the way the crow flies

the way the crow flies, Ann-Marie MacDonald
**

This novel is different from what I expected from the book jacket description.  Most notably because the majority of the book takes place in the main character’s childhood.  It is not as much an adult quest for truth as a revelation of the whole truth.  In looking back, what was forgotten or overlooked by Madeleine and those around her and what wasn’t, becomes the poignancy of this book.

I liked this novel because it dealt with being a military family.  Growing up as an army brat, I related to much of the main characters’ lives.  I also enjoyed the brutal honesty that is laid out for the reader to see, yet the characters just stumble around it.

the way the crow flies is not a lovely book or a happy one.  But it is sensitively written,  and Ann-Marie MacDonald gives the most ordinary cleaning rag rich color with her words.  This novel is definitely worth reading.  It may just make you look at your personal life events differently.