T.D. Thompson,
Flight of the Wild Geese
Pemmican Publications, 2009.

Ages 14+

15-year-old Dave, the narrator of T. D. Thompson’s first novel, Flight of the Wild Geese, lives half a mile from the small town of White Plains in the Eastern foothills of the Canadian Rockies.  It’s a fairly closed community on the edge of a reserve. It’s very cold in winter - and winter is the chilling (in more ways than one) background to this story.

Dave has been brought up by his taciturn father since his mother left them when he was almost, but not quite, too young to remember her.  His father, an artist, obviously cares for his son but there are many things that remain unsaid, especially about Dave’s mother.  When a woman’s body is discovered in the ravine near the house one freezing November day, it sets in motion a series of events that should provide the catalyst for the words to flow and for details from the past to be explained – but it simply doesn’t happen and the results of this lack of communication are almost catastrophic.

Dad decides that the way to move forward is to head, with Dave, into the wilds.  Despite his objections, Dave’s friend Jamie and “the Aunts” decide to join them.  The Aunts, in fact, have the survival skills, learnt as children, that keep them all alive.  On the morning of departure, the Aunts bring along a young woman, Lisa, and her dog, much to Dad’s annoyance and Dave’s chagrin.  Weeks pass.  Dave is increasingly tormented by his desire for Lisa, and Dad’s failure to sit down and talk to his son becomes culpable.  Everyone apart from Dave knows why a relationship with Lisa is impossible – and even the reader will have guessed before it is made explicit. By that stage, events have spiralled towards a dramatic dénouement, which brings Dave closer to his mother and his First Nations heritage.

Dave’s perspective on events and his inner struggles make him a likeable character who will gain readers’ sympathy. Thompson’s skill as a storyteller comes through in his managing to provide the reader with a broader depiction of both events and character than Dave conveys in his actual narration.  Flight of the Wild Geese opens up all sorts of questions about the plausible results of attempting to search for meaning in both the past and present. It will appeal particularly to teenage young men who are on the brink of adulthood themselves.

Marjorie Coughlan
April 2010