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Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Storyby Chuck Klosterman
Powells.com Staff Pick"Klosterman's observations on American society, music, and the affairs of the heart (his in particular), are wide-eyed, enthusiastic, and thoughtful. Laugh-out-loud funny also comes to mind....Joining Klosterman on his travels is a pure pleasure, especially in book form. I'd guess that he might drive me crazy had I literally joined him on his drive across country. But, while his observations and thoughts follow many tangents and his energy at times verges on manic, on this particular trip, he is delightful company." Georgie Lewis, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review) Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:For 6,557 miles, Chuck Klosterman thought about dying. He drove a rental car from New York to Rhode Island to Georgia to Mississippi to Iowa to Minneapolis to Fargo to Seattle, and he chased death and rock 'n' roll all the way. Within the span of twenty-one days, Chuck had three relationships end — one by choice, one by chance, and one by exhaustion. He snorted cocaine in a graveyard. He walked a half-mile through a bean field. A man in Dickinson, North Dakota, explained to him why we have fewer windmills than we used to. He listened to the KISS solo albums and the Rod Stewart box set. At one point, poisonous snakes became involved. The road is hard. From the Chelsea Hotel to the swampland where Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane went down to the site where Kurt Cobain blew his head off, Chuck explored every brand of rock star demise. He wanted to know why the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing...and what this means for the rest of us.
Review:"Klosterman follows up on 2003's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by expanding on an article he wrote for Spin about driving cross-country to visit several of America's most famous rock and roll death sites, from the Rhode Island club where more than 90 Great White fans died in a fire, to the Iowa field where Buddy Holly's plane crashed. Along the way, Klosterman opines on rock music, never afraid to offend — as when he interprets a Radiohead album as a 9/11 prophecy or reminds readers that before Kurt Cobain's suicide, many preferred Pearl Jam to Nirvana. The quest to uncover these deaths' social significance is quickly overwhelmed by Klosterman's personal obsessions, especially his agonizing over sexual relationships. He applies semifictional techniques to these concerns, inventing an imaginary conversation in the car with three girlfriends that becomes the book's centerpiece. This literary cleverness recalls classic gonzo journalism, but also contains a self-conscious edge, inviting comparison to Dave Eggers. Klosterman also worries his neuroses will brand him as 'the male Elizabeth Wurtzel,' but he needn't fret. Despite their shared subject matter of drug use and cultural musing, Klosterman has clearly established that he has a potent voice all his own. Agent, Daniel Greenburg. (July 19)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:"Klosterman's musings are pretty darn funny and well-articulated....[A] light and humorous read that sporadically touches on heavy issues. It's the literary equivalent of hanging out in a bar with good friends talking about dumb stuff, which is ultimately the only stuff that matters." San Antonio Express-News
Review:"[A] grim but snappy travelogue....Klosterman's keen eye for American pop-cultural themes and undercurrents facilitates thoughtful observation, and his prose brings those themes and undercurrents together in strange, fresh ways. A treat for the adventurous." Booklist
Review:"Writing in a stream-of-consciousness style, Klosterman talks more about himself than these famous ghosts....In the process, he delivers a sometimes hilarious but ultimately superficial account of the meaning and challenges of everyday life." Library Journal
Review:"I can't think of a more sheerly likable writer than Chuck Klosterman and his old-fashioned, all-American voice: big-hearted and direct, bright and unironic, optimistic and amiable, self-deprecating and reassuring — with a captivating lack of fuss or pretension. He's also genuinely funny and I pretty much agree with everything he says." Bret Easton Ellis
Review:"Thank God Chuck lives the life he does and writes the way he writes about it. It's not just autobiography; it's a vital form of truth, and he's the real thing." Douglas Coupland
Synopsis:Building on the national bestselling success of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, pop culture writer Klosterman unleashes his best book yet — the story of his cross-country tour of sites where rock stars have died and his search for love, excitement, and the meaning of death. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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