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Clint Jones's Reviews > Flight
Flight
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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 this one in a matter of days and come back asking for more books like this to read. (Hehe...I offer them Catcer in the Rye.)
I give this book to my reluctant readers and tell them "it's about a time-traveling serial killer." When they come back the next day, they can't wait to get together in their Lit-circles and begin discussing the characters, "Justice" and "Truth". And, while there are a few students who get confused by the novel's quantum leaps in time, there are always some who can explain what is happening to "Justice", In addition, the questions raised by the changing setting provide an excellent opportunity to introduce and teach magical-realism to the newly-awakened and curious, young minds. In fact, what makes this novel a high school literature teacher's best friend is that Alexie has created a seemingly simple story that lures readers in and, yet, the novel's structure, plot, humor, sadness, relevance to life and themes are intriguing enough to fascinate the most discerning reader.
Kudos to Alexie for creating rare teachable moments in which ALL students are completely engaged and engrossed, and, best of all, they are motivated by a desire to make meaning and understand.
I give this book to my reluctant readers and tell them "it's about a time-traveling serial killer." When they come back the next day, they can't wait to get together in their Lit-circles and begin discussing the characters, "Justice" and "Truth". And, while there are a few students who get confused by the novel's quantum leaps in time, there are always some who can explain what is happening to "Justice", In addition, the questions raised by the changing setting provide an excellent opportunity to introduce and teach magical-realism to the newly-awakened and curious, young minds. In fact, what makes this novel a high school literature teacher's best friend is that Alexie has created a seemingly simple story that lures readers in and, yet, the novel's structure, plot, humor, sadness, relevance to life and themes are intriguing enough to fascinate the most discerning reader.
Kudos to Alexie for creating rare teachable moments in which ALL students are completely engaged and engrossed, and, best of all, they are motivated by a desire to make meaning and understand.
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
February 22, 2007
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Finished Reading
February 8, 2008
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Caroline
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Feb 16, 2008 10:38AM
Gah! McCurdy did the same thing! I can't remember why I started asking him for recommendations or what the first book he recommended was, but the second was Catcher in the Rye! I reread it, but still can't remember it any better than after the first time.
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P.O.V. is enerything.
Was the first book Vonnegut's _Slaughterhouse V? It's another book with a young characater, who, living through extreme hardship, gets "unstuck in time," like Zits does. I, too, hope to teach _Flight._
Any book that gets students engaged enough to want to read more is awesome.
Thank you for your review. I both read and listened to this book on audio. I liked it so much that when I saw the audio book available through my library, I had to experience it again. It's read by Adam Beach, who does a great job. If you haven't shared the audio with your students I highly recommend it. My 13 yro is an avid reader, he eats books for breakfast, lunch and dinner. As a tween/teen he mostly sticks to the SciFy genre. Of course there's nothing wrong with that genre, I've just been trying to nudge him to branch out. He came into the room when I was listening to the book, to find out what I was listening to. It was the part about Gus. My kid is a very emotionally sensitive kid so I stopped it just before the massacre. I wasn't sure if he's emotionally mature enough to process that yet. Even though he's been exposed to violence in movies in films like Star Wars, Avengers etc. it's different when it's your imagination creating the imagery cued by a writer gifted at expressing raw emotions. I asked him what he thought about what he'd heard. He said it sounded amazing and he'd never read/heard a story like that. He was filled with so many questions and observations about the writing of the story, and not just the plot. While listening to Adam Beach read, I kept thinking about how this story seems like it would becgreat for some teens, especially troubled teens and specifically troubled teen boys. I kept wondering how my brother would've reacted had he been exposed to a story like this when he was a troubled teen?Who subsequently grew into troubled adult. I'm not suggesting the "art saves the world" idea by that wondering. It takes more than that. But sometimes one thing can be a nudge or a shove in a different direction. I think this story can be that for some teens. I do think I'm going to wait a little for my 13 yro. though. I'll keep this book in my mental library to remember in a year or two to strew his way. You're review helped me to make the decision that yes, I was correct in thinking this book would be a great read for teens at some point. Thanks for that.
What do you think is Alexie's best book?
