Alamo House [Audio Cassette]

Sarah Bird (Author), Danielle Ferland (Narrator)

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: RecordedBooks (2003)
• ISBN-10: 142810321X
• ISBN-13: 978-1428103214
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Outtakes from an interview that appeared in the April 2011 issue of Southern Living...

Southern Living: Are there any personal connections to this novel that you'd like to share?

Sarah: Oh, gads, there are SO many. I'll try, (and no doubt fail), to keep it brief.

In 2008, our son became a member of the largest college freshman class in history. Everything about the experience surprised me. Let's just start off with the cost. I knew that college costs had skyrocketed so we'd put aside a small fortune. We learned, however, that small wasn't going to cut it. Instead, a great walloping fortune would be required.

The next shock was discovering that in order to even be allowed to spend these breathtaking sums I would have to take on a second job as a ratings coordinator. There are over four thousand colleges and universities in this country and each one had to be parsed because, as it turns out, the college your child goes to is, essentially, a referendum on you as a parent. Are you a five-star Ivy League parent? A small, selective liberal arts college parent? A giant, state university parent? A two-year community college parent? Being a no-college parent was so far beyond the pale that it wasn't even ever mentioned.

So the getting in part surprised me. But what surprised me even more was what happened after when the empty nest loomed as a reality. I was bereft. Completely blindsided by how much it affected me.
While pregnant eighteen years earlier, I had devoured every "What to Expect " book out there. As we slogged through this college experience, I wished for a whole new slew of guides to help me through this unsettling phase. For example, was it normal to both ardently pray for the day when this grumpy stranger you've raised would vacate the premises and burst into tears in the frozen food aisle because you'll never buy pepperoni Hot Pockets again? And Real Estate Regret? Is Real Estate Regret--the constant replaying of the different lives your child would have had if you'd lived in a different neighborhood, went to a different school, had different friends--normal?

Time Travel, I knew that Time Travel wasn't normal, yet, as we approached the date of our son's departure, I was swept uncontrollably off on journeys back through the years where I'd revisit key moments in the past. Then, like Real Estate Regret, I'd create an entirely different childhood for my son in which, for example, we'd never allowed videogames. Or had been active in the Methodist church. Or the Buddhist temple. Or had owned a telescope and pursued astronomy as a family hobby. Or raised chickens. Or all made our beds every morning.

Obviously, I needed, probably still need, intensive therapy. Instead, I wrote "The Gap Year."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Bird scissors frat life in wickedly delightful satire, September 20, 2003

By 

Bruce J. Wasser (Lake Bluff, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alamo House (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

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.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I wish there were more than 5 Stars, October 14, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Alamo House (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

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

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Remember the Alamo..., November 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Alamo House (Ballantine Reader's Circle) (Paperback)

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.