I started and finished A Sense of Direction in one evening; I couldn't really stop thinking about it, so I couldn't put it down. I found it...
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An affirmation of the self-importance and fragility of life weighed against the legend-making act of death, Chuck Klosterman's "Killing Yourself To Live" is an introspective look at one's life, lived vicariously through others. Still with me? Klosterman's writing style is punctuated by egregious idioms and over-the-top, non-sequitor, often tiresome cultural references. He embarks on a road trip, zig zagging the country seeking out major monuments in death in rock and roll history and uses these somber meccas to affirm his own self-importance of life in an attempt to convince you to feel the same. It's a quick and dirty ride as you sit in the passenger seat of Taun Taun, the nickname Klosterman dubs his rental car - after the wooly creature from the planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back - and are taken from Hotel Chelsea in NYC to Graceland to Seattle, visiting the last sights of highly influential musicians. Are classics and legends made classic and legendary by their untimely deaths? Are they humanized by their demise or entered into history as martyrs of the forever young?
Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?
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Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story by Chuck Klosterman
brian.stowell, January 2, 2010
An affirmation of the self-importance and fragility of life weighed against the legend-making act of death, Chuck Klosterman's "Killing Yourself To Live" is an introspective look at one's life, lived vicariously through others. Still with me? Klosterman's writing style is punctuated by egregious idioms and over-the-top, non-sequitor, often tiresome cultural references. He embarks on a road trip, zig zagging the country seeking out major monuments in death in rock and roll history and uses these somber meccas to affirm his own self-importance of life in an attempt to convince you to feel the same. It's a quick and dirty ride as you sit in the passenger seat of Taun Taun, the nickname Klosterman dubs his rental car - after the wooly creature from the planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back - and are taken from Hotel Chelsea in NYC to Graceland to Seattle, visiting the last sights of highly influential musicians. Are classics and legends made classic and legendary by their untimely deaths? Are they humanized by their demise or entered into history as martyrs of the forever young?Sub-question: is it in fact unfair to criticize a formerly great artist for his latter day sins, is it better to burn out or fade away?
(2 of 3 readers found this comment helpful)