Up in the Air

Ryan Bingham, an executive with the ISM corporation, flies all over the country as a Career Transition Counselor, which means he meets with executives immediately after they've been fired. His job is less about helping the often stunned newly unemployed, and more about making sure they aren't angry enough to file a lawsuit. Bingham never wanted the position, and has picked up signs that he's being headhunted, so has left his resignation on his boss's desk and planned out his last week with ISM with precision: his boss will return from vacation the following week, read the resignation and cancel Bingham's corporate privileges immediately, but Bingham will be already be employed with the mysterious MythTech and have his coveted million show more miles frequent flyer miles, a goal he prizes above everything else.
The reader travels the country with Bingham, a man who is isolated, yet seemingly content. He explains his happiness in "AirWorld", a name he gives to the life of the constant business traveler. He enjoys the exclusive airline club rooms, the employees who recognize but don't know him, the mutual understanding that in-flight friendships end when the plane lands, and that he doesn't actually have a home because he isn't anywhere long enough to merit one. While Bingham effortlessly maintains his professional persona in the air, on the ground he comes up against things he can't run from, like the unstable sister or the potential mentor who turns out to be pretentious and weird. The growing feeling that Bingham may not be as calm as he appears, that he may in fact be dangerously paranoid, creeps in very slowly. show less

A very sharp and extremely well-written satire on modern corporate culture and its affects on those who try to stay human within it's conformist environment and cynical world-view. The observations are acute and often quite funny. The protagonist, whose goal is to rack up 1 million frequent flier miles and then quit his job, is sympathetic and mostly rings true. Some of his experiences start to become repetitive after a while, and there is more than a touch of cliche in his dealings with his mother and his siblings (naturally, he is divorced). But overall, a very enjoyable read. It passed one of my main enjoyability standards: when I wasn't reading it, I looked forward to getting back to it.

Up in the Air is not a novel that I would have picked up, had it not been for my desire to see the movie. I seem to cling to an OCDish need to read the book that the movie is based upon before I will allow myself to see it. I can only assume that this is a story preservation tactic, as I trust my imagination and interpretation over some Hollywood producer, and have witnessed the butchering of one too many great books. That being said, I have heard from countless people that in this case, the movie has very little to do with Walter Kirn’s book. Be that as it may, I held steadfast to my regular routine.

In the novel we are met with Ryan Bingham, a career transition counselor/business consultant, who sidelines as a motivational speaker. show more Seeing him walk through the doors of your firm is not a welcome sight, as this usually means that people will be losing their jobs. After you’ve been fired, he is the hired muscle that will teach you the skills needed to move on, as he walks you out the door to new opportunities, instead of blatantly throwing you and your box filled with 25 years worth of personal effects, through a plate-glass window. Due to a mounting dissatisfaction with his career, and an assumption that he is being scouted-out for a coveted position in a stealth marketing firm, MythTech, he has left a letter of resignation waiting for his vacationing boss.

Ryan has spent the majority of his time traveling on airplanes back and forth between failing companies, and as a consequence has racked up nearly one million frequent flyer miles. In fact, he is excitedly preparing to ascend into the ‘million dollar club’ before his job ends, and throughout the novel we observe this obsessive need consume his thoughts and even dictate changes to his erratic itinerary. He whittles away his time focusing on his ‘Airworld’ status instead of looking at what is really important in his life, things that will give him the self-satisfaction that he so desperately craves.

While at one moment it would appear that Ryan is enjoying his busy life on the road, staying in hotels all over the country, meeting all sorts of interesting people, in the next moment it becomes apparent that he has been kidding himself, and is not healthy, nor of sound mind. Outside of his family that he rarely sees, his relationships consist of acquaintances and random travelers. He is increasingly paranoid and distrustful of his employer as well as the airline that he flies with. We watch him unravel and mentally deteriorate as he fixates on those that he perceives are out to get him, coping by gambling and abusing alcohol and drugs. Things just start to catch up with him.

The ending sheds a lot of light into the lives of some of the mentor-like, omnipotent and successful people that Ryan looks up to throughout the novel. He learns that his illusions are grand and misplaced, as their truths become clear. Everything he believed in appears to be turning into an extravagant myth. These realizations offer him the honesty to look at himself, and his truths, with acceptance.

