Up in the Air

Author: Walter Kirn

This is the movie tie-in edition, although I have yet to watch the movie. As the movie made it to the Oscars, I figured the book must be worth a read.

The story is narrated by the protagonist, Ryan Bingham. He is a Career Transition Counselor - a coach for people who get fired. He is about to clock one million frequent flyer miles on his company's account, and plans to resign shortly after achieving this personal target.

"To Know me you have to fly with me." Thus Bingham invites us to join him on a marathon trip over 9 cities in 6 days that will make him the 10th person to reach the coveted mark. The trip is supposed to end in his hometown where he is to attend his younger sister's third wedding.

The story starts with Bingham expounding the features of Airworld and his career. You get the feeling it's not the sensation of flying he enjoys, but the experience of the different airports, the business lounge and the passing relationships with people he meets both on and off the ground. Any semblance to a more longlasting bond with another human being seems to unnerve him, as is evident in his conversations with and about his family. At the same time, the book shows Bingham's growing disillisionment with his job and the people he looks up to, be they management mentors or finance gurus.

Ultimately, Bingham is a lonely figure who uses his pursuit of air points to distract himself from his sad, empty life. By the end of the book, he realises he doesn't want all those points anyway, despite his earlier obsession with them. A bit like when you buy something you've been saving money for and find out it's not really worth all that.

And that's kinda how I feel about this book. The premise was interesting enough, and the back cover is scattered with good reviews on how it "deliciously lambastes corporate America" and rivals anything by John Grisham. But it doesn't really have much action and not so much a lambasting - it felt more like a half-hearted slap that missed its mark. Halfway through Bingham is called in by his family to search for his missing sister, and that's where Bingham, or rather Kirn, starts losing it. Events that were building up throughout the plot seem to be easily dismissed in the end - the business parable he was writing, his speech at GoalQuest, the dream job at MythTech, even the million airmiles.

Or maybe that is the intention of the author, to show the futility of it all as we run along in this rat race. Pretty depressing for anyone with a career.

I'm now looking forward to the movie, more than before I read the book. I've read that it's better than the book, or at least different. Let's just hope it's not as sad. Otherwise I really need to perk myself up with a Judith Mcknaught historical romp.

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My other bedside reading stack

No, I have not finished the previous stack yet. I just have a different collection at my mum's house in DU.

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