Flight

by Sherman Alexie

Genres: Literary Fiction

Synopsis

Flight is the hilarious and tragic story of an orphaned Indian boy who travels back and forth through time in a charged search for his true identity. With powerful, swift prose, Flight follows the troubled teenager as he learns that violence is not the answer.

The journey begins as he’s about to commit a massive act of violence. At the moment of decision, he finds himself shot back through time to resurface in the body of an FBI agent during the civil-rights era. It’s only the first stop. He continues traveling back to inhabit the body of an Indian child during the battle at Little Bighorn and then rides with an 1800s Indian tracker before materializing as an airline pilot jetting through the skies today. During these furious travels, his refrain is: “Who’s to judge?” and “I don’t understand humans.” When he returns to his own life, he is 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.