Flight: A Novel

by Sherman Alexie

book data

1,841 ratings, 3.83 average rating, 469 reviews (more data...)

rating	frequency	%
5		26%
4		39%
3		26%
2		5%
1		1%

edit

published

April 17th 2007 by Grove Press, Black Cat

binding

Paperback, 208 pages

isbn

0802170374 (isbn13: 9780802170378)

description

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 fos...more

find at: Amazon | Half.com | Barnes & Noble | compare prices ($5.03)…

new topic
discuss this book

topics	posts	views	last activity
The Next Best Boo...: What are you reading?	13070	11027	45 minutes ago
50 Books A Year: Kristina's 50 books in 2009	23	102	11 days ago, 06:38PM
The Next Best Boo...: Opening Paragraphs	337	774	13 days ago, 12:46AM
BOOK-A-HOLICS: What Have you Finished Reading recently?	340	633	15 days ago, 04:41PM

friend reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

lists with this book

Native American Fiction

47 books | 38 voters

mourning & ghosts, life & death

33 books | 12 voters

More lists...

other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2,483)

sort: default (?) | date
filters: all | text-only

08/19/07

Colin rated it:

bookshelves: fiction, history, speculativefiction, youngadultlit

Read in August, 2007

Flight has a great narrative voice, and addresses important themes of revenge, violence, historical trauma and forgiveness. Alexie combines his poetic skill and humor adroitly to address these complex themes.

Yet the book was still rife with the major issues that turned me off from Alexie several years ago, that are part of why I think he remains so popular with white people in particular. He writes that all Indians are alcoholics again (including our narrarator), even going so far a...more Flight has a great narrative voice, and addresses important themes of revenge, violence, historical trauma and forgiveness. Alexie combines his poetic skill and humor adroitly to address these complex themes.

Yet the book was still rife with the major issues that turned me off from Alexie several years ago, that are part of why I think he remains so popular with white people in particular. He writes that all Indians are alcoholics again (including our narrarator), even going so far as to offer a pointed defense that it's not part of racism to do so, but rather the truth. (This, i would imagine, is in specific response to critiques about his perpetuation of this stereotype from Native scholars).

Also, literally every female character in this book is only discussed in terms of her sex appeal. While some may dismiss that in this book as the hormonal POV of a 15 year old male, (which Alexie does near the end) to me it is a continuation of a pattern that Alexie has shown for years. Women in all of his books are one dimensional sex objects or mothers. Nothing different here, and it really got on my nerves as I was reading.

There was also this glorification of white people throughout the book, and it really was unclear if that was part of the main character's internalized racism or because it sells more books for Alexie to talk about how great white people are. I think it's a combination of both.

The post-9-11-pandering, pointless subplot about the dangers of trusting resulting in inadvertently giving flight lessons to a Muslim terrorist who you thought was your best friend is too annoying to even go into. Ick.

The ending was way too neat and cheesy, with our main character finally learning to trust again after finding a happy adoptive home with a white cop, his firefighter brother, and their family. With a major theme of the book being this mixed Native kid trying to figure out what it means to be Native, this ending rings false. Also, his severe acne, which serves as a metaphor for his self-hatred and truama, gets cured. I love "disability as metaphorical tragedy."

In sum, I'm not Alexie's biggest fan. I still think this book is worth reading though. I like most books that involve time travel, and this book illuminates some complex political/emotional themes using that as the device, even with all its faults. (less)

Like this review? yes (8 people liked it)

add a comment

09/26/07

Thea rated it:

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: anyone who likes crying in public places

I really liked this book a lot. It made me cry on the subway. This is the official review I wrote of it:

In Flight Sherman Alexie’s message is that everything is perspective, and it’s delivered in an original, moving, hilarious and intensely persuasive way.

Flight shocks its readers by presenting extremely sympathetic characters, who then do horrendous things. Zits, a half white, half Native 15 year-old orphan, has been abused and neglected most of his life. Moments ...more

Like this review? yes (4 people liked it)

3 comments

11/25/07

Emma rated it:

Read in March, 2008

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 ot...more 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.
(less)

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

add a comment

04/07/09

King Dinösaur rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in April, 2009

Sherman Alexie's anger has finally spread from predominantly against the white man to pretty much every one else, including Native Americans. He makes me despair for all of humanity and then sucker-punches me with how tender, caring and loving people can actually be. I finished this book in tears. Dreadful and wonderful. Tough and real. The Vonnegut inscription at the beginning of the book will give readers an idea of where they're headed, too.

