The Way the Crow Flies

The Way the Crow Flies is the second novel by the Canadian writer and author Ann-Marie MacDonald.[1] It was first published by Knopf Canada in 2003. The story revolves around a fictionalized version of the death of Lynne Harper, and the subsequent murder trial of Steven Truscott. The novel is set in the early 1960s predominately at the Royal Canadian Air Force Station Centralia located in a small town near London, Ontario. In the story, the character Ricky Froelich, a Métis foster child, is the fictionalized version of Steven Truscott.

First edition

Reception

The Way the Crow Flies was nominated for the 2003 Scotiabank Giller Prize and for the 2004 Lambda Literary Awards.

Overall, the book received mostly positive reviews. Aida Edemariam for The Guardian noted that, "the novel is a thriller, too, as tightly wrought and formal as a Hitchcock storyboard, all the way to the sudden vertiginous surprise at the end."[2] Though, Edemariam mentions, "MacDonald can be heavy-handed with the historical context, especially in the clunky first chapter."[2] However, Edemariam concludes that, "The Way the Crow Flies is, in the end, moving and compulsively readable."[2] Writing for the Canadian magazine, Quill & Quire, Bronwyn Drainie argues that "for the most part, this is an engrossing and ingeniously plotted portrait of a 'perfect' 1960s Canadian family coming to terms with all its imperfections".[3] Though, Drainie continues by noting that, "the first three-quarters of The Way the Crow Flies are solid and captivating, the final quarter [is] a somewhat disappointing and navel-gazing denouement".[3]

References
  1. "The Way the Crow Flies". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved August 10, 2020.
  2. Edemariam, Aida (2003-10-10). "Review: The Way the Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-08-10.
  3. "The Way the Crow Flies". Quill and Quire. 2004-02-22. Retrieved 2020-08-10.


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