Vanessa Wonderman's mom is dying, her dad is dying, and her husband almost dies. Death surrounds her and makes her long for the days of her youth, when death was far away. As Vanessa flits from one hospital to the next, she reminisces on her youthful experiences and tries to recapture it through meaningless sex with strangers. But can an internet site like Zipless.com and it's coo-coo users really give Vanessa what she wants?
Erica Jong's famous character Isadora from Fear of Flying makes an appearance in this book, but she's moved on from the days of her youth and is trying to get Vanessa to do the same.
Reading this book made me worry that I had overestimated Fear of Flying. Was I took naive in my 20s to see the book for what it was? And now that I'm older, I see Jong's writing style for what it is? I know I was reading an advanced review copy of Fear of Dying (that I got at BookExpo back in 2015), but it felt like I was reading a first draft. Where was the editor?
Pretty much the whole book is Vanessa's random thoughts, and I wondered how many of those thoughts were what swirls through Jong's head on a daily basis, so she decided to write them down. But not everything we think is truly that interesting or unique.
Save it for a Facebook post.
I also didn't care for the dialogue. It didn't sound like how real people talk - or at least not people I care to converse with.
The whole book was kind of a disappointment. I think instead of a work of fiction, Jong should have turned her thoughts into essays or op-eds. It just didn't work in this book.
Fear of Dying is published by St. Martin's Griffin. I received a free ARC at BookExpo 2015 in exchange for my honest review.
Erica Jong's famous character Isadora from Fear of Flying makes an appearance in this book, but she's moved on from the days of her youth and is trying to get Vanessa to do the same.
Reading this book made me worry that I had overestimated Fear of Flying. Was I took naive in my 20s to see the book for what it was? And now that I'm older, I see Jong's writing style for what it is? I know I was reading an advanced review copy of Fear of Dying (that I got at BookExpo back in 2015), but it felt like I was reading a first draft. Where was the editor?
Pretty much the whole book is Vanessa's random thoughts, and I wondered how many of those thoughts were what swirls through Jong's head on a daily basis, so she decided to write them down. But not everything we think is truly that interesting or unique.
Save it for a Facebook post.
I also didn't care for the dialogue. It didn't sound like how real people talk - or at least not people I care to converse with.
The whole book was kind of a disappointment. I think instead of a work of fiction, Jong should have turned her thoughts into essays or op-eds. It just didn't work in this book.
Fear of Dying is published by St. Martin's Griffin. I received a free ARC at BookExpo 2015 in exchange for my honest review.
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