozy with booze. She seems to live in a time-trip o drugs, booze, and sex - in which she can hardly remember what she actually did, what she dreamed, and what she wrote once in a book."n

^seriously though. I'm really worried about her kid.

Some parts were good but I just wanted it to be over by the end.

"One must look, but one must also leap. One MUST go a-roving late into the night."

All the 'Isadora Wing' books by Erica Jong have been great reads for this life-long fan! However, I don't expect all the readers of her books will understand. Those that aren't,don't know what they are missing!! (microphone drop)

Erica Jong always reminds me of an author of “dirty books” and I was excited when I found this book at a local library book sale to see what she was all about. Although there were numerous detailed sexual escapades that Isadora encounters, the story was more of her searching for balance and stability as she is approaching a mature 40 and going through another divorce, but this time with a young daughter to consider. If you haven’t matured or grown up in the 70-80’s some of the issues may be hard to relate to. On a personal note, being a Connecticut native I found some of the story notations especially about the harsh winters amusing.

Very much a plot of its time, this novel still entertained me and some of the prose captured my imagination. A diverting and pleasurable read.

I'm tidying up my Goodreads. I read this years ago and enjoyed its exhuberance.

Oh, my old friend Erica Jong. I think I first read this book in my early teens, and I don't think I realized until this re-reading how heavily it influenced me. I was implacably hostile to anyone saying I was too young to read anything- but I was too young for this one.

I find now that I don't love Isadora, or even like her a lot of the time, but I still admire her. Not just her sexual audacity (which caused me to choke on my Captain Crunchberries back in the day, and still causes me to pat my chest and fan myself and not always in a good way), but her unsinkability. I didn't seem to absorb that part nearly as well as the 'boink early and often' Female Empowerment messages.

This was my first Erica J. I love her coffee table book 'Witches' and really love her 'Fanny' (next up on my EJ playlist, whoo hoo!). I didn't like Fear of Flying at all, and while I found myself getting occasionally irritated with Isadora this time, I still had a rollicking good time.

Not sure I'll re-read it, but I'm keeping it just in case.

Erica Jong is one of my favorite authors, and of all her books this is by far the worst (or maybe I'm just not the right audience). Usually teeming with equal parts sex and introspection, this book was mostly about how women change after motherhood (boring) and about finding oneself again after heartbreak (blah).