The Way the Crow Flies: A Novel (P.S.)

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Author(s):

Ann-marie Macdonald

Label: Harper Perennial
Publisher(s):

Harper Perennial

Studio: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Binding: Paperback
List Price: $14.95
Our Price: $10.17
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

The optimism of the early sixties, infused with the excitement of the space race and the menace of the Cold War, is filtered through the rich imagination of high-spirited, eight-year-old Madeleine, who welcomes her family's posting to a quiet Air Force base near the Canadian border. Secure in the love of her beautiful mother, she is unaware that her father, Jack, is caught up in a web of secrets. When a very local murder intersects with global forces, Jack must decide where his loyalties lie, and Madeleine will be forced to learn a lesson about the ambiguity ofhuman morality -- one she will only begin to understand when she carries herquest for the truth, and the killer, into adulthood twenty years later.

Amazon.com Review

The Way the Crow Flies, Ann-Marie MacDonald's follow-up novel to her bestselling debut (and Oprah Book Club pick), Fall on Your Knees, opens in 1962 when the McCarthy family moves from Germany to their new home on a Canadian air force base near London, Ontario. Madeleine, eight and already a blossoming comic, is particularly close with her father, Jack, an air force officer. Her loving Acadian mother, Mimi, and older brother Mike round out this family, whose simple goodness reflects the glow of an era that seemed like paradise. But all that is about to change. The Cuban Missile Crisis is looming, and Jack, loyal and gullible, suddenly has an important task to carry out that involves a scientist--a former Nazi--in Canada.

While Jack scrambles to keep his activities hidden from his wife, Madeleine too is learning to keep secrets (about a teacher at school). The Way the Crow Flies is all about the fertility of lies, how one breeds another and another. Although the writing flows with a strong current, the profusion of pop references, especially ad slogans, grows tiresome. The author can, however, capture a lovely image in few words: "The afternoon intensifies. August is the true light of summer" and "yes, the earth is a woman, and her favorite food is corn." At times the story is marvelously compelling, as the mystery of a horrific murder in the fields near the base is unravelled. When events lead to a trial and its outcome, the story peaks, in a conclusion with no easy answers. The last third of the book takes place, for the most part, 20 years later. Here the novel meanders somewhat, losing its ability to captivate with the same intensity. The reader longs to return to the earlier world, which MacDonald has captured in vital detail. --Mark Frutkin, Amazon.ca

Customer Reviews

ONLY FOR THE SNOWED IN

I read many a novel, but this one takes the cake. I do not recommend it, nor do I think I will finish it! However, being the avid ready I am I plan to complete it before the end of Winter 2009.

The Way the Crow Flies is the way of great novels.

This is a fantastic, if lengthy, novel. Set on an air force base in Canada in the 1960s, it tells the tale of the McCarthy family and how they deal with secrets and lies in the lives of the father (a dupe during the Cuban Missile Crisis) and the daughter, Madeleine, who keeps an important secret about her teacher. Also winding throughout the novel is a horrific murder which takes place in the cornfield not far from the McCarthy home--a murder which shocks the community and which will have you reeling from the final impact. Masterfully told, The Way the Crow Flies is a great read for when you have a LOT of time to devote to it.

Intense

This is an intense and well crafted story about a murder that takes place on a Canadian Air Force base during the Cold War. It's a fast paced book that was impossible to put down. The historical references are excellent and helped to draw the reader into the story. My only complaint is that the last part of the book about Madeleine as an adult didn't move as quickly. Plus, the Bugs Bunny quotes and stand up comedy got a little annoying. But over all this is an excellent read.

Like Wading Through A Swimming Pool of Paste

This novel LOOKS good. The cover, paper, font, history are all there! However, trying to read this jumbled collection of intentionally clippy sentences, torrential downpours of pop references and flat characters that never seem to go anywhere but laterally is quite difficult, indeed.

This book is good for you if you don't like action, development, flow, and coherency. However, if you're into taking an 8 paragraph synopsis in the back of the book and stretching it out by hundreds of pages, then this is the book for you.

I had to force myself to read it and couldn't make it past the halfway point. MacDonald seems like like the wall of words approach and it can work, sometimes, but this book is just too much to chew on; literary paste to swim through to an unclear and wholly unsatisfying end* in light of the effort it takes to get to it.

*I skipped to the last section.

One of the best books I've read in a long time!

This is a captivating book that I could not put down despite it's length. It is beautifully written and the relationship between the young girl narrator and her father and the whole adult world is so true. It is beautiful and frightening at the same time. This is great storytelling on so many levels. I will read it again.

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