Walter Kirn has an engaging, clever and subtle writing style that requires you to think, so don’t attempt this one unless you’re in the mood. As with any great writer he doesn’t tell the reader, he shows them. Throughout the novel I felt like a fellow passenger on one of Ryan’s flights, as he intimately shared his goals, his fears and his eventual realizations.

Now, I look forward to seeing what the movie has to offer!

Check out more of my reviews at www.booksnakereviews.blogspot.com show less

Rollicking satire of the business world that reads like a combination of Don DeLillo and Chuck Palahniuk. Entertaining, well-written, and with more edge than the movie adaptation.

Quite different from the film adaptation - dips into the surreal and uncanny as it becomes increasingly clear that the protagonist is not exactly mentally sound.

Has vibes of White Noise (DeLillo), Glamorama (Easton Ellis), and High-Rise (Ballard) in airport form. Something about the writing style and the collapse of the main character. Needless to say, quite a bit darker than the film, but a fun read.

Up in the Air is not a novel that I would have picked up, had it not been for my desire to see the movie. I seem to cling to an OCDish need to read the book that the movie is based upon before I will allow myself to see it. I can only assume that this is a story preservation tactic, as I trust my imagination and interpretation over some Hollywood producer, and have witnessed the butchering of one too many great books. That being said, I have heard from countless people that in this case, the movie has very little to do with Walter Kirn’s book. Be that as it may, I held steadfast to my regular routine.

In the novel we are met with Ryan Bingham, a career transition counselor/business consultant, who sidelines as a motivational speaker. show more Seeing him walk through the doors of your firm is not a welcome sight, as this usually means that people will be losing their jobs. After you’ve been fired, he is the hired muscle that will teach you the skills needed to move on, as he walks you out the door to new opportunities, instead of blatantly throwing you and your box filled with 25 years worth of personal effects, through a plate-glass window. Due to a mounting dissatisfaction with his career, and an assumption that he is being scouted-out for a coveted position in a stealth marketing firm, MythTech, he has left a letter of resignation waiting for his vacationing boss.

Ryan has spent the majority of his time traveling on airplanes back and forth between failing companies, and as a consequence has racked up nearly one million frequent flyer miles. In fact, he is excitedly preparing to ascend into the ‘million dollar club’ before his job ends, and throughout the novel we observe this obsessive need consume his thoughts and even dictate changes to his erratic itinerary. He whittles away his time focusing on his ‘Airworld’ status instead of looking at what is really important in his life, things that will give him the self-satisfaction that he so desperately craves.

While at one moment it would appear that Ryan is enjoying his busy life on the road, staying in hotels all over the country, meeting all sorts of interesting people, in the next moment it becomes apparent that he has been kidding himself, and is not healthy, nor of sound mind. Outside of his family that he rarely sees, his relationships consist of acquaintances and random travelers. He is increasingly paranoid and distrustful of his employer as well as the airline that he flies with. We watch him unravel and mentally deteriorate as he fixates on those that he perceives are out to get him, coping by gambling and abusing alcohol and drugs. Things just start to catch up with him.

The ending sheds a lot of light into the lives of some of the mentor-like, omnipotent and successful people that Ryan looks up to throughout the novel. He learns that his illusions are grand and misplaced, as their truths become clear. Everything he believed in appears to be turning into an extravagant myth. These realizations offer him the honesty to look at himself, and his truths, with acceptance.

Walter Kirn has an engaging, clever and subtle writing style that requires you to think, so don’t attempt this one unless you’re in the mood. As with any great writer he doesn’t tell the reader, he shows them. Throughout the novel I felt like a fellow passenger on one of Ryan’s flights, as he intimately shared his goals, his fears and his eventual realizations.

Now, I look forward to seeing what the movie has to offer!

Check out more of my reviews at BookSnakeReviews show less

Ryan Bingham is chasing one-million frequent flier miles as he travels peripatetically as a Career Transition Counselor. He’s also chasing a new job with an elusive company called MythTech. He gave up his apartment and lives in what he calls Airworld. He needs to rack up his remaining miles before his boss returns from a vacation and finds Ryan’s resignation on his desk. And make it to his sister’s wedding. And meet with a publisher about the business parable he’s trying to get published. And make a speech at a convention. And make a date he has with Alex, a fellow traveler.

The novel has little in common with the film. It’s darker, less romantic, and more intelligent. Ryan is a witty, hyper-verbal narrator. As he travels show more through the Midwest chasing strings, the trip, through his eyes is invigorating, and actually meaningful. show less