This is my third book from the Man Booker International prize shortlist and might just be my new favourite book of the year so far. Whether this is a novel is debatable. It is more of an uncategorisable mixture of 116 short pieces varying in length from a single sentence to over 30 pages. On the whole the longer pieces are short stories and the shorter ones thoughts, observations and quirky pieces of science or history. Tokarczuk has a questing curiosity which is equally at home discussing travel, exploration, the history of anatomy and the science (and ethics) of preservation techniques such as plastination. The thematic logic is sometimes opaque but becomes clearer as the book proceeds. Like short stories, the component chapters are best read in a single sitting, and I would have liked a table of contents to make it easier to find suitable break points. There are also 12 rather intriguing historical maps scattered among the text and their relevance is a little unclear. One of the most striking pieces appears near the end. It treats the uncontrollable spread of plastics in the modern world as a study in evolution - the bag becomes an ultra successful organism which spreads by anemophily (wind pollination). This is a unique, fascinating and thought-provoking book. Highly recommended

When I say "best" I am not using it as a synonym for favourite, nor is that my opinion. It's a simple statement of fact; Flights was the most intelligent, human, emotive book I read last year. If there is a negative, it is that any book I read that is attempting to be in any way clever finds itself being compared to Flights...and unfortunately falling short. Ben - L1 Bookseller

‘Flights’ by Olga Tokarczuk is the 2018 International Man Booker prize winner. I normally don’t hold much stock in books that have won large prizes, prizes just like the International Man Booker. However, ‘Flights’ was one of those books that changes your perception of what a work of fiction can be. There are no protagonists, there is no through-line plot, there is only the themes of place, travel and everything in between. There are no real chapters either, they could more adequately described as character breaks. A character break could be one paragraph or it could be fifty pages. Each new character break is loosely connected to the last in theme. It could be the theme of place, of time, of emotion or thought. ‘Flights’ challenges you to think about the world we live in not just as a series of singular and separate storylines for unique characters, but as a mesh of loose and confusing conversations that are constantly starting and ending over one another. Some way into the book you begin to realise you are like a spider at the heart of a web. The two most distant elements of the plot are inextricably linked to one another. There are slender threads that have been weaved through each other to create a larger whole. There’s a beautiful passage towards the end of the book which centres around the human body, one of the major themes of the book. In the passage you are witness to a plastinated body that has been reduced down to a seemingly infinite web of blood vessels. Plastination is the process of replacing the water and fat with certain plastics, yielding specimens that can be touched, do not smell or decay. The human body appears as a ghost in physical form, frozen in time, in a singular moment. That image of humanity reduced down to the blood in your veins sums up ‘Flights’. This book was a powerful and evocative attempt at pinning down what makes humanity human.

Who said whe are meant to live life in a single place, rooted to a certain land? And what are we missing? Flights is a unique book, to the point that every book and travel lover should own a copy even if there is no current intention to read it! It is built up in fragments ( chaos and disorder, just like the life of a nomad), yet the brilliance of Tokarczuk lies in avoiding the risk of being loose! Rather she builds up a book that keeps you turning the pages despite the fact that sometimes you don’t know where you are heading! Tokarczuk states that we have to live life in constant motion (inspired by Ode river); not just physically rather a motion of ideas and feelings! Any stagnation is a risk of destruction ( a man unable to get over a certain idea goes mad at the end!) Flights is also a journey to find the true essence of a human being both anatomically and spiritually! Between short chapters of observations on travels ( in airports, train stations, boat and unique ideas, there are a few long stories that are beautifully told! Mixing both reality and fiction, Olga Tokarczuk sweeps us to different parts of the world; a doctor’s obsession with the female body and his quest to eternally preserve it, the discovery of Achilles tendon by Verheyen and the obsession with the flawed human parts and fetuses by Ruysch who was the first to invent a preservative fluid ( is it ethical?). The life we live are as mysterious as those bodies we inhabit and the secrets of both are intertwined together. It also dissects human nature in tales where a woman leaves her crippled son and lives freely, a woman commiting an act of mercy killing and a young woman married to an old man posing questions of aging and manhood! It is interesting the some of these stories are told by the women who history failed to immortalize such as when Chopin’s sister narrates the journey of her brother’s heart to his homeland ( for what is home? Is it the place where we are born and we complete the circle by dying there?) and a daughter writing to a king demanding a proper burial of her father who was preserved in a curiosity cabinet! Through the discovery of human anatomy she poses the question if the body is as important as the soul? Or are our bodies just artistically built suitcases for the brief journey on Earth? Olga ( and the translator Croft) also puts us under her spell in how she chooses her words and builds her her sentences; the lyrical prose she uses describing a new species discovered on Earth ( plastic bags), describing how a stroke swept its control over a man’s brain, how every flight is a promise of something new and human’s obsession with preserving moments ( and body parts)! She also makes us feel powerless infront of Mother’s nature architectural power! In a chapter titled “ The Tongue is the Strongest Muscle”, she discusses how native english speakers have destroyed their uniquness by having a language spoken by all the planet ( the importance of language and how humans keep on searching for something that distingushes them from fellow humans). Olga leaves us at the end with a group of travellers whose journey end with a white wall and questions us: where does our journey end? Flights was an unforgettable journey into the human body and mind. It is one of the books that I will always keep with me no matter where life takes me!

A slow and deliberate read, but absolutely packed with wisdom and meaning. Many of the stories have stuck with me, and I am constantly going to back to reread them and inevitably discover more. My favourite book!