The Adventures of Flash Jackson

by William Kowalski

Book Overview

Haley Bombauer, aka Flash Jackson, confronts the summer of her seventeenth year with glorious anticipation. She envisions herself roaming the hillsides and forests on her beloved horse, venturing farther and farther away from her sleepy hometown and her overprotective mother.

But when Haley falls through the rotted roof of the barn, she is destined to spend the summer in a thigh-high cast, stuck at home with her mother, enduring visits from...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006093624X
• ISBN13: 9780060936242
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Awesome

This is one of my absolute favorite books. I love the spiritual imagery and symbolism, I love how he has effortlessly threaded together the spiritual and the mundane. It made me laugh aloud... I love the character of the grandmother. She represents a beautiful archetype that our society has repressed for a long time. It is just a beautiful work. I can see how it may not be for everyone, but I will long hold it as one of my favorites.

An authentic voice and a new kind of character

Haley Rombauer aka Flash Jackson is a new kind of character in American literature. Both she and her story are about as far from ordinary as can be, but there is a surprisingly familiar archetypal resonance between the thinking reader and this story in which the unusual seems awfully familiar. Kowalski has managed somehow to imbue Haley with an authentic voice, guided by old wisdom and new experiences, and -- somehow -- with an ear for the thoughts in a young woman's head, words that are rarely spoken anywhere. If you go into this book expecting a light coming-of-age story, you may call yourself disappointed when you are overwhelmed by the Coming of Ages denouement. I hope that early confused expectations among Kowalski's readers and critics do not doom this treasure of a novel to obscurity, as this is a voice in the wilderness that deserves to, almost has to, be heard -- and really should be talked about, too. Highly recommended, especially to be read together by book clubs or by mothers and daughters.

My favorite Kovalsky book

After reading Eddy's bastard and it sequel I thought that there couldn't be any better. But I was pleasantly surprised at the magic and wonder of his third book. The best he has written so far.

Not What I Expected, But Still Good

Unlike most stories using "Book 1" and "Book 2" as an arbitrary way of dividing the story into sections, in The Adventures of Flash Jackson, Book 2 seems like almost a completely different girl and story than before. Haley Bombauer is a feisty and lovable heroine, who has always been a tomboy and plans on staying one for life. She's sick of her mother and gossipy small town neighbours trying to get her to be more ladylike. I found her views on everything amusing and fresh. When Haley falls off the roof of her barn and breaks her leg, she's looking at a long, boring summer. I thought this book would be about her coming to terms with her injury, her father's death, her friend Frankie's schizophrenia. It's not. This is not just a coming of age story. It morphs into something reminiscent of "Nell", where she moves into the woods with her reclusive grandmother and shuts herself off from society for almost a year. As much as some readers will probably be weirded out by the drastic changes in plot and character, I was fascinated by the stories about herbal lore and how her grandmother is actually an age old spirit inhabiting the magical woods (I will say it once again: This is not your average coming of age story! It looks like general fiction, but it becomes fantasy almost). If you told me how it ended when I first started the book, I would have been shocked beyond belief, but by the time I got there, I was used to the changes and found it really interesting. This book is certainly different, but this reader enjoyed it immensely.

Hop on board to this new author he is great

I actually got to meet this author when he did a book show at my local book store. His first book Eddies Bastard ranks as one of the best novels I have ever read. This book didn't dissapoint. The book is about a girl Haney Bombauer which through me off because Eddies Bastard is about a boy growing up and after my girlfriend just broke up with me I really didn't want to hear about a girl's life. I went ahead and read it and this book is awesome. I have given it to 3 people and they all loved it. You will fall in love with Haneys personality and the charachters that pop up in the book will make you laugh.