A troubled foster kid, half in the white world and half in the world of the American Indian, stands on the brink of a violent act when he is suddenly whisked away on a vision quest spanning the long, troubled history of relations between the two peoples. The resulting journey, corrosively funny and painful, is at the core of Sherman Alexie's new novel.
Sherman Alexie's Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven is one of my favorite short story collections in recent memory, and Alexie has written a lot of powerful novel-length fiction as well (and according to my wife, who saw him speak at a conference, he is also a strong public speaker).
In Flight, Alexie has developed a well-realized protagonist and offered much food for thought. I think Flight would have been a very good young adult novel except for the steady profanity and very mature situations (including rape, child abuse, and murder) that would undoubtedly keep it out of the school library. But it is a good solid read and adds to Alexie's growing reputation. Recommended for those interested in the subject matter.
I grabbed Flight off the shelf at the Morrison-Reeves Public Library in Richmond, Indiana, and cooked right through it.
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