Chuck Klosterman's latest book purports to be a cross-country journey to the sites where rock stars died -- in Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, he promises to investigate how "the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing."
It sounds like a simple concept, but Klosterman makes an obscene amount of pop culture references, including a short play that summarizes every conversation he's had in Los Angeles (a city he loathes), a track-by-track explanation of why Radiohead's Kid A prophesizes September 11, 2001 and a comparison between the girls he has loved and the members of KISS.
Long before he deems Thomas Jefferson "hands down, the coolest president in American history," you'll wonder if this is the same book that promised to teach you about dead rock stars. Klosterman readily admits that his novel concept has de-railed; he ends up writing a book about death and love, one-in-the-same in his mind.
Killing's style is blatantly manipulative; when you start to notice Klosterman's self-conscious prose, the author immediately compares himself to nu-memoir golden child Dave Eggers (author of A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius). It becomes difficult to create your own opinion of Klosterman when he vehemently suggests how you should read his work.
But even with Klosterman's heart and mind on his sleeve, it's difficult to categorize his personality. He's a former high-school jock; he's the guy who wrote for the college newspaper; he's the sincere Midwest kid who thinks he's not cool enough to snort cocaine (although he sometimes does); he genuinely likes Rod Stewart, though his musings in hipster music rag Spin pay the bills. He is the intimidating guy who knows more about movies, music and sports than you ever will; he is the guy that is hopeless in relationships, though neither he nor you quite know why.
Perhaps the "why" is his constant analysis of women within the book. Killing names every single woman with whom Klosterman has ever been romantically involved, and often shares the intimacies of his relationships and breakups. He pulls the reader in close, then refuses vital details. In his self-conscious style, he not only refuses details, but calls attention to the fact that he keeps his readers in the dark, to frustrating effect.
That said, Klosterman maintains the revised goal of his pseudo-memoir: a story of love and death. As you read, you aren't too frustrated before he arrives at the next site of rock-and-roll demise.
Some visits (such as the Rhode Island club where 90-plus Great White fans perished) are extremely poignant. When Klosterman visits the sites of other deaths, however, his clever pop culture references and philosophical posturing fail. One wonders why he spent the time and gas money to arrive, look around and say so little about the experience and its larger meaning.
Still, Killing Yourself to Live will make you laugh out loud; it'll make you cry; it'll make you want to quote, kill and be Chuck Klosterman.
After all, it's his road trip. So if you're willing to be flexible, just sit back and let him take the wheel.
Read More
The best albums of 2014
By Noah Zeidman | December 4, 2014Across genres, it has been a pretty great year in music.
Top 10 movies of 2014
December 4, 2014This has been an excellent year for film, offering everything from gripping blockbusters to innovative personal films.
Iggy Azalea is “Reclassified”
December 4, 2014It has become common practice among music artists to repackage their albums in an effort to simultaneously boost single sales and dish out new content by slightly renaming the album or slapping “Deluxe” onto the title.