Like this review? yes (3 people liked it)

2 comments

02/08/08

Clint Jones rated it:

Read in February, 2007

recommends it for: EVERYONE

I love this book!!! However, I must say, with a bit of sadness, that this is not Alexie's best book. Alexie is at his best when his prose is poetic, thought provoking,and humorous all at once. And, while this book certainly has its moments, it fails to substain the sentence-after-sentence, page-after-page trance that Alexie's writing is capable of producing. What I love about this book is how it has gotten my high school students, who would normally not even consider reading a book, to consume t...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

3 comments

07/28/07

Mike rated it:

Read in August, 2007

Told from the perspective of a very dislocated, long-suffering, smart-ass adolescent, Alexie's book initially--and at times throughout--can seem to echo as much as elaborate upon its narrator's sensibilities. Certain jokes fall flat on (almost-)forty-year-old ears, some insights (and the way they're revealed and described) can seem a tad hokey. And the plot can seem a bit ... well, after-schoolish -- this abused boy turns to violence, then--as a consequence?--begins flipping through time and p...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

05/21/07

Anna rated it:

Read in May, 2007

recommends it for: Harold Terezon, Eric Wat

Sherman Alexie's Flight was a quick read, a much sparser book than his first novel, Indian Killer. That earlier work was more dense, much darker. I actually appreciated that first novel very much -- it was an angry, despairing book that captured well the continuing struggles and tensions of a modern-day rez-Indian and its dark, unrelenting sensibility was disturbing yet poignant too.

At the LA Times Book Festival, I heard Alexie talk about Indian Killer which he says he hates. He felt...more Sherman Alexie's Flight was a quick read, a much sparser book than his first novel, Indian Killer. That earlier work was more dense, much darker. I actually appreciated that first novel very much -- it was an angry, despairing book that captured well the continuing struggles and tensions of a modern-day rez-Indian and its dark, unrelenting sensibility was disturbing yet poignant too.

At the LA Times Book Festival, I heard Alexie talk about Indian Killer which he says he hates. He felt it was so angry and basically was his reaction to all of the pressures and conflicting expectations for him to be a mouthpiece for "the Indian Experience." I actually think it was an engrossing novel, nevertheless.

Anyway, what it has to do with Flight is that Alexie's wife pointed out to him that this one was his Indian Killer rewrite. This one is about an Indian teenager foster kid -- unloved, unwanted, and unhinged -- who at a moment of sheer death and destruction in contemporary times, is plunged back into time to relive in different personas, seminal moments of sheer death and destruction in Indian history in America.

But this is a different novel. It's shorter, breezier almost. And has a redemptive ending. And tho' at first, I was wondering if perhaps Alexie had lost his touch with the too short chapters and the quick-cut jumping around of the character into different bodies and periods of time (making me compare it unfavorably at first to Octavia Butler's Kindred, a much more masterful time-jump-back novel dealng with the legacy of slavery in the South), there's a scene that he inserts about 3/4s through that is just KICK-ASS and completely turns the tales on their heads. It becomes a more intimate take on sins of the father and is ultimately about what Alexie described (in ironic, yet beneath, maybe quite sincere) "the kindness of strangers" and "forgiveness."

He said at the Festival that he could've written the darker ending -- did in fact write several -- but in the end "I just didn't want to put that shit out there." And in light of the fact that the novel was released in April 2007 -- around the time of the Virginia Tech incident -- Alexie said he felt well-satisfied with that decision, despite any critical knocks for doing so.

And I actually agree. I'm still mulling over that ending he chose. I almost feel like these days, the daker endings are becoming the trite ones. So in a way, a redemptive ending may be the weird, edgy twist, after all.

(less)

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

04/14/07

claire rated it:

Read in May, 2007

I love Sherman Alexie's writing and have heard him speak on a radio program--what a loving, funny, open-hearted person. If you've ever read any of his short stories, you know how he can weave humor into seemingly dire situations. I can't wait to have a full week where I can read this new addition to his collection.

