Baxlala’s #CBR4 Review #25: Up in the Air by Walter Kirn
OK, you know what’s weird? Up in the Air the book is NOTHING LIKE Up in the Air the movie. Not really. I saw the movie when it came out and I’m pretty sure I enjoyed it. Though…I don’t remember a whole lot about it, other than George Clooney rides a lot of airplanes and sometimes has adorable interactions with Anna Kendrick and other kinds of interactions with Vera Farmiga. Also, George and Anna spend a lot of their time firing people. And Anna types all crazy, like this:
Um. Wait for it…
Huh, I can’t actually find a video of it. Here is a GIF of an otter instead:
ANYWAY. I’m not here to talk about Up in the Air the movie, no matter how much I liked it, so please disregard all of my above ramblings (I could just delete it all but look at how many words I’ve already written…I’m not starting over). I’m here to talk about Up in the Air the book. The book I read over a month ago and therefore remember almost none of, because in between reading Up in the Air and now, I’ve read The Mists of Avalon and EVERY SINGLE FABLES BOOK EVER. Which is great and all, but that’s a lot of fake-universe knowledge I now have knocking around in my brain, leaving very little room for Ryan Bingham’s exploits but WHATEVER, let’s see what I remember.
Ryan Bingham (who has one of the most forgettable names ever, I’ve had to look it up like five times now) has a really boring job that he tolerates because it allows him one major perk: constant travel. Now, those of you who have had to travel for work, especially those of you who travel frequently, are probably thinking, “that sounds awful, what’s wrong with this guy?” Well, I can’t tell you what’s wrong with him because that would ruin the entire book, so just read it already, geez.
Or don’t read it. I don’t care. I’m feeling pretty ambivalent about this book, honestly. I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. I didn’t really feel anything, good or bad, about any of the characters. I’d probably be mad about all of that if the book had taken longer to read, but in the end, it probably only took up a few hours of my life, so no big deal, right? I’ve spent far more time than that watching and rewatching my favorite TV shows PLUS ALSO I’ve spent at least 38 billion hours this week watching Olympics coverage so what I’m saying is…I don’t remember.
So. Yeah. Twoish (threeish?) stars and a big fat MEH for this one.
Cannonball Read IV 
I love comparing the book and the movie and seeing what changes are made in the adaptation process.
A TON was changed in this process…like, there for a while I was convinced that the movie wasn’t really based on the book and it was just coincidence that the main characters had the same name. Hee.
I still need to watch this movie. Also, I love your reviews. I knew it was yours even before I saw your name on it because of the otter GIF. I was like, oh, that’s Jennie.
Do you think I should make otter GIFs my trademark? Is it weird to have a trademark?
I think that is an excellent idea because LOOK AT HIS WIDDLE HANDSES. Also, no, it’s not weird because it’s the internet and everything is weird here. You can pretty much do whatever you want and SOMEONE will appreciate it.
But seriously! His WIDDLE HANDSES!