Recommended Reads: Flight

This week, we're recommending a book that is kind of controversial. Actually, to be more specific, it's not so much the BOOK that is controversial but the author, Sherman Alexie. Alexie, whom you might know from reading The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian has recently been accused of inappropriate behavior towards women  - allegations which he has chosen not to fully respond to.

So, if this is a deal breaker to you, you can stop here and we'll be cool with that.
Since YCLD doesn't censor books or limit what you are allowed to check out, we're going to recommend Flight (<--- click the link to go to the library's catalog and find a copy) to you for a couple of very good reasons. First, it's one of the books that was chosen this year to be part of the Great Stories Book Club (our library is one of only two in Arizona that was chosen to be part of this club this year!) and second, it's a REALLY good book.

Honestly. I 100% did not think I was going to like this book when I picked it up because it's pretty different from what I usually read, but I was seriously hooked from the first couple of pages. I'm not going to lie - some of the language and subject matter in the story is tough to read, and it's not going to be for everyone's tastes.

The story is basically this: Zits is a half Native-American, half Irish kid in the foster system. He's been in and out of juvie a bunch of times because, as he will tell you himself, he hates everyone - especially himself. He keeps getting kicked out of foster homes because of his attitude, and as the story begins he's just gotten kicked out of his latest one for cussing out his foster dad on his first day there. Zits gets picked up by the cops, and meets a kid his age named Justice who instantly becomes his new best friend. They run away together, and Justice convinces Zits to do something INCREDIBLY stupid: using a couple of guns Justice has gotten his hands on, they plan to rob a bank.

Not to spoil things too much for you, but things go REALLY, REALLY, super wrong and Zits gets himself shot.... and as he is dying, something amazing happens: he gains the ability to time-travel. Downside: he can only time travel by jumping into someone else's body, and he has no control over whose body it is or what time period he ends up in. I won't say much more about it, but things get weird fast, and Zits ends up learning a LOT about himself and other people. That's all I am going to say about it so I can avoid mega-spoilers, but it's definitely a good read.

Official rating: 4/4 Booker Bears