OK! I've read it and WOW. It only took me about 5 hours in total. Fast-paced and raw, this book was a roller-coater ride through not only history, but the life of the belo...more

Like this review? yes (2 people liked it)

add a comment

05/21/08

Lindsay rated it:

Read in May, 2008

recommends it for: militant pacifists, snapshots of AI history

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

I'm still taking a little time to process this book. It was a super quick read--I read it in a day--but it certainly packs a punch. It's a story about Zits, an orphaned and awkward half-Indian kid covered in serious acne and dealing with some severe loneliness. He's passed from foster home to foster home and has been arrested so many times he knows the officers around Seattle by name. As he goes to commit a mass murder, he is suddenly transported into several points of the past, primarily vi...more I'm still taking a little time to process this book. It was a super quick read--I read it in a day--but it certainly packs a punch. It's a story about Zits, an orphaned and awkward half-Indian kid covered in serious acne and dealing with some severe loneliness. He's passed from foster home to foster home and has been arrested so many times he knows the officers around Seattle by name. As he goes to commit a mass murder, he is suddenly transported into several points of the past, primarily violent moments in American Indian history, where he experiences the pain and complexity of war (both literal and figurative).
I really enjoyed the several embodiments the character takes in the novel, and as with any good writing on war, Alexie effectively creates compassion for both the "good" and "bad" guys while blurring the line between "good" and "bad". He creates vivid settings for every scene no matter how quickly he bounces around time. I particularly enjoyed the exposition on how the Little Bighorn camp smelled...never really thought about the smells before. And as with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian, I think he has a great talent for using an adolescent voice. I hope he might continue writing like this--this is a unique and underrepresented voice in young adult literature. However, this book might be a little intense for some teens.
What I can't quite figure out is whether the story is too simple. Even though I don't think I'm spoiling much (the jacket does read that "he is mightily transformed by all he has seen"), it's not much of a surprise that, when Zits finally returns to the present, he understands the error of his ways. The events he partakes in certainly would melt even the coldest of hearts (some scenes got me a little weepy), and even though I pretty much knew how it was going to ultimately end, the various experiences continued to captivate me throughout. But I still feel like something was missing...perhaps it was because I knew there was going to be a more or less "happy" ending. It felt more like a fable. Maybe this is a good thing? I haven't read a book like that in long time; plus it gives hope that a very lost kid might somehow find a way. Also, since there was so much time-travel packed into so few pages, we jump to the next story when I want to hear more about the previous one. In a way it kind of keeps in line with the fast-paced environment kids grow up with today and definitely falls into the helter-skelter life Zits has had to lead, but as a reader I wanted even more detail. Good thing I have more Alexie books to turn to.(less)

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

03/01/08

liz rated it:

bookshelves: literary

Read in March, 2008

Okay, so this was my first time ever reading Alexie. I had been kind of hesitant, since he's The Indian Author, and it makes me feel bad for all the other Indian authors floating around out there (I imagine the publishers: "Well, we got The Indian Author, we don't need to worry about finding any other ones!"). So, I was pleasantly surprised that his writing is so good.

The way the story is set up reminds me of The Law of Love, in that there's a ton of switching back and fo...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

02/26/08

Lindsay rated it:

Read in March, 2008

Sherman Alexie's Flight is often beautiful and usually poignant. However, any novel written through the point of view of a 15-year-old boy can run the risk of annoying readers, especially if the character is written well (e.g., Holden Caulfield).

Alexie's narrator, a teenage orphan called "Zits," is written rather well. Losing his Indian father to homelessness and his Irish mother to cancer, chronic foster-child Zits is understandably angry. Like many angry teenage boys, "...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

2 comments

09/16/07

Liza rated it:

Read in September, 2007

recommends it for: everyone

I’ve been meaning to read a book by Sherman Alexie for a while now, and after reading Flight, I now want to devour everything that Alexie has ever written or been associated with. Flight is the story of Zits, a teenage Native American orphan who repeatedly finds himself on the wrong side of the law. Upon meeting another lost teenager, Zits thinks he has discovered the outlet for his anger, but suddenly he is traveling through time to important eras of Native American history--both in the popul...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

07/02/07

Emily rated it:

bookshelves: booksofthepast

recommends it for: Sherman Alexie lovers, pessiminsts

This is not the typical Sherman Alexie novel, but then, what is? Everything Alexi writes has its own spirit and moves through your mind by its own course. This book was different from all those that came before it, and I'm sure the next book will be different from this one.

