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This is the first book I've read by CK and I found it, for the most part, to be pretty funny. I chose this book because I didn't want to read fiction. I would recommend this book to most people.
After reading it, I will say that I enjoyed the book although the intellectualism gets a little heavy towards the middle. It's a nice book to read while you're waiting for stuff because each essay/article is reasonably short. When I picked it up and thumbed through it I happened (apparently) among the more funny stories.
I think there are a few stories in here that most people will find pretty amusing. I remember thinking, "wasn't this book cracking me up the other day. Because right now, not so much." It was still interesting but more in a (begin finger quotes) lecture-y/think-y (end finger quotes) sort of way.
I will admit, though, that I did not read the fiction piece at the end. It wasn't bad but just not what I was up for plus I had read the previous 100 pages while I was stuck in the desert so I think maybe I overdid it.
This book collects about three dozen Chuck Klosterman essays, mostly reprints from SPIN and other US magazines, with new introductions from the author. The next 100 pages are "Things That Might Be True" and feature more subjective content. The first and strongest half of the book "Things That Are True" centers on music and includes profiles of modern greats Radiohead and Jeff Tweedy as well as classic legends like Robert Plant and Billy Joel. He documents a week of eating nothing but McDonalds' McNuggets (eight years before the film "Supersize Me") and watching 24 hours of VH1 Classic (and learning it repeats every eight hours). The final section is a 35 page novella. I enjoyed the majority of these segments but liked Klosterman's other books better than this collection.
Finlly he ends with a bit of fiction that is not without merit, but is not his best work. It includes several fascinating interviews with popular figures.
I picked it up with two lesser known Hemmingway's to justify my consumption of what has come to be known as intellectual guilty pleasure ( a topic he incidentally takes up with his usual skill and misdirection in one of the essays). It felt a little like my birthday when I found Klosterman's latest book on CD, read by him, in the Border's bargain bin.
It was a good bet.CK IV opens with a very good reflection on dread and high school basket ball. It is better than Killing Yourself to Live and not as good as Cocoa Puffs.Audio is the medium for Klosterman for several reasons including: his irony voice, it is not exactly the kind of literature that requires you to take notes, and the strangely melodical way he pronounces the word f*.#ing.
After listening to IV I acquired Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs on CD despite having read it, based solely on the notion that it would be more poignant and entertaining when performed by the author. Note: You could not intice me to read a story on Brittney Spears by another author, but CK had me transfixed.
On the whole, however, If you liked CDaCP, CK IV is worth the time.especially in the audio version.
The sometimes caustic and always insightful tidbits about our culture and the icons in it were fascinating, hillarious, and at moments, surreal. I picked up a copy of Mr. I hadn't heard of him before and bought the CDs blindly. I laughed out loud - multiple times - and even found myself "rewinding" parts to hear them again. If you are conservative,nice, and decidedly uninterested in pop culture, you will likely find it offensive.Either way, you'll laugh out loud at something. I needed some driving company and his work seemed as good as any in the store.
In a 500-mile trip, I essentially became a Chuck Klosterman groupie. Klosterman's latest book on CD to listen to in my car as a commuter pick-me-up. I thoroughly enjoyed the CDs and found myself recommending them to friends. Let me say that this is probably the single best uninformed consumer purchase I have made. Maybe not ever, but at least this year. I even bought the printed version of this to read the essays that were not included on the CD version (it is abridged).If you like a dry, witty, intelligent (at times biting) sense of humor, you will likely love this book.
I guarantee it.
Other times, Klosterman comes off as though my iTunes learned to write at a "New Yorker" level.Still, my favorite essays were his opinion-styled columns on the Olympics, determining your archnemesis, and even a 24-hour VH1 binge. The most entertaining interviews I've read, Klosterman's short pieces on everyone from Britney Spears to Val Kilmer to Steve Nash work on so many levels. Some of them make me actually wonder if I haven't met and become best friends with these people, as Klosterman's questions and descriptions seem to delve that deeply into his subject's psyche. He says things that strike so close to home and are so simple in their brilliance that you hate yourself for not thinking them first, but his wit and humor make it impossible to hate him.His short "fictional" story at the end, like his longer semi-autobiographical "Killing Yourself to Live," was underwhelming, but considering that it accounted for at most 10% of the total book, he can be forgiven for that.My third time around with Klosterman, and I can say definitively that he's a winner. I'll read anything he writes.
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