I would give this book an extra star if I could.

This is a huge book with tiny font and it took me days to read it and I’m so glad I did. So much going on. An excellent book.

Mieletön elämys, parhaita lukemiani koskaan! Uskomattomalla herkkyydellä kuvattua viattomuutta ja viattomuuden päättymistä, kaunista, suorastaan elokuvamaista ajankuvaa ja taidokasta dramaan rakentamista.

Kirja on tyyliltään hyvin hidastempoinen ja kuvailevakin, mikä ei normaalisti sovi omalle hätäiselle luonteelleni lainkaan. Tämä oli kuitenkin niin taitavaa kerrontaa, että rakastin joka riviä. Henkilöissä on särmää ja sävyjä, ja lapsen tapa katsoa ympäristöön on tavoitettu ilman liiallista pumpulia.

just me and my thing for traumatized queer comedians

I grew up living in the PMQs so could relate to a lot of that. I laughed when she mentioned about her father not liking it when they changed the uniforms. My father was also air force and didn't like that change and I remember him complaining about it. The story was good and the out come unexpected. However, I found it a little too long and therefore, 3 stars instead of 4. I listened to the audiobook which the author read.

n  “Ah … what’s up doc?”n

There is simply so much to unpack in THE WAY THE CROW FLIES, that it’s all but impossible to imagine the author actually managed to weave it into a credible novel that made sense – a Canadian Air Force teaching base; the Bay of Pigs and the Cuban missile crisis; MI6, British espionage and control of the defection of a Soviet scientist through Canada to NASA; the hot and heavy final stages of the space race between the USA and the USSR; a Jewish survivor from an underground Nazi labour camp; sexual assault, pedophilia, child rape and ultimately murder; the mistreatment of children at aboriginal residential schools; the clash between Parisian, Québécois and Métis variations of French; cerebral palsy; Canadian volunteers to the American armed forces who served in Vietnam; homophobia, homosexuality, bisexuality and lesbianism; the production of ad lib and staged stand-up comedy; military families and children; Diefenbaker’s political mishandling of Canada’s alliance with the US during their stand-off against Khruschev; the cuteness, friendship, brattiness, aloofness, and animosity arising between young girls in school and at play; the grooming tactics of a sexual predator; a murder investigation, a gripping trial and a life sentence based on a wrongful conviction (riffing on the real life Ontario story of Stephen Truscott’s murder trial); and more.

More power to Ann-Marie MacDonald. Although THE WAY THE CROW FLIES comes perilously close to flying off the rails on a couple of occasions, most notably during the collapse of the main protagonist’s lesbian relationship and her ultimate coming to grips with the understanding that her friend had been wrongfully convicted, the story ultimately holds together and closes with a tense and surprising conclusion. Whether or not that conclusion is satisfactory is a decision that will have to be left to individual readers.

Canadian readers who are old enough to have lived through the events in MacDonald’s tale will be thrilled to see that her novel is positively awash in cultural references – song lyrics, cartoon quotes, current events, place names and location descriptions, references to television shows and movies. What an experience to be transported back in time so completely by weird and wonderful memories being hauled to the surface that my own life had buried so deep for so long!

Definitely recommended.

Paul Weiss

This book is so so amazing. I decided to rate it 5 stars, but it is actually about 4.5.The only reason that it gets only 4.5 stars is because it is a bit too long and is a slow starter. Other then that it is perfect and would get a perfect score, true 5 stars. The writing style is enchanting, Ann-Marie MacDonald is an outstanding story teller. The characters are portrayed in the most amazing way that I could hope for. The book has a lot of suspense, painful moments, and is told in a very believable way. The plot is developing, and so the reader gets to uncover the horror behind the events page by page.

This is a story about Madeleine and her family. Her father Jake, her mother Mimi and her brother Mike. They live in a small town in Canada called Centralia, an Air Force base. We get to know other little girls, Elizabeth on the wheelchair, Marjorie and her sick mother, Grace and her issues, Colleen and her brother Nick. One of the topics in this book is the cold war, and there is another big black secret, that is happening in the four walls of the school.

You will find a German spy, a Jewish holocaust surviver, one very important teacher, and one little girl in the heart of the mystery. One year, full of events that not a single one of the participants will be able to forget, and that each and every one of them will be affected by for the rest of their lives.

The book ends when Madeleine is older, she is thirty two and finally understands some of what happened to them twenty plus years earlier. I would say more, but every word can be a spoiler.
4.5 stars rounded to 5. Planning on reading other books by this talented author.

The book centers on Madeline, a 9 year old living on a Canadian military base in the early 60's, whose classmate is murdered. A book about the power of secrets. And what happens when the truth is finally brought to light. Suspenseful. Gut-wrenching. And full of surprises, particularly when the murderer is finally revealed.

Truly My new favourite book !!

WOW. Just picked this off the shelf without much consideration and I was completely taken by surprise. Hard book to review as it was such a disturbing subject. I certainly recommend it, but definitely had to limit my reading at times to be able to digest what I was taking in. However, became so close to the main character that I did not want to let go.



Found some parts unneccessarily lengthy. Especially fed up with the road and street references that were continuously repeated.



I also found that the transition to the present was not as smooth. The rhythm of the language and character changed quite a lot from what we were acquainted to in the major part of the story.



Aside of its disturbing story, I was thrilled by the level of insight given to the time-period. MacDonald did her research thoroughly and it truly set the tone and atmosphere of the post war/cold war period. It threw me off some of the twists that the story took at the end.

Už několik minut přemýšlím, co napsat o knize Kam létají vrány a nedostává se mi slov. Ač měla kniha 900 stran, bylo mi líto, že končí. Ač jsem četla, co to šlo (i v metru přejela stanici), už kolem půlky knihy jsem zpomalovala, protože jsem nechtěla, aby skončila. A teď je to tu, mám ji za sebou a nevím, co napsat. Nesmírně mě oslovila a odkládala jsem ji se slzami na kraji a sevřeným hrdlem. Je to velký příběh o pochroumaných duších, vině i nevině, událostech, které poznamenaly všechny zúčastněné a některé dosti fatálně. Odehrává se v 60. letech na vojenské letecké základně, kdy je svět ovlivněn studenou válkou, hrozbou jaderné katastrofy a přitom v lidech stále ještě doznívají hrůzy světové války. Do vcelku obyčejných životů obyvatel základny kromě globálních problémů vstupuje vražda devítileté dívky. Autorka nepíše detektivku, ale drží čtenáře v napětí až do konce, kdy příběhy všech poskládá do stavebnice, kde všechny dílky zapadnou na svoje místo. A opět jako u její předchozí knihy Padněte na kolena jsem si říkala, že obdobná témata jsem už četla, ale i tak se knížka četla sama a nerada ji opouštím.

I finally made it through this book. With a multitude of issues going on it took me too long. However, it was a good read. I found it to be somewhat depressing. Hard to read at times. Well written but too lengthy for me. Too much unnecessary descriptions. I don't think I would read this author again. Sorry.