Culture

Author: Walter Kirn
Publisher: John Murray
Rating: 3/5

Up in the Air. Now a major motion picture. What a great way to get someone to read your book. From the trailers, I envisaged the book would be about some hot-shot sweet talker whose entire job consisted of travelling the vastness of the United States and telling CEOs that they were fired. An airborne Donald Trump, if you will. However, what I got was something different. I was initially bombarded with a big spiel about life in ‘Air World’, the makeshift home in the airport lounges and aeroplanes that the protagonist, Ryan Bingham, has become accustomed to due to the nature of his work. His official title is Careers Transition Counsellor, and it is made quite clear in the book that his job isn’t to fire or find new jobs for the fired; Careers Transition Counsellors are brought in to console, motivate, and help make the transition for the newly unemployed. So much for the trailer.
Interwoven through Ryan’s journey to reach his ultimate goal of 1 000 000 air point miles, the reader encounters oddball CEOs in desperate need of counselling, Ryan’s battle to accommodate the needs of his grounded family, a mysterious identity, and, of course, various women from his past. After battling past the initial Air World soliloquy, I found the rest of the book to have slightly more depth, although this could have been due to turns in the plot rather than character development. However, I found the ending entirely perplexing, even after re-reading it a few times. This was disappointing as I thought Ryan’s journeys would have led up to some impressive ending where everything tied up nicely, only to be let down at the last minute. No, I’m not giving it away.
Despite these negative points, Kirn’s writing style is smooth, and I was particularly impressed with his eloquence when describing Ryan’s impressions of the world. I also found the idea of writing from a chronic traveller’s point of view rather original. While I enjoyed reading Up in the Air as a piece of light fiction, I can’t say I’m going to rush to the cinema to see the screen version anytime soon.