His latest book, Chuck Klosterman IV, is really more of a collection or works he has written with SPIN and Esquire magazines, but also contain footnotes from the future that seek to explain some lines and place you within the context of the piece. Before we begin, understand that I am a huge fan of Klosterman. Klosterman presents himself as an extremely witty and sarcastic cultural writer, but also presents extreme common sense that many people (I hope) can understand and attach to in his books. I've read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Eating the Dinosaur, and Downtown Owl and I haven't been able to stop.
With that said, Chuck Klosterman IV is brilliant. Most of this work deals with musician interviews like Brittany Spears, Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Led Zepplin's Robert Plant, and so forth. If you're into understand the people behind the lyrics, this book is for you. Some of my favorite parts also have nothing to do with music, like a chapter that deals with Goths going to Disneyland, or Chuck deciding to eat Chicken Mcnuggets for an entire week. These interludes are perfect in spacing out the subject material. So if we had to put a number on it, I'd say 65% of this book is music related, and everything else is everything else. Chuck manages to make me laugh out loud (which is hard to do reading alone) about Val Kilmer at his ranch, and Brittany Spears not wearing pants. Although the ending of the book ends in an existential putter, endings of these collections of essays are not really all that important. It could end randomly about an essay on KISS, and I would have no problem with it. I burned through 300 pages of essays faster than 67 pages of science fiction. His books really keep you turning because of a wealth of modern interesting material, and his smart commentary. Klosterman is excellent at making friends laugh (read Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs essay "Billy Sim" and you'll be on the floor), and making intellectuals ponder (read "It Never Happened" from Eating the Dinosaur). What's important is that even for those who don't like reading, you can find something in here to keep your attention. Klosterman is appealing and enthralling.
Chuck Klosterman IV is just as effective at entertaining and informing as his previous works and in this case almost more so. A 5/5 is absolutely necessary because so far this was my favorite book to read this whole year. If you can pick it up, I hope you do, if not I can let you borrow it for those that know me. Chuck Klosterman is a writer for our time, and it's important that we understand that. So PLEASE read one of his books, before all the culture goes away.
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