Rating: 
Summary: This book struck a chord....
Review: I was captivated by this book. I too fell in love with Madeleine, even her adult self, as sudden as the transformation was. I identified with the military life of moving, the lack of sense of home, it made me take her to my heart even more. I was appalled at the crime and who committed it, the chapter of discovery of the culprit was hard to read, for the victim's sake. It did help to know French, for all the little phrases interspersed. I loved it more for the length, it made it wonderful to really sink into it. Highly recommended if you have the time, I had trouble putting it down long enough to get dinner on the table.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book I've Read In a Long Time
Review: I was not as enthusiastic with "Fall On Your Knees" by the same author as other reviewers, but The Way the Crow Flies is one of the best books I've read in a long time. I was caught up on page one and my interest never lagged. I remember the 1960s but had forgotten how different society was, and I was a military (USAF) wife for 10 years and could certainly relate to base (station) living. Most of the story is seen through the eyes of 8-year old Madeline McCarthy, later an adult, and I'd love to know how the rest of her life is going.
I have recommended this book to all I know, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves being caught up in a wonderful story.
Rating:
Summary: Couldn't put it down
Review: In less than 10 days, I absorbed this 800-page book. Ms. MacDonald has a wonderful way of spinning 3 separate plots and having them intertwine and come together flawlessly at the end. When writers try to develop more than one plot, most just "slap" the ending together; her book flowed. I read this book until my eyes hurt and I couldn't read any more. The characters were beautifully developed; the setting in the 60's took me pleasantly back; and her treatment of a young girl's sexual abuse was tactful and not overblown. My only criticism is I didn't like the French phrases interspersed throughout the book. I never understood what they were saying, and I thought it was rude of her to insert a foreign language. Other than that, the book is wonderful.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful book
Review: It is one of those books that is so engrossing that your own world slips away while you devote every minute you can spare to experiencing the drama unfolding within it. It is a very full story which succeeds in slowly building a picture of a family, the individuals within it, the evolution of their relationships to each other, the impact of the time they live in and the unforseeable impact of random events, choices and secrets. It is far more than a novel of suspense but it begins innocently and slowly but surely grows in intensity until the suspense feels unbearable. Nothing in it is rushed to a conclusion. There are surprises and there is ever deepening understanding. Reviews, particularly those which try to summarize the characters and events, can't convey the quality and atmosphere of this book. I almost never read a book that I feel strongly enough to want to review, but this is one of the best books I've read in a long time and I highly reccomend it.
Rating: 
Summary: 4 and a 1/2 stars!!!!
Review: Once again MacDonald has succeeded in amazing me. The only reason this book does not recieve 5 stars is because the first 100 pages were somewhat dry. Don't get me wrong! Once the reader makes it past those first 100 pages he/she is richly rewarded with an epic tale about a seemingly happy family that slowly but dramatically unravels before his/her eyes.
While the beginning may appear somewhat sparse in the entertainment department, MacDonald is doing something very important for the rest of the novel. She takes her good old fashioned time letting the reader truly and fully get to know all of the characters before she dives in and destroys the readers hopes for ordinary happy-go-lucky occurrences. As in Fall On Your Knees, the more you read, the more shocked you become. No author since Wally Lamb (in my opinion) can present a picture of such dysfunctional horror while still making it poignant and hilarious. You know the old saying..."I laughed, I cried..." -that is what this book is all about.
Madeleine McCarthy is the main character who is easily the girl next door, despite all of her problems. The book is told through her eyes and unravels thirty years of trials and tribulations...being raised as an air force brat...daddy's little girl...can't get along with her mother...appalling child abuse...and the story goes on (I've only touched the tip of the iceberg).
Another pleasing facet of this novel is that it is a mystery up until the end which makes it almost interactive. Like with a good movie, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat, holding your breath, sure you finally know the truth about what's going on when BAM!!! you realize you hadn't the slightest clue.
I won't lie. This book, like Fall On Your Knees, is sometimes disturbing but in such a delectable way...a guilty pleasure if you will. Just when things start to get rough, MacDonald throws in some humor.