"Flight" is the story of a young Native American boy who has been shunted through the foster care system in the Seattle area since the age of seven. Since then he has experienced no love or gentleness ...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

05/03/08

Dorothea rated it:

Read in July, 2007

recommends it for: highschool English teachers looking for a relevant book for their students to read

Flight's language is simple and the story is compelling. Alexie addresses some of my favorite themes: identity, shame, betrayal, justice, revenge and redemption. This book would be an excellent read for high schoolers and I hope teachers will begin using it, SOON! (Although, the occasional f-word will cause a stink among the narrow-minded set.)

Part of me wants to say that Flight isn't Alexie's best work in a literary sense. His 1993 book, Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven, r...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

add a comment

06/13/07

Amy marked it as to-read

bookshelves: to-read

Sherman Alexie is currently on book tour and is blogging: http://www.fallsapart.com/FlightBlog.htm...

He'll be in Minneapolis in October at the MBA trade show. Haven't looked to see if the reading is open to the public.

S. Kirk Walsh - The New York Times
Mr. Alexie is no stranger to this brand of gutsy writing. With 17 volumes of fiction and poetry to his name, he has established an impressive literary reputation as a bold writer who goes straight for the aorta. He is...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

03/05/09

Emily rated it:

Read in March, 2009

I wept the whole way through it. This book is marvelous. It bleeds empathy and compassion and is one of the most sincere, gut-real, open-eyed, forgiving, hopeful novels I've read this year so far. I love this book. The wit and charm of the teenage boy narrator kept me giggling and grinning, and the tone switches were so subtle and genuine and seamless that I would cry and laugh at the same times. Sometimes I would just cry. I am achingly pleased with Alexie and can't wait to pick up anothe...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

02/01/09

Carrie rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

Flight is a short, direct and unsubtle novel, but nonetheless a powerful one. It reads more like YA to me than like an adult novel , but that has more to do with my complete inability to understand what gets shelved where - why are some novels with teens considered adult books and some juvenile fiction (and then Alexie went and wrote a YA novel which won the National Book Award, so there you have it)?? Anyway, Flight tells the story of Zits, a young half Indian - half Irish young man whose mot...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

01/26/09

Jennifer rated it:

Read in January, 2009

recommends it for: Anyone who likes Sherman Alexie, anyone interested in Native Americans, anyone not afraid to weep.

I was feeling sad about the number of Sherman Alexie books I haven't read, so I made a bookstore run and picked this one up. Yesterday morning I grabbed it as we were getting in the car for a trip, and by the time we were home that afternoon I had finished it. In between I did a lot of crying, developed a major headache and a mild sense of nausea, all of which I'm blaming on this book. It was horrific, filled with rage and blame and fury, and yet somehow infused with hope.

It's the s...more

Like this review? yes

add a comment

05/27/09

Lizgreen79 rated it:

Read in May, 2009

this novel is appropriately named in the way it is experienced; it is a super quick read. the angst filled, distinctive adolescent narrator, "Zits. Call me Zits" (as the novel begins) has a remarkable voice, and Alexie weaves an engaging story...he even does some pretty interesting things with layers of voices as Zits possesses different bodies in his time travels...where Zits ends and the other characters begin gets pretty juicy. There was something about it though, that just felt...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment

06/01/07

Real Supergirl rated it:

bookshelves: fiction

Read in September, 2007

I'm not clear on why this book is classified as fiction and "Absolutely True Story..." is classifed as a young adult novel. Both are about teenage Indian boys, who are full of angst and alienation.

This one is a little fantasy-like - it involves time travel. But Alexie weaves this element in the way he does best - like he's creating new myths and legends.

It's an intense book at times, but both emotional and cerebral at the same time. Definitely one of his ...more

Like this review? yes (1 person liked it)

1 comment