Flight: A Novel by Sherman Alexie
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Book Reviews of Flight: A Novel
Book Review: from missprint.wordpress.com
Summary: 4 Stars
Published in 2007, "Flight" is one of Sherman Alexie's more recent novels. His critically acclaimed YA debut "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" came out a few months after "Flight's" publication. Together these novels illustrate how teen narrators can comfortably inhabit both adult and young adult novels. More about that later.
The book starts with a simple request from the narrator: "Call me Zits. Everybody calls me Zits." In other words, the narrator has no name. Given the structure of the novel, this choice actually works. Throughout the story, Zits is rarely called by any kind of name that would be termed as his own. The opening line also tells readers everything they need to know about Zits. Specifically that this fifteen-year-old half-Irish, half-Indian kid doesn't think enough of himself to bother using his own name. Worse, Zits is pretty sure no one else thinks much better of him.
Orphaned at six and in foster care since he was ten, Zits has slipped through the cracks and is truly a lost soul. After an unceremonious exit from his twentieth foster home and his latest stint in the kid jail in Seattle's Central District, Zits starts to think that maybe he doesn't really need a family. Maybe what he needs is some kind of revenge.
But things don't go as planned. Instead of punishing the white people who are abstractly responsible for his present situation, Zits finds himself on a time-traveling, body-shifting quest for redemption and understanding.
Zits' first "stop" is inside the body of a white FBI agent during the civil rights era in Red River, Idaho. From there he moves to the Indian camp at the center of Custer's Last Stand, then a nineteenth century soldier, a modern pilot with his own variety of demons and, finally, Zits finds himself in a body more familiar than he'd like to admit.
As many other reviewers are quick to point out, "Flight" is Alexie's first novel in ten years. Unlike previous works, where characters and plots intersected (even in his short stories), this novel remains disjointed. It's the kind of book that could easily be seen as a grouping of short stories. Except that each segment follows Zits' spiritual evolution. For this reason, the novel is obviously much more character driven than plot driven. But Alexie makes it work.
I consider flight to be adult fiction. Zits is a teen, so it could be YA, but that fact is largely irrelevant to the main machinations of the novel--which is why it's an adult book but "True Diary" whose narrator is close to Zits' age is a YA book.
Finally, a word on the ending of the novel: It's optimistic. There is some talk that the ending is too up, that things come together a bit too easily. In terms of the plot that could be true although I'm more of a mind that the ending was already in the works from the beginning (the fact that "The wounded always recognize the wounded" and other events support me in this claim).
Some have claimed that the happy ending might be reason to suggest that "Flight" is a YA book because only a book written for teens would have such an abrupt ending. That's bogus. This is an adult book that teens can enjoy and the ending doesn't change that. After reading this novel it becomes clear that Zits has been through a lot. Way more than any fifteen-year-old should have to take. For Alexie to end the novel in any other way would have been a slap in the face both for Zits and the readers invested in his fate.
"Flight" is a really quick read (I finished it in a day) and entertaining throughout. The novel doesn't have the depth of character found in "Reservation Blues" or "True Diary" but the story remains different enough from Alexie's usual work to make "Flight" a refreshing departure nonetheless.
Book Review: Sherman Alexie's Flight is a must-read!
Summary: 4 Stars
Sherman Alexie is one of those authors that everyone loves and for good reason. He's ambitious, witty, fearless and unbelievably creative. I've been interested in picking up more of his books recently, especially after reading and loving The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Ten Little Indians and some of Alexie's poetry last year. I've also been listening to Nancy Pearl's podcasts on my commute and one of her older archived interviews was with Sherman Alexie right after he published Flight, which is, as far as I can tell, one of his least popular books to date. It did not sell well and has received very mixed reviews. Something about the way Alexie talked about his narrator Zits really made me want to read it and I suggest everyone go watch the video! If that doesn't make you want to read Flight, I'm not sure what will.
"Call me Zits," the novel begins, introducing us to one of the most original narrators I've read in a long time. He's a half-white-half-indian teenager who has been wronged by life, a not uncommon tale, of an absent father and a loving mother who dies when Zits is young, forcing him into an uncertain life going from foster care family to foster care family. After one particular incident with a new foster care family, Zits is arrested and while in jail he meets Justice. Justice convinces him that he can bring his mother back, but only if he kills someone in a revenge murder. So Zits shoots up a bank and is killed by a police officer, dying immediately.
But that's not where Zits's story ends, that's only where it begins. As Alexie explains in the video, he becomes "unstuck in time" like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five, going from one moment in American history to the next. At each moment, he experiences a revenge killing of sorts, making him relive the moment when he made the decision to shoot the bank. Zits inhabits the body of all sorts of men and boys throughout history - men who betray their wives, soldiers who betray their army, even a little boy who is asked to do an unspeakable thing. Each time he feels the guilt multiplied until he cannot understand making that decision over and over and over again.
One thing I think is clear from reading Flight is that we are all capable of revenge. It can be a small thing, it does not have to be as big as murder, but that is a human feeling. It does not matter what race you are or what gender you are or what age you are. It is a powerful human emotion that can make anyone do something they will regret. Zits's story ends well, at least he tells us it does. We are left at the end, unsure of what to believe or knowing what was real. In the end, though, it does not matter if it was real or all in Zits's head. It does not matter if he killed in 2007 or the 1970s or the 1700s, or if he killed at all. What is important is what he learned along the way - the danger of exacting revenge for something that no one could stop and the ability to forgive. At least we hope he learned something.
