Flight

The best-selling author of multiple award-winning books returns with his first novel in ten years, a powerful, fast and timely story of a troubled foster teenager — a boy who is not a “legal” Indian because he was never claimed by his father — who learns the true meaning of terror. About to commit a devastating act, the young man finds himself shot back through time on a shocking sojourn through moments of violence in American history. He resurfaces in the form of an FBI agent during the civil rights era, inhabits the body of an Indian child during the battle at Little Big Horn, and then rides with an Indian tracker in the 19th Century before materializing as an airline pilot jetting through the skies today. When finally, blessedly, our young warrior comes to rest again in his own contemporary body, he is mightily transformed by all he’s seen. This is Sherman Alexie at his most brilliant — making us laugh while breaking our hearts. Simultaneously wrenching and deeply humorous, wholly contemporary yet steeped in American history, Flight is irrepressible, fearless, and again, groundbreaking Alexie.

Quotes and thoughts while reading:

This is awesomely, powerful young adult fiction. I'm a grown man, and loved it - so it's not limited to young adults - but I think the impact of having someone in their teens read this would be amazing. Alexie is a beautiful writer - that seems to grip you by the shirt collar and pull you in.

"... I'm not Irish or Indian. I'm a blank sky, a human solar eclipse."(p 5)

There's a verbal tussle between Zits and his current foster parent on page 14 and 15 - and man did it feel real. The hairs on my neck stood up - and my eyes darted over the page. I could feel my jaw clench and release. It's fascinating to look back on my notes after finishing - the book goes from one place to so many others - the power of the journey makes looking back at the beginning seems small.

I think one facet that I appreciate greatly is the amount of history packed into such a quick short read. Being born in 1990 - I'm not too familiar with the incidents going on in the 70's between AIM and the FBI(I think some names were changed in the book - but this is the gist I got). You can read more about the incident as described in the book here: Wounded Knee Incident >>

I think the amount of experiences Zits has is an attempt to build empathy in him - to contextualize his world into something bigger than his 15 year old self. From the plan pilot, to the tracker hunting Indians, to the Indians killing soldiers - Zits is afforded the opportunity to see life outside of his own.

The life of Zits was incredibly real to me:
"I learned how to stop crying.
I learned how to hide inside of myself.
I learned how to be somebody else.
I learned how to be cold and numb." (p 161)

I learned these same things - and I could feel all of my past come welling up - which speaks to the power of this book. It's good to dredge these things up from time to time, and it's even better to introduce them to people who have never had to deal with them.

Earlier on this day I went to a meditation workshop - and one of the exercises we did the instructor mentioned(after the fact) would encourage a release. A release of tears was most likely - and this book released them. I almost lost it as "It's only temporary," I say. "Well, Robert and I are hoping to make is permanent..."(p 177). But I completely lost it at the end. It hearkened back to Good Will Hunting when Robin Williams character just keeps saying "It's not your fault". Here in this book - the repetitive Zits saying:
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry." (p 181)
Was just this total break down. From when he finally feels safe, and comfortable, and welcomed enough - his dam breaks and you can feel the flood that torrents through him. Zits can let it go - he can let go of his pain, of his fears, and he can weep, he can cry and wail. And I cried and wailed. And it was everything I needed to experience.

So, thank you Terry - thank you luck for giving me to opportunity to read this book. And thank you Sherman Alexie for the beautiful story.