85% of a True Author Reading
Spin writer Chuck Klosterman is to Nick Hornby as Augusten Burroughs is to David Sedaris.
That is, he's younger, and sounds similar, and he's maybe not quite as good at walking the line between ironic and precious, but he's nonetheless usually entertaining. (And because comparisons to Dave Eggers are almost mandatory when discussing Klosterman, we acknowledge that there is a stylistic resemblance.)
Like all of the abovementioned authors, some people love Klosterman and some people can't stand him. Some even loathe him so much they'll go into great detail comparing his face to a middle-aged man's ass, which isn't a school of lit crit we remember learning in college, but maybe it's post-postmodern or something.
Seattlest -- well, we don't quite love the man, but we like him an awful lot. Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs introduced us to Monkees = Monkees* and unique questions guaranteed to provoke interesting discussion even if you're not stoned. (Would you kick a Clydesdale to death if it meant freeing every unjustly imprisoned person in the world?)
We really enjoyed his latest book, Killing Yourself to Live, despite its heavy reliance on navel-gazing. We understand why some would damn it with faint praise like "sometimes reasonably entertaining." We see where complaints about the lack of plot are coming from.
But we don't care, because although it's more about Klosterman than dead musicians, it's also about the difficulties of making connections with other people (specifically, romantic connections with women) that feel authentic and solid. Even though we're married, we can relate.
And for every Eggers-esque digression that wanders a bit too far from the path, there's a bizarre but kind of touching metaphor comparing KISS albums with former girlfriends. If that doesn't sound appealing, this book is not for you.
Chuck Klosterman will be appearing at the University District branch of the UW Bookstore at 7 p.m. this Thursday, August 18.
*We posit that R.E.M. = Cheers. And we fully intend to read Fargo Rock City one of these days.