This novel is so unique, drawing on influences from literature and popular culture, but making it into a completely original story that encompasses many aspects of our culture in one short novel.
Book Review: I'm not as enthusastic as others about this
Summary: 4 Stars
Poets are often wonderful writers of short fiction, but they don't always transition well to the novel. I think this, generally, applies to Sherman Alexie.
I've been a fan of his since the beginning, but the only novel of his I really cared for was Reservation Blues. I give him credit for experimenting with genre in Indian Killer, but even he admitted in an interview in the Writer that he wasn't that successful with it.
Flight is an interesting concept, and the happy ending is a nice twist, but to me it felt a bit "dashed off." In fact, unlike another reviewer, what I found most lacking was the depth and poetic language I have come to expect from Alexie.
What bothered me the most, though, was his inaccurate treatment of history. Because it came so early on, it almost ruined the entire reading experience for me. I hate to play the role of the white gal who out-Indians the Indians on their history, but there are some things that anyone who has read at least one book about Crazy Horse and/or The Little Bighorn would know. 1) LBH was not a trap set by the Indians for the cavalry. It was the Battle of the Rosebud, 8 days prior, where the Indians surprised Crook. At LBH it was the Indians who were taken by surprise. 2) Crazy Horse was not bayoneted in the belly, as was stated twice. Whether or not it was purely accident is controversial, but he partially fell back onto the bayonet which pierced his kidney. This may seem like nit picking to some, but if one is going to write about going back in time, it's a little sloppy not to get the details right,and I found it particularly disappointing from a writer of this caliber. I also wasn't too nuts about the depiction of Custer as the egotistical maniac who thought that LBH would launch him to the presidency, only because it was too simplistic and it's been done-to-death, but I can let that go in that this was not meant to be a history of Custer or LBH, but a novel.
In the world of publishing today, poetry and short story collections aren't big sellers . In order to get their collections published, writers are often pressured into promising a future novel, and I sense this may have been one of those. For that reason, I hope Flight sells loads of copies and Alexie can return to what he does best--poetry and short fiction.
Book Review: Short and succinct, in a good way
Summary: 4 Stars
Before I begin my actual review, I would like to agree with previous reviewers stating the novel is very short. It is indeed a quick read - I finished in about 4 hours - but this is not necessarily a bad quality. I would much rather read a short book, which I enjoy immensely page to page, than read a long book with only specific scenes that I enjoy (for example, LOTR or The Catcher in the Rye). This obviously depends on the reader, but I think the ability to write a piece of literature that captures my attention from the beginning to the end should be judged on that quality, not how long it is.
That being said, Flight is a good name for this novel - the action and superb styling made me want to fly through the story and find out what happens at the end from the very beginning. Although not exactly multi-dimensional, Zits is a convincing reproduction of a mistreated adolescent, with an interesting past and about a 90% correct teenage attitude (I'm 16, so I think I'm allowed to judge this).
The plot twists are interesting, if a bit confusing at first. I found myself letting go of over-thinking in favor of simply enjoying what was happening after his first trip to another's body.
The only lull in the story I would say was the trip to the pilot's body, but that's quickly fixed in his next trip. I also didn't really like how the ending was completely and utterly happy. After such a negative atmosphere from the rest of the novel, the juxtaposition was slightly awkward. Along with that, as said by an English classmate of mine during a discussion we had after reading the novel, the message was a bit too strong and the symbolism a bit too weak - the allusion to the smell of "beer and onions" throughout the novel, for example, was, I thought, a deeper allusion to something evil... but even that is answered by the end.
This is still an engaging read, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to fellow teenagers - for adults, I really have no clue, although my English teacher Mr. Johnston seemed to like it!
Book Review: We Must Teach This Book
Summary: 4 Stars
So let me preface this review with this, I read this book recently not because I wanted to, but because me and my fellow classmates were forced (that's strong), required to, for our pre-service English teacher course. That aside I probably would not pick up this book otherwise. Just the idea, a teenage boy searching for his identity, has been done numerous times before, and by such remarkably brilliant authors, it's almost a genre within itself. Add to this the Native American issue and alarm bells begin ringing.
After reading the first tew pages, I was patting myself on the back, saying to myself "Michael, you were right again." And then it happened; the book took off (sorry for the pun).
I think for me what set this book apart was the simple prose that Alexie uses, deceptively simple, because within each phrase, even between, there are worlds of feeling and depth.
What "Flight" does is what great literature should do, it makes the reader believe in the interconnectivity of humanity. We begin through the eyes of a downtrodden-world hating-teen named Zits, and such is his disgust with himself and the world around him that he turns his back on society. But then Zits is transported to various points of view throughout our nations "colorful" history. What he discovers while he inhabits the bodies of others is, quite simply, himself and how much they are a part of him, and he a part of them.
I'm supposed to be looking and reviewing this book through the eyes of a soon-to-be English teacher. On that note what this book provides for the younger reader: an accessible, believable young character. Love him or hate him, he is honest and jaded, a proto-typical teen. Seeing the world through Zits' eyes may be a novelty for adult readers, but I think teen readers will find it refreshing. A Holden Caulfield for a post 9-11 generation. "Flight" like good post-modern literature is honest, self-reflective and powerful. What more can any reader, young or old, ask for?