Flight by Sherman Alexie

   Teen fiction pick.
   I think this book wanted to be good; it almost was. Zits is a fifteen year old, turnstyle foster kid. He is half Indian and Irish; the Indian part is, to him, the important part. He is in and out of jail and angry, angry, angry. Admittedly, his circumstances have given him little to feel safe about. During his latest detention Zits meets a boy who feeds the white man as oppressor/Indian as victim/government is evil ideology that Zits is teetering on. (The kid is white, by the way.)
   Upon Zits' release from detention the kid finds him and they spend time together. The kid, Justice, grooms Zits until a fateful event is reached. At the event's conclusion Zits finds himself inexlicably time traveling through different Indian/Army conflicts. Each conflict illustrates the good and bad nature of both the Indians and the white men. Personal growth and realization occur.
   Here is the problem. Problems? Yes, problems. The initial time traveling is too abrupt and jarring; it throughs you off. I'm sure that Alexie is trying to get the reader to feel the panic and confusion of Zits; it doesn't work. You end up thrown out of character rather than feeling part of the character.
   Zits' use of profanity attempts to walk the line between youthful, angry context and profane; it mostly falls on the side of profane. It just doesn't work very well. The book in general doesn't work very well, which is sad because when I read the book I really, really wanted it to work.
   Zits and his story of loss, redemption and the desire of a boy to be loved by a mother and, especially a father, was such a great idea. It just seemed that Alexie's style and use of mechanics weren't able to get out of the way of his idea.



Favorite Quotes:

Zits:
"I wish I lived back in the seventies. As ugly as I am, I might have been the biggest rock star in the world."

"My mother died of breast cancer when I was six...I sometimes wish she'd died when I was younger so I wouldn't remember her at all."


Overall Opinion:

I wish the writing was as good as the idea of the story.


Rating:

4