Lesley Thomas Reviews

Added March 13, 2007

Flight of the Goose

A Story of the Far North

Author: Lesley Thomas
Publisher: Far Eastern Press
Available At: Bookstores everywhere
Publishing Date: February 2005
Genre: Fiction: Historical
Format: Trade paper
Price: $19.95
ISBN-10: 0-9678842-1-7
ISBN-13: 9780967884219
Author Email/Website: www.lesleythomas.alaskawriters.com/
Reviewer: Joyce Handzo
Rating: 9 Gargoyles

Flight of the Goose soars beyond the physical realm to touch the spiritual with an aching caress. Eloquent writing, vivid descriptions and a plot pulsing with passion cause these pages to breathlessly whisper the story.

Set in an Inupiat Eskimo village in Northwest coastal Alaska, the author skillfully blends an ecological theme with the villagers' relationship issues. When a biologist comes to this region to study an endangered species of goose, his life becomes intertwined with the land, the culture and the people. As his eyes scan the skies for the birds, his inner self gradually opens to reveal a spiritual dimension. When the 'birdman' joins his body and soul to a native woman, his understanding enters a realm that is as real, yet as elusive, as the goose he seeks.

The persistent, but patient, joining of the old world ways of this Eskimo village with the impotent ingenuity of the present age, sharpens the focus of this novel and allows its message to fully penetrate the mind. When the biologist, Leif Trygvesen, brings the ideology of a draft dodger to the hunting grounds of this community, the ancient themes mix with the modern in a penetrating plot. The spirit world, as viewed through the eyes of the native woman, blurs the edges of time and distance, melding Leif's existence with an ageless past.

As a novel, the characters and the plot are genuine; as a story, these words open up the mind to a limitless horizon. Love and passion dance among the frigid whiteness in an urgent embrace. Death enters a dimension released from rational thought, as the shaman steps among the spirits with increasing insight and courage. The final moments of the book pierce the heart with a dagger of desire and despair.

Flight of the Goose captures the reader with the confidence of a hunter and the pathos of the prey.

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