Flights

took was across the fields, on foot. It took them a long time to notice I was gone, which meant I was able to make it quite some distance. I covered the whole park and even-going down dirt roads, through the corn and the damp meadows teeming with cowslip flowers, sectioned into squares by ditches-reached the river. Though of course the river was ubiquitous in that valley, soaking up under the ground cover and lapping at the fields.

Clambering up onto the embankment, I could see an undulating ribbon, a road that kept flowing outside of the frame, outside of the world. If you were lucky, you might catch sight of a boat there, one of those great flat boats gliding over the river in either direction, oblivious to the shores, to the trees, to the people who stand on the embankment, unreliable landmarks, perhaps, not worth remarking, just an audience to the boats' own motion, so full of grace. I dreamed of working on a boat like that when I grew up-or even better, of becoming one of those boats.

It wasn't a big river, only the Oder, but I, too, was little then. It had its place in the hierarchy of rivers, which I later checked on the maps-a minor one, but present, nonetheless, a kind of country viscountess at the court of the Amazon queen. But it was more than enough for me. It seemed enormous. It flowed as it liked, essentially unimpeded, prone to flooding, unpredictable.

Occasionally along the banks it would catch on some underwater obstacle, and eddies would develop. But the river flowed on, parading, concerned only with its hidden aims beyond the horizon, somewhere far off to the north. Your eyes couldnÕt keep focused on the water, which pulled your gaze along

Fodor s Travels
 
Flights works like a dream does: with fragmentary trails that add up to a delightful reimagining of the novel itself. Marlon James

This hypnotizing new novel about travel, movement, and the complexities of distance deserves a place on every bookshelf.   Southern Living 
 
Provides food for thought about what makes us move and what makes us tick. Travel may broaden the mind, but this travel-themed book stimulates it. Minneapolis Star-Tribune 

Take the time to settle into this unconventional narrative that is by turns startling, moving and profound.   Dallas Morning News
 
An unclassifiable medley of linked fictions and essays. Reading it is like being a passenger on a long trip.... It s amusing, exciting.... It moves... to moments of intense interest and beauty. Wall Street Journal
 
A disorienting, intelligent, and unforgettable book. Bustle
 
Prescient, provocative, and furiously comic. The New Statesman
 
An expansive, probing and enigmatic novel of ideas Chapters range from a few sentences to dozens of pages, creating a kaleidoscope of perspectives on the mutability and movement of humanity. amNewYork
 
A graceful and philosophic meditation on travel. Newsday
 
A select few novels possess the wonder of music, and this is one of them. No two readers will experience it exactly the same way. Flights is an international, mercurial, and always generous book, to be endlessly revisited. Like a glorious, charmingly impertinent travel companion, it reflects, challenges, and rewards. Los Angeles Review of Books
 
An intellectual revelation Flights seeks out bridges between the concepts of cosmopolitanism and cultural hybridity; between discoveries of affection and curiosity toward unknown cultures, and toward the intrinsic multiplicity of one s own place of origin. Boston Review
 
Flights is epic in its scope and mission. [The novel] reads as a sprawling, surreal meditation on what it is to be alive in an increasingly transient world. Vox
 
If a strictly linear narrative structure is obligatory to your definition of what makes for a good book, I d encourage you to set that requirement aside for a bit and consider this 2018 Booker Prize winner. Themes and patterns will begin to emerge of lives and loves and a rocket ship ride through the swirl of stars that is us. An added bonus: Jennifer Croft s translation (from Polish) is a joy to read and a template for a translation master class. The Millions

Deftly explores, in limpid, captivating vignettes, the spaces we inhabit bodies, geographies, the expanse of the page and the loves, fears, and wonder that inhabit us.   Literary Hub
 
An indisputable masterpiece. Publishers Weekly, starred review

This host of haunting narratives teases the mind and taunts the soul... exhilarating.   Library Journal