Flight by Sherman Alexie

★★★

Another Sherman Alexie book that Ken found on the library shelf. I hadn't even heard about this one, it's so recent. It was published in 2007; I was taken aback by a reference to Kanye West on the first page.

I wasn't sure what to make of it at first. There are certainly some elements of writing that are undeniably characteristic of Sherman Alexie, but this book is very different from the others I've read. I think it's young adult fiction, even though it wasn't in the young adult section of the library. The narrator is a teenage boy, a half-Indian/half-white orphan who uses profanity and disparages others, à la Holden Caulfield. He also travels in time, which was reminiscent of Slaughterhouse-Five. I actually can't remember much about either Catcher in the Rye or Slaughterhouse-Five, so that's where the similarities ended, and now I think maybe I should re-read those books.

Anyway, through his time traveling, the narrator explores questions of war and killing (e.g., Is killing ever justified?), and he learns that all people are imperfect and complex, as is humanity in general. I really liked the ending. I don't want to give it away, but it was nice that it ended with some hope.