Flight

Flight is a story about family. Real family. The kind with dysfunctions in every closet. Set in a fictional rural Michigan town, the Gruen family gathers on the family farm to celebrate the wedding of youngest daughter, Leanne. Will Gruen, the father, is a pilot who is feeling his age and the fast approach of what may be his last opportunity as a commercial airline pilot. He has received an offer that would mean relocating to Hong Kong, and he has yet to gather the courage to broach the subject with wife, Carol. He wonders if he might accept the transfer even if Carol does not agree to go with him. And she might not. On Carol's mind is a bed and breakfast, and as she moves about the farmhouse in wedding preparations, her mind is filled with ideas of transformation for the farmhouse into a business, and with it, the giddy seduction of independence. Eldest daughter Margaret has secrets of her own. She arrives making excuses for an absentee husband, but over the span of the three days of wedding preparation, it is revealed that divorce, complete with messy custody battles, is impending. But surely the bride is happy? No. The bride is sneaking drinks from a silver flask, and not only does she suffer cold feet the night before the wedding-she takes flight. Ginger Strand's first novel takes on family drama with openhearted courage. The reader is allowed to feel a part of the wedding hustle and madness, and to be one of the family, without fanfare, roll up your sleeves and help shell the shrimp. Strand's literary style is straightforward with just the right spice of wit. She tells an everyday story with flair and humor. A subtle parallel image throughout the drama is a pair of caged doves being kept for dramatic release at the wedding ceremony. Throughout the movement of the story, now and then, here and there, the characters check the doves: are they perhaps feeling ill from being caged too long and kept in the garage? Will they take flight on cue? Recommended.

Anne Tyler, move over! I couldn't put this book down. The author has a wonderful gift of painting a multi-layered picture with her words. The story takes place over a weekend, but encompasses a lifetime. Beautifully written, it explores relationships within and without of the Gruen family. A satisfying and poignant book. I recommend it highly!

This novel has exactly what is missing in today's cinema: heart, brains, and people who are just like us. Strand proves that you don't need car chases (although there is a moving violation!), or tons of special effects to grip an audience. I kept seeing Jeff Bridges as a young-ish Will Gruen, and that perfect woman on Desperate Housewives as Margaret. This novel is so easy to cast, it's scary.

This first novel has it all: characters so real and affecting they leap off the page, a plot that's full of surprises, and a strong narrative voice that signals the introduction of a writer to watch. Will Gruen, the grounded pilot, Vietnam veteran, and bemused family man is the kind of character who haunts the reader long after the novel is finished. In the end, his questions are our own, and they are the big ones. With a deft and graceful touch, Strand takes on family, the lingering effects of war, and the uncertainty of living in a post 9/11 world.

The author's last name is somehow indicative of her work, given that it's the many strands playing out the unified theme that give Flight its range and depth. "Will Gruen loves to fly," says the flapcopy. Too bad for him, since the Vietnam Air Force veteran has been grounded in Michigan, living a quieter life on a farm. But as plans heat up for his youngest daughter's wedding, there's a lot going on in the Gruen family: Will's wife plans on turning the farm into a bed-and-breakfast; his oldest daughter, living an open marriage, returns home for the wedding with her son but not her husband; and the youngest is showing ambivalence about walking down that long aisle. Set in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, Flight is about the journeys we take and the journeys we want to take and all the decisions we make along the way.