RaveThe Washington Post...ambitious and complex ... Though some of the narrator’s observations on traveling are interesting, the real pleasures of Flights are in the digressions and stories she intersperses throughout. Operating with enviable confidence, Tokarczuk shifts effortlessly within the space of four pages from an art museum to a commentary on the social invisibility of middle-aged women ... Readers looking for these stories to reach a neat conclusion may be disappointed. Tokarczuk shows little interest in tying off loose ends or explaining how the pieces fit together. The disconnectedness is part of the point ... I’m afraid that all this talk of existential philosophy may give a false sense of the novel’s tone. It moves briskly, buoyed by a sense of humor that is sometimes dark but often joyful ... Hers is an optimistic, generous voice that just happens to have some morbid fascinations. The act of discovery enlivens her, as well as the text.
