- Audio Cassette
- Publisher: Harper; Unabridged edition (Nov 13 2003)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0060578963
- ISBN-13: 978-0060578961
- Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 9.8 x 6.7 cm
- Shipping Weight: 649 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
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Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#1,046,490 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #90 in Books > Audiobooks > Mystery & Thrillers > Mystery
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
To create a colourfully realised narrative seen through only youthful eyes is not an easy task, as the glut of badly written novels in this vein attests. Fortunately, some writers possess the skill in no uncertain terms. Ann-Marie MacDonald is such a writer, and The Way the Crow Flies is an arresting contribution to the genre. Every word is at the service of the narrative trajectory, and MacDonald never loses sight of her primary aim: to present to the reader all the pain, splendour and humour of the human condition.
The McCarthy family has thrived after the Second World War. When the family is posted to a secluded Canadian Air Force base, a new world opens for eight-year-old Madeleine, who is intoxicated by the sights around her. Her world, she thinks, is perfect: an exquisite mother and a dashing father who is a wing commander. But this is the early 1960s, and the cold war is in place. Madeleine doesn't know that her father is involved in a world of secrets, and when a savage killing in the region begins to affect the family, cracks begin to appear in Madeleine's perfect world. Twenty years pass, and Madeleine's life is still affected by the search for the truth and a killer.
Weighing in at some 700-odd pages, The Way the Crow Flies reads quite as compellingly as a much shorter novel, and the earlier sections of the book are magically rendered, with Madeleine an affectingly drawn character. But MacDonald's story extends beyond this era; the latter part of the book, as her heroine grows older, is quite as assiduously detailed as the earlier sections. The author's subjects are commitment and betrayal, and these themes are realised in the context of a trenchant and distinctive narrative. MacDonald's earlier Fall on Your Knees achieved some acclaim, but this one is likely to bring her many new readers. --Barry Forshaw --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Publishers Weekly
A little girl's body, lying in a field, is the first image in this absorbing, psychologically rich second novel by the Canadian author of the bestselling Fall on Your Knees. Then the focus shifts to the appealing McCarthy family. It's 1962, and Jack, a career officer in the RCAF, has just been assigned to the Centralia air force base in Ontario. Jack's wife, Mimi, is a domestic goddess; their children, Mike, 12, and Madeleine, 8, are sweet, loving kids. This is an idyllically happy family, but its fate will be threatened by a secret mission Jack undertakes to watch over a defector from Soviet Russia, who will eventually be smuggled into the U. S. to work on the space program. Jack is an intensely moral, decent guy, so it takes him a while to realize that the man is a former Nazi who commanded slave labor in Peenemande, where the German rockets were built in an underground cave. Meanwhile, Madeleine is one of several fourth graders who are being molested by their teacher, and one of them winds up dead in that field. McDonald is an expert storyteller who can sustain interest even when the pace is slow, as it is initially, providing an intricate recreation of life on a military base in the 1960s. As the narrative darkens, however, it becomes a chronicle of innocence betrayed. The exquisite irony is that both Madeleine and her father, unbeknownst to each other, are keeping secrets involving the day of the murder. The subtheme is the cynical decision by the guardians of the U.S. space program to shelter Nazi war criminals in order to win the race with the Russians. The finale comes as a thunderclap, rearranging the reader's vision of everything that has gone before. It's a powerful story, delicately layered with complex secrets, told with a masterful command of narrative and a strong moral message.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Masterful writing of a solid tale,
By
This review is from: The Way the Crow Flies (Hardcover)
