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ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
2.0
Not long into Based Upon Availability the main character, Morgan, a manager at a ritzy Manhattan hotel, declares that she is "a good girl...loyal and honest," a statement that would have been easier to believe had she not already made a habit of stealing items, primarily prescription medication and sex toys, from guests' rooms, coerced a subordinate into having sex with her and lied to her boyfriend. Morgan is self-involved, full of self-pity and so fragile that a careless remark can send her into a tailspin.
In the second half of the book, the story follows several different women whose lives intersected in some way with Morgan's. It is interesting to see small events seen from another angle, but really, all these women are really Morgan. There's an aging rock star version of Morgan, a frowsy, OCD version, a Morgan with a living sister, etc...each as desperate to be taken care of as the one before. Which may be why the book lost me early on; not one of these characters is the slightest bit resilient and each sees a husband to support her, or a baby or the chance to be a little girl again, as what she needs to be happy. Despite their good careers and financial stability, despite the drug use and the endless smoking, these girls are all the anti-feminist ideal.
Based Upon Availability is written well enough, but there were coincidences and actions that strained credibility. I usually favor unlikeable protagonists, but there was no forward motion in their emotional lives and many of the vignettes ended abruptly and without resolution.
In the second half of the book, the story follows several different women whose lives intersected in some way with Morgan's. It is interesting to see small events seen from another angle, but really, all these women are really Morgan. There's an aging rock star version of Morgan, a frowsy, OCD version, a Morgan with a living sister, etc...each as desperate to be taken care of as the one before. Which may be why the book lost me early on; not one of these characters is the slightest bit resilient and each sees a husband to support her, or a baby or the chance to be a little girl again, as what she needs to be happy. Despite their good careers and financial stability, despite the drug use and the endless smoking, these girls are all the anti-feminist ideal.
Based Upon Availability is written well enough, but there were coincidences and actions that strained credibility. I usually favor unlikeable protagonists, but there was no forward motion in their emotional lives and many of the vignettes ended abruptly and without resolution.
helpfulsnowman's review against another edition
2.0
I never knew that ladies were so troubled. ALL ladies, apparently.
I'd like to apologize to any ladies that I made feel bad in the past, going back until about high school. I did make fun of girls in elementary school, but I feel that was out of my control. Plus, they weren't ladies yet, therefore they were ripe for parody.
We get, in the mix here, an eating disorder, a sisterly rivalry gone too far, a burnout rockstar, a woman who commits arson, a woman who has a phantom pregnancy, and a woman who is in her mid-50's, stylish, and seems to have her life pretty much together. Oh, and a hotel lady who is dabbling in S&M.
I like a book with unlikable characters, no doubt. I'll read a book about a lady who captures and murders bald eagles for the pure tactile pleasure. But this...I don't know, it felt like a grab bag of lady issues with little stories built around them.
The chronology is tough too. It feels like every woman in this story is at the peak of her life's breakdown at the same time, which is when it starts to feel a little less like a novel and a little more like an M. Knight Shaymamlasaksnfd, uh, god forbid, novel.
I'd like to apologize to any ladies that I made feel bad in the past, going back until about high school. I did make fun of girls in elementary school, but I feel that was out of my control. Plus, they weren't ladies yet, therefore they were ripe for parody.
We get, in the mix here, an eating disorder, a sisterly rivalry gone too far, a burnout rockstar, a woman who commits arson, a woman who has a phantom pregnancy, and a woman who is in her mid-50's, stylish, and seems to have her life pretty much together. Oh, and a hotel lady who is dabbling in S&M.
I like a book with unlikable characters, no doubt. I'll read a book about a lady who captures and murders bald eagles for the pure tactile pleasure. But this...I don't know, it felt like a grab bag of lady issues with little stories built around them.
The chronology is tough too. It feels like every woman in this story is at the peak of her life's breakdown at the same time, which is when it starts to feel a little less like a novel and a little more like an M. Knight Shaymamlasaksnfd, uh, god forbid, novel.
megan_prairierose's review against another edition
2.0
This book really dragged until about half way through.
kpiter01's review
1.0
Quick read, which was good because it pretty much sucked. Supposedly these women's lives all had some sort of connection to one hotel (and thus each other?) but the individual stories really didn't fit together (some seemed totally pointless and many were just plain weird!) and most left you hanging with no real conclusion or closure.
I'm on a string of bad books. I need a good one - stat! (PS - ever wondered that meaning behind "stat"? I did, so I just looked it up - it comes from the latin word "statim" which means immediately
I'm on a string of bad books. I need a good one - stat! (PS - ever wondered that meaning behind "stat"? I did, so I just looked it up - it comes from the latin word "statim" which means immediately
danarosebailey's review against another edition
2.0
First let me be fair by saying I didn't finish this book. Maybe it got better.
