Customer Reviews

Alamo House (Ballantine Reader's Circle)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
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Fans of Sarah Bird have every reason to rejoice. Her publisher, Ballantine Books, decided to republish three of her earlier works, and "Alamo House" will remind us that as early as 1986 (when "Alamo" was first published), Ms. Bird possessed talent as both a social observer and satirist. Her abilities continued to grow, and her most recent novel, "The Yokota Officers Club," firmly established her place in modern literature. "Alamo House" allows us a chance to learn how Ms. Brid's talents have matured and grown.

"Alamo House" ladels out sarcastic observations about decadent fraternity life, women's attempts to batttle against obnoxious male adversaries and students' quixotic jousts into adulthood. Every character is delightfully skewed, and Bird gives each just enough humanity to captivate our imagination and invite our sympathies. Recalling or recoiling against her own days as a graduate student at the University of Texas, Bird paints a grim, warped picture of undergraduate males, residing in an alcoholic-induced stupor at the appropriately-titled SUK fraternity. When not hosting midnight parties -- replete with music played at decibel levels more appropriate for a rock concert, drunken men engaging in projectile vomiting contests and lascivious undergrads trying to ply willing sorority sisters with enough alcohol to unfurl condoms -- SUK seems to live only to torment the depressed denizens of Alamo House.

As benighted as is the SUK house, the Alamo House holds its share of sadsacks as well. Repressed house leaders, grad students whose passion for esoterica is eclipsed only by their perpetual presence in college and an exchange student whose mispronunciations and malapropisms leave no doubt as to her understated wisdom -- the women who initially are resigned to daily/weekly/monthly degradation need an awakening.

The cryptic and beautiful Collie, through her own words and actions, ignites rebellion, and the novel's protagonist, Mary Jo, senses both personal salvation and social consciousness through the charismatic, enigmatic Collie. Joining these two women is Fayrene, whom Bird paints as so overweight that she literally has difficulty fitting into anything smaller than a tent. As the three women galvanize Alamo House into acts of rebellion and genuine self-definition, the novel veers away from pure satire into an interesting discussion of the possibilities and limitations of 1980s feminism.

Bird never permits politics to interfere with fun, however, and she clearly enjoys poking holes into sacred cows, whether they be political icons like Lady Bird Johnson, incompetent professors (often drunk, oblivious or skirt-chasing) and post-graduate curriculum. "Alamo House" is so humorous that the reader can simply point to any paragraph in the novel to discover some tart observation or hyperbolic exaggeration. At times, the novel tends to be excessively frothy, nearly wallowing in its own descriptive detail. Yet, its pace and punch never lose momentum, and Mary Jo's wacky odyssey becomes our own.

March 14, 2000

I can't believe this book is out of print. it is so well written, so funny, absolutely one of the best books i've ever read. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title

I happened to read an article about Sarah Bird in the Austin American Statesman and it mentioned the re-release of three of her books. After reading brief descriptions of them, I ran out and bought them. Alamo House is a scream. It's an easy and quick read making you feel as if you, too, live right there in Alamo House with Mary Jo, Fayrene and Collie. I can't wait to pass my copy on to my friends who attended the University of Texas.

What can I say? I loved this book. After reading Bird's The Yokota Officer's Club, I was hooked on her writing style and voice. Her characters are well developed and so fabulously quirky and this novel most certainly delivers.

Mary Jo has been living with her boyfriend thinking that she had found her "settled down" life. Unfortunately that included cleaning up his messes which he perpetually left in their house. Fed up, stressed out and preparing to enter grad school, Mary Jo seeks out other living arrangements. As a last ditch effort on her way home from work, she stops at the Alamo House. A Co-op for female graduate students at the University of Texas, Alamo House seemed a little too creepy for her. Then she got home. Shortly there after she was moving into the Alamo House.

Filled with the spectrum of people only found on college campuses, Mary Jo comes to be a part of this easily missed community. She meets Collie who teaches her the Axiom and Fayrene, a girl with a photographic memory timid about life in the big city after leaving her very Baptist life in a small Texas town who come to be her inseperable cohorts in crime. From taking down the SUKs from within to their daily swimming ritual, these girls know how to play off of each other's traits and become stronger on their own.

I also enjoyed the story line that revolved around her rock star coworker and their time at the LBJ library. Tommy reinvented his band four times just in this one book! His take on Birdiana is hilarious and well worth waiting to read about it.

