Ok, so, at the risk of boring everyone, I am going to once again write about Fear of Flying. This work was by far my favorite thing we have read this whole semester. There was just something about it that made it so easy to read and love.
First of all, I lied when I sad “thing,” singular. It’s more like multiple things that made this book awesome. The first of which was the narrator’s tone. She was sarcastic throughout and truly seemed to converse with the reader as if she knew them. She laid herself out for us all to see and did it in a rather comical way. She didn’t strain to make herself seem perfect, but relied on vernacular and casualness to become almost a friend to the reader. In fact, if anything, her tone stressed her imperfections and issues to the reader.
Another aspect of the novel that made me truly admire it, was the way in which the plot progressed. It was not a simple story told from start to finish, but a tale in which anecdotes and histories were masterfully interwoven. While these breaks from the main story initially annoyed me, the nuggets of knowledge learned from each of them soon had me wondering how they would tie into the storyline. Oh, that’s another thing, these flashbacks weren’t chronological either, but, were instead, ordered in a way that would progress Isadora’s journey. This reminds me of our discussion of rearranging a story (or movie) to end up with a different meaning. I definitely think that if this novel were rearranged it would take away from Isadora’s journey; I find that the beauty of her growth is in the way that information is slowly and artfully revealed to us.
But anyway, the last thing that I really respected about this novel is that Isadora does not fix herself or her problems. In the end, she doesn’t know what will make her happy any better than she did in the beginning. She tried to engage her fantasies and found herself miserable. So what’s left for her in life? How will she proceed? Stay with Bennett? Journey out on her own? And most importantly...will she ever get over her fear of flying?! =]
I completely agree with you about Fear of Flying... even as a male, it was able to appeal to me as much as to you! I agree that the reader could almost BE Isadora - it was as if we were all, in a way, cheating on our husbands! :D I loved how she would have flashbacks, thoughts about the present, and her own internal worries all meshed together to form a plot that actually progressed and kept the reader engaged as well. It definitely taught many valuable lessons - especially that it isn't a good idea to marry someone crazy who thinks they are the next Jesus Christ. :)
ReplyDeleteI totally get what you mean about the author's conversational tone. Anyone could relate to the book and I think that was what made it such a valuable resource to our class. It was a universal text--not just geared towards a certain sex, gender, or sexual orientation. It was just Isadora telling her story with quirks and hurdles in between. It kind of bothered me that there was no resolve at the end, though. Maybe I just don't understand literature, but I kind of wanted her to choose something to show what she did with her "fear of flying" :)
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ReplyDeleteI think part of what made Fear of Flying so appealing to me was the author's shameless honesty. To me, there is nothing more frustrating to me than reading a book or watching a movie in which the main character is so perfect that there is no way in which the viewer can relate to them; the way that Isadora "laid herself out for all of us to see" and made her flaws apparent was SO refreshing for me as a reader.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that her decisions were often problematic and harmful (both to herself and others), as well as the fact that, at the end of the novel, she was no closer to absolute happiness than at the beginning, were, in a strange way, comforting to me. To see that Isadora's life is not perfect, and maybe never will be, was a welcome break from the way in which normal plots progress toward a happy resolution.