Nathan Hunt
English 102, Laura Cline
8 April 2012
Up in the Air
Up in the Air
is an interesting book that paints a clear picture of how a businessman who
travels for his job lives. The author writes in first person, using the word
“you” to capture the audience’s attention, which I thought worked well. The
main character travels by plane and rental cars most of the time, staying in hotel
rooms and dining out. He talks about his many run-ins with several people
throughout the book; flight attendants, other businessmen who travel for a
living, secretaries at various offices, and acquaintances at hotels, bars, and
restaurants.
I
found this book to be captivating and it held my attention very well. I’m not a
big reader, so I was surprised that both of the books for this class kept my
attention. Although this book is very different from Winter’s Bone, I enjoyed it just about as much. I liked the
author’s style of writing. I liked how he described the various conversations
with random people, especially on the airplane. It was realistic and easy for
most people to relate to.
The
lack of the close, intimate relationships of the main character is sad, but
makes sense because he’s never in one place for very long. He doesn’t talk
about his family much. He talks about being “Single, but on the lookout—you never
know, the woman in 3B might be my soul mate” (Kirn, pp 4). During random
conversations with people, he brings up how he was married once, but due to how
much he travelled, the relationship was always long distance and it didn’t work
out. He also explains how he was brought up. He grew up in the country in
Minnesota. His father owned “a fleet of propane trucks and served as a Democrat
in two state legislatures, pressing a doomed agricultural agenda while letting
his business slip” (Kirn, pp4). He shares that his parents divorced when he was
in college. That was the extent of his family life or talking about them. Although
toward the end of the book, the main character falls in love with Lisa. He
questions himself if this is what he truly wants and if it will work out.
Overall
I liked this book. It was sort of predictable though and I like more
suspenseful stories. The main character overall has a lonely life. Although he
gets to travel frequently, he does not get much time to vacation, or do
anything other than working. I liked the style of writing and overall the plot
was good.
References:
Kirn, Walter, 2001. Up in the Air. Random House, Inc.
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