This had a good ending and there was room for more to be told. As with every good book I wish there was more to read but the ending was satisfying. I highly encourage you to read the Reader's Guide in the back. When I read Yokota it was actually an interview with Bird and her sisters. This time it is an essay by Bird reliving her time at the grad school co-op she lived in and it is totally entertaining. I cannot wait to read more books from this author.

This is a story about being at a crossroads in life, wondering which way to turn or staying in the rut and not bothering at all. It begins with a young woman in a bad relationship who doesn't really want to leave, thereby cutting off the possibility of getting married, but knows she should try something......and ends up at a sad excuse for housing called the Alamo House, which at first glance appears to be full of a bunch of weirdos and losers or as the frat house residents across the street call them - dykes (the ultimate macho jerk insult). These guys harass them unmercifully. As we met the inhabitants of this book and take a closer look, we smile in recognition. By the end of the story we are rooting for Alamo House and plotting the destruction of the frat house right along side the girls. The reader forgets how the characters were first described and see them in a much kinder light. This plot is just the backdrop to the real story of the friendship formed between three girls, our narrator, an overweight girl away for the first time from her bible thumping family and a drama major who is a beautiful whirlwind that dresses up as doomed women (Marilyn Monroe, Sylvia Papth, etc.). Their story is the most compelling and emotionally touching. Oh yeah, the concept of feminism from all perspectives is also present in this story. The author delivers all of these themes in one well written novel. Kudos to Sarah Bird. I highly recommend this book and look forward to reading other books by this author.

Bored and browsing the Sam's book aisle, I reluctantly picked up the trade paperback copies of Sarah Bird's titles, "Alamo House" and "The Mommy Club", gave in and bought them, but I didn't open them. Just shelved them for that "mood hits me" time. I guess I didn't think Sarah Bird's writing was up the level I wanted at the time.

Well, after a rather serious and great non-fiction read, I went to the shelves and pulled out "Alamo House" and pulled an all-nighter reading this tome. It was like Animal House (the SUKs, appropriate name, eh?) meets the weirdo scholarly dames. And it was/is fun and funny and poignant.

I am so glad I met these women and entered into their lives and lived a bit of fictional/autobiographical Bird history of University of Texas Austin, circa the '80's. I will now grab hold of "The Mommy Club" and find the other Bird reads to indulge myself in her clever storytelling.

In addition, I will recommend this read to my fellow book clubbers and to my sister Red Hatters, especially those that loved "Ya-ya Sisterhood".

I especially enjoyed reading Sarah Bird's "Conversation with the Author" at the book's end.

Do yourself a favor and remember the Alamo in this version! No need to go to the movies yet.

But wouldn't this book make a fun movie, though?

I thought the entire book was a joy to read, but I particularly loved the humorous accounts of working in the LBJ presidential library. Anyone who's spent a lot of time in an archival / special library setting should also get a kick out of this book. Too bad it's out of print!

The book was very funny, and I enjoyed it very much. It's not a book for men. The book is one of those great books you only read once in awhile. Any women, teenager, or person of the female gender will like it.

I found this book refreshingly hilarious. The fact that it is based in Austin TX adds to the whole reading experience. It is a light-hearted romance & self-realization adventure. A big bonus is that is it refreshingly "lacking" in explicit sex scenes, graphic violence, & references to the occult. I also strongly recommend Ms Bird's other book, "The Boyfriend School."

Author Sarah Bird's heroines are never Playboy centerfolds, usually a couple bubbles off level, and always endearing - especially to those of us who are likewise height/weight disproportionate, emotionally off-center, and armed with an IQ.

Alamo House is the name of a coop rooming house for graduate women that happens to be situated across the street from the most obnoxious fraternity on campus (UT-Austin). Our heroine, Mary Jo, has moved to Austin with her boyfriend with plans to do graduate work in photography. But her boyfriend is the type that is easily distracted by other women - thus Mary Jo's move into Alamo House. No sooner has she dragged her boxes up the stairs to "Hell Week Heaven" (her room) when she begins to doubt the wisdom of this decision.

She is soon joined in her tree-top room by roommate Fayrene Pirtle - a shy, naive 300 pound Baptist from Waco (who just happens to have a photographic memory) and next-room neighbor, wacky Collie Mohoric - a drama major with a penchant for masquerading as doomed women and attracting the weirdest guys on campus.

Through the remnants of summer and the fall semester, Collie schools Mary Jo and Fayrene in the finer points of getting even with the opposite sex. They are also united in their hatred for the common enemy - the annoying fraternity (SUK) across the street.