Flight, by Sherman Alexie

It’s not often I read a work of fiction within a year or two of its release. Aside from the Harry Potter series, it usually takes me at least five or ten years — if not fifty — to get around to reading a well-known story. The reasoning is mostly that stories are often more timeless, while nonfiction has a tendency to be more relevant if read closer to its publication time.

Anyway, I’m getting off track. The point is that I read a new piece of critically-lauded fiction: Flight, by Sherman Alexie. Mostly because my girlfriend said, “Here, read this. It’s a quick, easy read and a great story.” And she was right.

Flight is about a fifteen-year-old half Native American foster kid named Zits. He has low self esteem, due to his zits and his revolving-door stays with foster families all throughout the Seattle area. He channels his low self worth into violent acts and disrespect for his foster parents, which is hardly surprising.

And then Zits meets Justice in a jail cell. Justice tells him how everything is wrong, how Native Americans deserve to do whatever it takes to take back their land from white people, how to shoot a gun. And after weeks and weeks of this righteous indoctrination, Zits walks into a bank with a pistol and a paintball gun.

The story really takes off, though, before he sees the consequences of his violent act, when he wakes up from what he presumed to be his own death to find himself in the body of an FBI agent in the 70s that was fighting against the Native Americans. And, from there, into the bodies of several historical figures fighting either for or against the freedom of the Native American people.

Flight is a unique take on the all-too-common coming of age story. While the whole idea revolves around time travel (or reincarnation, in a weird way), it still seemed the most appropriate way for the universe to help a lost boy find his way, realize the consequences of his violent tendencies and break away from that cycle.

All in all, it was a beautiful and enjoyable read that I highly recommend for any teen or twentysomething.