This was a book club book so I tried to read it, but only made it about 50 pages in.
There was no story problem or inciting incident. I felt no reason to read past what I did. I simply didn't care what happened to Morgan. It was just following her day to day messed up life. She was old enough to have dealt with her issues by the time this book started. There was no spark to making her issues worse. She just came across as sad and pathetic.
I didn't get far enough to learn anything about the other characters.
Someone else in my book club finished the book and said it didn't get any better, so I decided not to finish.
However, the writing was well done. If you read for that, then you might like this book. I wouldn't call it awful or terrible, it just wasn't for me. I didn't connect with the story. But them maybe I missed something.
This was a book club book so I tried to read it, but only made it about 50 pages in.
There was no story problem or inciting incident. I felt no reason to read past what I did. I simply didn't care what happened to Morgan. It was just following her day to day messed up life. She was old enough to have dealt with her issues by the time this book started. There was no spark to making her issues worse. She just came across as sad and pathetic.
I didn't get far enough to learn anything about the other characters.
Someone else in my book club finished the book and said it didn't get any better, so I decided not to finish.
However, the writing was well done. If you read for that, then you might like this book. I wouldn't call it awful or terrible, it just wasn't for me. I didn't connect with the story. But them maybe I missed something.
athira's review against another edition
4.0
Morgan, the hotel manager of Four Seasons, still misses her sister, who died almost twenty-four years ago, and is contemplating breaking up with her methodical boyfriend. As she meets with her clients and customers, interviews applicants and does room searches, she comes across several interesting women, each with her own story to tell. Some of them are not who they appear to be, and most, like her, are looking for some closure to their problems, some happiness and human connection. Through it all, the Four Seasons hotel bears witness to the most trying moments in their lives, as they piece together their issues with family, love, sex and ambition.
Based Upon Availability is a very character-oriented story, featuring eight apparently unrelated or unconnected women, sharing only two common things - the Four Seasons hotel and a disappointment with their life. This book holds testament to the adage that there is more than meets the eye. In the end, a rich and intricate web of life is created, as Alix Strauss tells the story of these eight women and brings them together through an intricate web.
Reading this book was a lot like watching the movie, Vantage Point. In fact, this theme of several narrowly connected people in a story coming together and remaining thus connected, usually works well in a movie. The reader initially sees the world through Morgan's eyes. Having been inside Morgan's head during the first one-third of the book, the reader is also privy to Morgan's thoughts, suspicions and beliefs. And then the camera shifts and starts focusing on a certain piece of this panorama through a different pair of lens. Some things that Morgan saw in passing become the focus and we see how the significance of that event or person changes in light of its new meaning.
I was not too impressed with Morgan's character. I found her very tiresome. She was one of those people who are empathetic on the inside, but appear remote and professional to the people around her. She fails to connect much with anyone on an emotional level. She is understandably upset about being single while nearing her thirty-third birthday, she wants to experience the joy of motherhood, and she is still not over the death of her sister. As she meets a new person, she aches to be a part of that person at some level, and wishes for something that person has, which she is lacking in. When however, that person's story is revealed, we sometimes see a picture so different from what Morgan painted. And I loved this aspect of this book because it is a reminder that we are not always right just because we saw something. It is enlightening to see a different rational explanation for the same picture.
The other characters were a lot more interesting than Morgan. In some queer way, Morgan connects with all of them. Some, like Anne, Trish, and Louise are a prominent fixture in Morgan's thoughts. Anne, who works at Four Seasons and is dating a guy she met on the internet, is fired. Trish wants to hold a gallery in the hotel. Drug-addicted rock star, Louise, is being checked into the hotel by her friend, to clean up her drug addiction. The others are more faint and have an almost cameo-like appearance. Franny is an acquaintance of a man Morgan had drinks with. Sheila comes to her uncle's funeral. Ellen is interviewed by Morgan for an interior deco position. Robin is known to Morgan by face only through certain circumstances that befall Robin's sister.
It was very interesting reading from the perspectives of the other women, and how they come to be connected to Morgan and the Four Seasons hotel. Alix Strauss has brilliantly written the intersecting seven stories, each spanning only a few pages. The long-drawn out narration of Morgan's story, while necessary, bored me ultimately because I couldn't see where it was going. Halfway through her narration, I was already ready for another character to come in focus. While it helped me get an idea of Morgan's troubles, I found all that prose too much to read. Also this isn't exactly a fast read, and I won't recommend you read it fast either. This book is best appreciated when the reader feels the strings holding the different characters together, and looks out for the several hints and appearances of the other characters in each perspective.
I also found that I could easily relate to all the eight women, even though their lives are radically different from mine. Each of them go through the same problems that we are afflicted by at least once. In the end, they all ache to be loved, and the battles they go through are typical of most people.