In a nut shell, if you want to read an emotionally draining novel that will make you laugh, swear, push down a lump in your throat, keep you up half the night turning the pages and dying for the moment when you can tell everyone you know about it...THIS IS THE ONE! This book was worth every penny of the $28 I paid for it, and then some. Unfortunately, now I get to sit around for another year or so waiting and hoping for her next novel to hit the shelves.
Rating:
Summary: The Way The Crow Flies
Review: The Way The Crow Flies captivated my interest while on spring break. As usual, books read during vacation remain favorites. I loved this novel, every lengthy inch of it.
Ann-Marie MacDonald gifts us with an incredible story which is both hard to put down and difficult to pick up. The voice of Madeleine spouting slogans and silly remembrances was so real to me, including all her commercial malapropisms. The viewpoint of this child is incredible. So often, a child narrator is too sophisticated for her age. Not so, here. I do not think there was a single wasted word from her POV, although some readers might want to "get on with it". I loved her very real child's-eye notes and take on the world, through her eyes.
Child molestation and innocence, wonderful narration and character development, a good marriage, political upheavals involving Cold War criminals and the Space Race, all culminate to deliver a pretty fine package. Secrets and lies by sin of omission propel this story. The crux of the novel. So does a pretty level headed look into a typical Air Force Military Base in Ontario, Canada in the sixties. This novel also involves a murder mystery, revealed exquisitely, over time. The reader is in the dark, making assumptions.
What I enjoyed the most was the 150+ page conclusion in a 700+ page book. Not told in as much detail, it was reaffirming and reassuring never-the-less. So often, a novel drifts away. The Way The Crow Flies, while not especially tidy, delivers a resolution the likes of which I've not seen in a while, masterfully. The reader may breathe more easily upon completion. MacDonald delivers one fine story from beginning to end.Roe
Rating:
Summary: Storytelling at its best
Review: This is such a confident, bold book, that it's hard to believe that Ann-Marie MacDonald has written just one other novel. Wonderfully written and beautifully realized, it is captivating from start to finish. It is the early 1960s, and Madeleine McCarthy's Canadian Air Force family is moving back to a base in Ontario after being posted in Germany. MacDonald lovingly paints a rich portrait of the rituals and traditions of families who move every three years--the neighbors, the welcome barbeques, the women who automatically greet new arrivals with enough food to see the new family through the unpacking stage, the kids who relish the anticipation of finding a new best friend. MacDonald takes time setting this all up. It is so friendly, so happy, that something must be wrong, but what? Pay attention, because she is planting little mines all over the place, and they will explode. Madeline's loving French-Canadian mother, her adored dad, her kind older brother, are created with such love that they break your heart. The early sixties are a character in themselves, a time when WWII was a fresh memory and the cold war was a fact of life. Scientists were being smuggled out of the East to spill their secrets to the West. We talk about the Bay of Pigs in an abstract fashion today, forgetting how terrifying it was at the time and how it effected the psyches of everyone who lived through it. "The Way the Crow Flies" is certainly one of my favorite books so far this year. It hiccups once the life of the adult Madeleine takes stage, but does that take away from the affect of this novel? No. Ann-Marie McDonald is a sweet, tough writer. This book is hard to put down, and hard to forget.
Rating: 
Summary: It could not pull me in, so I pulled out!!!
Review: When I picked this book up at Target it really looked promising (who knows it might be a great book). As always, before I embark on a lengthy book, I check out the reviews on Amazon. Usually I take the good with the bad. I was prepared to give this book a chance but after the first 100 pages, I was still asking myself "what is this book about". Words used to describe the book was anger, pain, thriller, mystery, espionage, etc... I am sorry but if after the first couple of chapters a book does not pull me in, then I pull out. This might be a great book, I am not saying that it is not, all I am saying is that it gets off to a very SLOW start. I would also have to agree with some of the reader's comments, the German, French or whatever language the author dispersed throughout the book did nothing to enhance the book, it only served to further annoy me. Again, this is my opinion and does not reflect on the book as a whole, since I was not able to move past page 102.
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