Review of FLIGHT, a novel in verse by Sandy Whiting
As many of you know, I am partial to novels-in-verse and realistic fiction
that address mental or physical health issues. A friend recently
recommended Sandy Whiting’s verse novel, Flight, that piqued my interest on
both accounts.
On the morning of her thirteenth birthday, Cassie Fowler’s world was close
to perfection. The delicious aroma of chocolate pancakes drew her
downstairs where her close-knit and adoring family waited in eagerness for
her to choose the day’s activities. Who would guess that two years later
the picture-perfect scene would be shattered by her father’s death from
cancer, her mother’s subsequent addiction, and the strained relationships
that developed between Cassie and her siblings as each struggled with the
unraveling family.
Now fifteen, Cassie seethes with resentment over the substitute-mother role
she has had to assume as her own mother fights a losing battle with
addiction.
I was being pulled under, too, only
no one was trying to save me.
Courtney, Cassie’s younger sister and once best friend, has lost most of
her friends because they were not able to deal with her grief. Her younger
brother, Jeremy, has found refuge in a new obsession of digital gaming that
creates a convenient distance from all things family.
Through realistic and often lyrical free verse, Whiting reveals Cassie’s
struggle to maintain a semblance of normalcy with coping mechanisms that
include keeping her mother’s problems a secret, questioning whether she
wants to call her “Mom” at all, and tuning out at school. When Mr. Johnson,
the science teacher, launches a unit on butterflies and the process of
metamorphosis, Cassie begins to listen. The class becomes her refuge,
especially on the morning when her mother abruptly announces she is leaving
for an undisclosed place and indefinite amount of time for addiction
recovery.
Neither Cassie nor her siblings knew much about their next-door neighbor,
Mrs. Lee, before they learned she would be their caregiver during their
mother’s absence. It isn’t long before this wise and gentle widow begins to
melt away the bitterness and anger that Cassie has harbored for many
months. Courtney and Jeremy pick up the positive vibes as well. Cassie
returns to calling her brother “Jerm.”
We both giggle. A forgotten, foreign sound,
and in this moment – the most beautiful
sound I’ve ever heard.
Mrs. Lee lays the groundwork for the healing that must take place when
their mother returns home. She encourages Cassie to talk out her feelings,
write down her thoughts, and together the temporary family of four plants a
memory garden. Whiting does a good job of portraying the inevitable
mistrust and anger that Cassie experiences when her mother does return
home, and the realistic questions she has about her mother’s rehab
treatment and the expectations going forward.
Cassie weathered very difficult circumstances in her early teen years. The
free verse format was an effective tool to allow the reader into her head
and heart with ease and empathy. Whiting addressed the issues of early
parental death and addiction with skill and sensitivity. Young readers who
have been through or are going through similar circumstances will easily
relate to Cassie’s struggles and find hope in what she learned by studying
butterflies.
I’ve been in my very own chrysalis
for two years, ever since that fateful
day we received Dad’s diagnosis. But maybe,
just maybe, I’m closer to breaking free.
Surprisingly, I think I’m actually excited for
who might emerge.
Books like “Flight” remind us how important good mental health is and how
the stability of a family can be impacted when one member is suffering.
CHARLOTTE CLUBHOUSE is one organization that works to help stabilize
persons with mental health issues. Click here to find out more about
their vital work and how you can help restore lives that have been
interrupted by mental illness.
Thank you for dropping in.
Until next time,
Linda
“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.”
― Henry David Thoreau.
