Flights: A NovelA thirteen-year-old hatches a plan of escape, solace, and utter independence through a dream of flight that’s both literal and figurative in this engrossing novel by National Book Award finalist Jim Shepard As beset by the world as any thirteen-year-old—and maybe a little more so—Biddy Siebert does his best to negotiate both the intimacies and isolations of his world and his own maddening and slightly comical idiosyncrasies. His ferocious younger sister hates everyone, including him; his sprawling Italian family, when it comes to emotional matters, has the touch of a blacksmith; and his Catholic school education provides a ready framework against which he can measure himself as continually falling short of the ideal. As his grades slip and his family begins to come apart, Biddy searches for a focus and finds one during a trip in a family friend’s private plane: To rise above his troubles, he’s going to have to learn to fly. Biddy resolves to steal the plane, having taught himself as a pilot through manuals and observation, and as he moves through the progressions of his plan, he slowly develops the confidence and independence he’s going to need later in life. In this compassionate and honest portrait of the challenges, missteps, and small successes of adolescence, Biddy is an unforgettable character whose problems might seem common but whose solutions are often extraordinary. |
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airport asked ball Baltimore Oriole beach Ben Oglivie Biddy looked Biddy sat Biddy's father blue Bridgeport called Carver Cessna chair Christmas Cindy dark DeCinces dice door Doug DeCinces driveway East Hampton Airport edge eyes face finger Franco Harris front garage Ginnie going gonna grass hair hand Hardy Kruger JIM SHEPARD kitchen knew Kristi Lady of Peace Laura legs light Lirianos Louis Mario Lanza Mickey mother moved NATIONAL BOOK AWARD nodded noise nose okay opened Orioles pants parents picked plane play pulled Rich Dauer Ronnie runway Sarah Alice seat seemed shoulder shrugged silence Simon singing Sister Theresa sitting slipped smiled snow someone sound stairs stay stood stopped Stupid swung talk Teddy tell things Three Rivers Stadium took tree trying turned voice waited watched What's whispered window Yankee Stadium Zulu