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Funny Thing About A Time-Traveling Mass Murderer

The novel Flight’s main character is a fifteen year old boy, nicknamed “Zits,” a name given to him due to his physical affliction, but also to represent his poverty, both in economical (rich kids can afford treatment) and emotional terms.

Born in Portland of an Indian (Native American) father and an Irish mother, Zits is essentially alone in the world. His father left at birth and his mother died when he was six. With no siblings, Zits moves from foster home to foster home. His loneliness and instability lead him to an act of extreme violence.

At that moment, Zits is transported through time into a series of other person’s bodies and lives. He enters their lives at moments of violence, reflective of the one he is experiencing currently in the “real world.” With each subsequent life, Zits increasingly learns more about the world and the impact of actions.

While the preceding description might make this sound like a tragic read, Sherman Alexie also uses humor to elevate the story and draw the reader in. Identity, destiny, and the ways in which family experiences shape the human soul are at the core of this engaging novel.