Flight of the Goose

"I found this book through a series of "you might also like" searches on Amazon. Coupled with the glowing reviews, I felt like I'd found a keeper. And I did! I love it when a book totally captures me... and on so many levels. The "voice" of the main character was so fresh and real, and the way her story unfolded with the "birdman" was extremely poignant. Five stars!"
~ Written on 2008-10-10

"This is a story about one of the last great American frontiers: Alaska. The novel takes place in 1971 / 1972, with the Vietnam war as a distant backdrop. The book covers a series of clashes beyond the war, including the clash between nature and technology / big oil companies. There seem to be several haunting premonitions of the Exxon VALDEZ disaster, which occured over a decade later.

The center of the book, however, is love story. An young, abandoned Indian woman (Gretchen) is "adopted" by Eskimos. When she reaches her late teens, an ornithologist (Leif) picks out a nearby spot to set up his base camp. He is obsessed with a certain type of geese. The courtship is awkward and somewhat unorthodox. The story is somewhat unique in that we get a 1st person view from both persons.

I believe that Leif and Gretchen seem to represent a sort of "marriage" between the native Alaskans and the white man. Even though both mean well, there is still plenty of friction in their relationship. Just as was the case in the world back then (as is the case now), there was plenty of turmoil in the world, and the turmoil spilled over into personal relationships as well.

Lesley Thomas has a knack for being a very descriptive writer, and I really did feel like I was in northern Alaska while I was reading the novel. People who enjoy this book may also like Map of the Human Heart as it is another story that centers around Alaska."
~ Written on 2008-06-17

"It is the Alaskan Arctic, it is 1971, and Kayuqtuq "Gretchen" Ugungoreseok is a troubled with young woman with a difficult past. She does not know what happened to her mother, her first foster family were pathetic, uncaring, money-grubbers who were very poor, and she has an ambivalent relationship with her second foster family. Now, in her twenties, and quite attractive, Kayuqtuq, or Gretchen as the Outsiders have named her, is trying to figure out who and what she is, including whether she is an apprentice shaman, a rarity for a woman, at that time and in that area. Then, life becomes much more complex, with the arrival of Leif Trygvesen, an Outsider who is a field biologist trying to study a certain species of goose, as well as measuring the impact of oil spills on the local ecology. The inevitable slowly happens, as Gretchen and Leif fall in love, while trying to grasp each other's culture.

This work of fiction, often told in journal format or by showing letters exchanged between Leif and Kayuqtuq, is loaded with information on the cultures and the era involved, and the degree of detail is impressive. I found the degree of detail to also be oppressive. The complexity of romance often makes a good story, and cross-cultural romances add another dimension. As many romances are, the Kayuqtuq-Leif romance is on-again-off-again. However, it changes direction so often that it becomes predictable and redundant. The same is true for the culture-shock issues, with repeated misunderstandings, miscommunications, and just plain misery.

Several years ago, I wrote a novel, still in search of a publisher. As I wrote, I became intoxicated with the process, and my "final" copy was close to 200,000 words long. Not long ago, I entered the novel in a contest, that had a maximum of 175,000 words for entries. I was able to cut enough out to meet the limit, and I believe that my leaner version was better. I think that the experience of writing-intoxication might have occurred in Flight of the Goose, and I think that a trimmer version would be a better book.

One thing that I look for in a novel is whether I can identify with one or more of the main characters, and possibly even like them. I did end up liking both Kayuqtuq and Leif, and felt that I knew and understood them enough to make them interesting. That is the main reason why I was able to stick it through to the end. That is not enough, though, to make this is good and recommendable book.

I have at least one other quibble for this book. At the back of the book, there is a glossary of terms in Inupiaq, the language of the Alaskan Arctic villagers in this story. At its core, this is a good idea, to use these terms, interspersed throughout the story, and have the glossary to help translate. It adds color, and an air of authenticity. However, even as the author, Lesley Thomas, got carried away with details, and with the ups and downs of cross-cultural romance, I think that she also over-did this native language idea. I think that the best way to illustrate this is to show good and bad examples of its usage.

