Alexie, Sherman: Flight

Sherman Alexie's first novel in ten years is a powerful, fast and timely story of a troubled foster teenager who travels through time to learn the true meaning of terror. In a way, this fast, blistering novel might be seen as Sherman Alexie's response to 9/11. It's his effort to explore the meaning and purpose of violence at critical moments in American history while showing reasons the perpetrators have for enacting it and then questioning our right to judge their actions. It is a provocative and deeply unnerving book that nevertheless manages to keep you laughing throughout much of it. This is vintage Sherman - always riding the line between funny and gutting, seemingly trivial and monumentous.