I'd put off reading this novel since it came out. Mostly because of the effect that 'Fall on Your Knees' had on me. (Which included handing out more than fifty copies to friends and family since its publication.) Fear must have been part of it, fear about how much better this one might be, might not be... 'Fall' was proof to me of how great writing could be. The author writing something better might have had me intimidated (yes, I'm a writer), and yet her writing something 'not better, not even as good as' might have disappointed me so much to have had a deleterious effect. Fortunately, neither possibility resulted.Ms MacDonald is an extremely talented writer. There is an assuredness in her writing, in how she executes what she does, that goes deep. For me, a novel (or a screenplay for that matter) has its author taking the reader by the hand, saying "I have a story for you. Walk with me while I tell it to you..." When this is done with confidence (and not just 'writerly ability, getting the vocabulary, the grammar, the construction right) the whole reading experience is taken up a level, approaching being transported. And yet she does not 'over-write'. She is not prone to 'purple prose'. She is as likely to throw out a juicy riff as she is to dig deep. Clearly a great observer of people, she understands the complexities of character and relays them with honesty and humour. Moreover, though every piece of writing is, at its core, an expression of the writer, 'Crow' is clean, unencumbered by 'at least to these eyes' literary earmarks. This novel has a lot going on. And yes, I'm not sure that it needed to be as expansive as it is. ("Couldn't you just take out a few notes?") When I began the final 150 or so pages, I confess I did mutter 'This better be good...' (In fairness, it was...and it wasn't.) I'll admit that a judicious amount of editing might have made it an even better experience to read than it was. There are a sizable number of cultural references 'no surprise here, as the story begins in 1962 and ends two decades-plus later' that do provide for some smiles for anyone the author's age, but at times, seemed to veer towards the indulgent...and yet...and yet Ms MacDonald does it with a very zippy, tangy flair, in a way that doesn't burden, doesn't weigh down the execution. (The sign of true talent is to make everything seem so effortless. This is what you get with her novels.) I'd forgotten how well Ms MacDonald does heartbreak. In this regard, she reminds me of a cook who is renowned for her pastry. She puts on a meal, the courses are providing enormous pleasure for the diners, and then all of a sudden she brings out a plate and you remember "Oh...that's right...she's a pastry genius, too..." I was caught off-guard when she 'brought out the (heartache) pastry'; my usual response was to close the book and consider where it was all going...and whether or not I was up to it. But again, she manages this without it becoming this set-piece of self-indulgence. This story has some quite-picante twists that reminded me of Ms MacDonald's craftsmanship, her authoritative ways as a writer...never mind her deft touch. By turns a travelogue of the times, an exploration of Canadiana, sexual, regional and familial identities, all wrapped around a very sobering incident, the novel is a fine tale, the sort you'd want to have a travelmate tell you on a cross-country ViaRail ride. My standard quote regarding 'Fall on Your Knees' has always been what I opined to a bookseller: "If you're a writer, this novel will either intimidate you so much as to never write another word, or so inspire you as to write as you've never written before." ''The Way the Crow Flies'? It doesn't have the same energy, the same dynamic, or even the same intent. So maybe it's unfair to expect as strident an opinion might result from its reading. But I will say this: Ann-Marie MacDonald is a gem, someone whose talent manages to reassure while still blowing away this writer, reminding him what can be accomplished if one stays true to one's own voice. I look forward to hearing Ms MacDonald's voice again and again and again.
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Way the Crow Flies (Hardcover)
This is simply one of the best books I have read in a very long time. The way in which MacDonald evokes the innocence of early 60's domestic life in Canada and then shatters that image is stunning. On one level, this is a mystery and another, it is an insightful examination of the destructive power of lies. A truly great read.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great!,
This review is from: The Way the Crow Flies (Paperback)
"The Way the Crow Flies" is one of the best books I have read this year-- I work (toil is more like it) in a bookstore, so I get to read a great many things-- mostly crap, to be honest. MacDonald's voice as a writer is so unique-- it is almost trance-inducing. She has a complete mastery of language and can take you right into the world of her characters, into their lives, into their minds. I found the story itself just as fascinating, the same way the books "Bark of the Dogwood" and "Glass Castle" are full of great characters and heartbreak. For anyone who has ever kept a secret (and who among us has not), no matter how huge or how tiny, this book is an intense reminder of the prices paid. I cried my eyes out at the end of the book--I don't want to give anything away about this story; read it and take from it what you can. My interaction with my own family will never be the same after this book.
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