I found it helpful to know that "Aka" not only meant "grandmother" but was also a term of respect for a woman who was an elder. That enriched the story. The same is true for the term "angutkoq" that roughly translates to "shaman" but definitely has many local cultural connotations to it. Some of terms were not readily translated into English, and were so culturally embedded that the use of the rough English translation would miss the mark and diminish the concept. A prime example would be "atka", to refer to the part of the soul that lies within one's name. However, having a wolf be referred to as an "ameguq" or using "ninaq" for "sullen, sulky" did not add anything as far as I am concerned.

So, is this a good book? If you like cross-cultural romances, and you are comfortable with a slow pace and a high level of detail, this book might be right up your alley. I believe that this book was a labor of love for Lesley Thomas, and that she put a huge amount of time, effort, information, and, yes, a bit of her soul, into this book. But, for the average reader, some of that will go unappreciated. It was not the book for me. I would have enjoyed it more if more of the focus had been on Kayuqtuq's quest to become a shaman, and less on the romance. I am generally a patient reader, and I have read, and enjoyed several huge books that were very slow-paced. This one really tested me, though.

The sexual encounters between Leif and Kayuqtuq are described pretty graphically at times. This is definitely a book for adults. "
~ Written on 2008-02-03

"Lesley Thomas has done what would seem to be the impossible -- taken us deep inside the Inupiat world, in the voice and mind of an extraordinary young woman with still more extraordinary powers. I know of no book like this. "Smilla's Sense of Snow" is a distant second. But two movies come to mind: "Fast Runner," and "Dersu Uzala." If you love either of these movies, you'll be stunned by the depth and scope of this novel and the unique and unmistakably true voice of its heroine. And if you've never seen them, read "Flight of the Goose" first!
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~ Written on 2007-12-15

"That FLIGHT OF THE GOOSE is a first novel by Lesley Thomas is the first hurdle the reader must overcome, so rich in detail, research, and technical finesse are the over four hundred pages of this fascinating book. What does become obvious with even the first few pages is the fact that here is a writer who can address significant world environment issues while building love stories - between a remarkably real Inupiat girl and a Swedish scientist, between the world of the spirit and the realm of the universe, and between the mysteries of past traditions with those beings longing to preserve the enormous habitat that is transforming before our grieving eyes - stories that intermingle to create a total experience that simply refuses to end with the closing of the final cover.

Thomas opens her book with a Prologue and with words like the following the reader is assured the presence of an enriching encounter: 'Let me tell what happened, and don't ask at the end what the message is. Whatever is already in us at birth, we find again in stories. We see it in the face of the moon, in the face of our lover, in our own death, in the flight of the goose.' From this point she unravels the Norn's threadball of time relating the changes that are taking place in Alaska in 1971, mixing the daily arduous charges of living with distant echoes of world events that are reshaping the life of our main character (Gretchen/Kayuqtuq). Thomas builds a blindingly realistic love story between the native, orphaned, shamanistic Kayuqtuq with ornithologist, peace advocate Leif Trygvesen and in creating a fully rounded and metaphorically meaningful relationship Thomas resorts to sharing the story from the vantage of both of these unique souls. From this launching point we learn about Eskimo traits and foods and history and manner of survival in a culture that is being eroded by technologic 'civilization', a series of sidebar stories that Thomas always manages to remain centered and focused while expanding the scope of her immensely interesting and important story.

FLIGHT OF THE GOOSE is a novel so rich that deserves to be in the library of everyone who values fine storytelling while simultaneously respecting the threats and conditions of change that are only now being brought to our attention by the environmentalists. To manage to accomplish this service to mankind in as fine a book as this establishes Lesley Thomas as an important author. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, December 07"
~ Written on 2007-12-05