Based Upon Availability is a very character-oriented story, featuring eight apparently unrelated or unconnected women, sharing only two common things - the Four Seasons hotel and a disappointment with their life. This book holds testament to the adage that there is more than meets the eye. In the end, a rich and intricate web of life is created, as Alix Strauss tells the story of these eight women and brings them together through an intricate web.
Reading this book was a lot like watching the movie, Vantage Point. In fact, this theme of several narrowly connected people in a story coming together and remaining thus connected, usually works well in a movie. The reader initially sees the world through Morgan's eyes. Having been inside Morgan's head during the first one-third of the book, the reader is also privy to Morgan's thoughts, suspicions and beliefs. And then the camera shifts and starts focusing on a certain piece of this panorama through a different pair of lens. Some things that Morgan saw in passing become the focus and we see how the significance of that event or person changes in light of its new meaning.
I was not too impressed with Morgan's character. I found her very tiresome. She was one of those people who are empathetic on the inside, but appear remote and professional to the people around her. She fails to connect much with anyone on an emotional level. She is understandably upset about being single while nearing her thirty-third birthday, she wants to experience the joy of motherhood, and she is still not over the death of her sister. As she meets a new person, she aches to be a part of that person at some level, and wishes for something that person has, which she is lacking in. When however, that person's story is revealed, we sometimes see a picture so different from what Morgan painted. And I loved this aspect of this book because it is a reminder that we are not always right just because we saw something. It is enlightening to see a different rational explanation for the same picture.
The other characters were a lot more interesting than Morgan. In some queer way, Morgan connects with all of them. Some, like Anne, Trish, and Louise are a prominent fixture in Morgan's thoughts. Anne, who works at Four Seasons and is dating a guy she met on the internet, is fired. Trish wants to hold a gallery in the hotel. Drug-addicted rock star, Louise, is being checked into the hotel by her friend, to clean up her drug addiction. The others are more faint and have an almost cameo-like appearance. Franny is an acquaintance of a man Morgan had drinks with. Sheila comes to her uncle's funeral. Ellen is interviewed by Morgan for an interior deco position. Robin is known to Morgan by face only through certain circumstances that befall Robin's sister.
It was very interesting reading from the perspectives of the other women, and how they come to be connected to Morgan and the Four Seasons hotel. Alix Strauss has brilliantly written the intersecting seven stories, each spanning only a few pages. The long-drawn out narration of Morgan's story, while necessary, bored me ultimately because I couldn't see where it was going. Halfway through her narration, I was already ready for another character to come in focus. While it helped me get an idea of Morgan's troubles, I found all that prose too much to read. Also this isn't exactly a fast read, and I won't recommend you read it fast either. This book is best appreciated when the reader feels the strings holding the different characters together, and looks out for the several hints and appearances of the other characters in each perspective.
I also found that I could easily relate to all the eight women, even though their lives are radically different from mine. Each of them go through the same problems that we are afflicted by at least once. In the end, they all ache to be loved, and the battles they go through are typical of most people.
lisagray68's review
3.0
What a bunch of depressing, dysfunctional characters!! You'd think I'd love this, since I'm a therapist, but I get enough dysfunction at work!!
Based around the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, this book is the story of several women, all tied together by the main character - a manager of the hotel. In the first ten pages, the main character Morgan rifles through people's hotel rooms and has sex with a busboy in the pantry of the hotel's kitchen. I understand feeling at odds with life, but geez lady, get yourself together!! I found most of the characters somewhat despicable, not able to find enough empathy to be able to relate to their behavior...
Still, it's some kind of writing than can evoke this kind of emotion from the reader. I really liked anticipating how each character would be connected to the others, and it was always subtle and not overdone. The book captivated my attention and was an easy read. Think of it as a raunchy, soap opera summer beach read. You'll read it, you'll like it okay -- just don't think you'll expand your world reading this one.
Oh, and I really still want to know who stole Uncle Marty's ashes!!
Based around the Four Seasons Hotel in New York City, this book is the story of several women, all tied together by the main character - a manager of the hotel. In the first ten pages, the main character Morgan rifles through people's hotel rooms and has sex with a busboy in the pantry of the hotel's kitchen. I understand feeling at odds with life, but geez lady, get yourself together!! I found most of the characters somewhat despicable, not able to find enough empathy to be able to relate to their behavior...
Still, it's some kind of writing than can evoke this kind of emotion from the reader. I really liked anticipating how each character would be connected to the others, and it was always subtle and not overdone. The book captivated my attention and was an easy read. Think of it as a raunchy, soap opera summer beach read. You'll read it, you'll like it okay -- just don't think you'll expand your world reading this one.
Oh, and I really still want to know who stole Uncle Marty's ashes!!
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