Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

If you're familiar with Klosterman, then you probably don't need these review. If you're not, then I highly recommend that you start familiarizing yourself with either this book, or his "Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs." Both are quick, smart, and humourous books. Chuck's a talented writer. "IV' is his latest work. I'm eager for my next installment of Klosterman. If you're into pop culture and taking something pointless and moronic and emphasising its importance and influence on our lives (the essay from "Sex..." concerning "Saved by the Bell" comes to mind) then I hihgly recommend Chuck Klosterman. This might be his best yet.

Chuck Klosterman's "IV" is a great book for those of us who love his writing but don't feel the need to subscribe to Esquire and the dozen or so other periodical publications Klosterman periodically writes in. This book is really just a kitchen sink book. He's piled a bunch of the articles that he's written over the past 10 years or so and has put them in this wonderful entertaining collection. The book is in three parts: (1) "Things That Are True" (a conglomeration of entertaining profile stories focusing on everything from Wilco to Morissey) (2) "Things That Might Be True" (columns and editorial articles telling about Advancement theories and the ideological differences between "Lost" and "Survivor") and (3) "Something That Isn't True At All" (a short work of fiction about a guy from Fargo who moves to Akron to be the newspaper film critic who smokes a lot of PCP. Klosterman categorizes this not as "fiction" but "reverse creativity.") The profiles are merely entertaining and shed a lot of light on how dumb or intelligent some of our favorite or most despised celebrities and musicians are. The columns are just as interesting and thought-provoking as the hypothetical questions that Klosterman uses as introductions for these columns. The hypotheticals have the same flavor of his 23 questions he poses in the middle of Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs which was personally, my favorite part of that book. These editorials are really what make this collection great as they give you something a little more substantial to contemplate than whether or not "When Harry Met Sally" is really screwing over the way that our society views relationships. Klosterman's fiction is downright awesome. It's comparable to Dave Eggers on, well angel dust. This is a great collection. Long time Klosterman devotees (or Esquire subscribers) will probably have already read half of the material in this book, but it's a great collection to own, so you can finally go recycle the dozens of issues of Esquire that have been sitting in a box in your basement for the last ten years. On the otherhand, if you're just getting into Klosterman's writing, this collection is a great place to play catch-up.

If you are familiar with Klosterman's work in such fine publications as Esquire or Spin, you know that his one article alone can sometimes make the longest lasting impression of that month's read. His fourth book, which is partially compiled from those essays, shows why many believe Klosterman is perhaps America's greatest critical/cynical observer of the modern life since guys like HST and Lester Bangs roamed the earth. (without the drugs of the former.) CK's stand-back-and-see what's-really happening take on everything from a Britney Spears photo shoot (is she just not self-aware or really extra savvy?), to a Dublin spin in Bono's Maserati, to senseless Olympic 'faux-patriotism' fandom, reality TV and the myth of monogamy, seriously questions one's own thinking with it's detached analysis and an overwhelming sense of "Oh, really?". (Plus, He's the only guy I know who bothers to make a list of bands that are 'accurately rated.') Of course, whether trying to be or not, this self acclaimed Gen-Exer is often dropkick hysterical. The book is divided into three sections - "Things That Are True," "Things That Might Be True" and "Something That Isn't True at All" the latter of which is the author's attempt at short fiction. What is true is that Klosterman wins on most all counts. Whether you agree with him or not, he puts his views front-and-center (or not) and let's you know that he doesn't necessarily look at life through the same filters as everyone else. In short, Klosterman rocks. - BlogOnBooks

I bought this one based mostly on the strength of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. While this one wasn't quite as strong as the last one, there were still plenty of thought provoking and laugh out loud passages. You definitely need to have a good understanding of pop culture to understand most of the references or even to know why he's asking Britney Spears questions about her iconic status. For those of us who don't have subscriptions to all of the magazines where these pieces originally ran, this is a good collection and well worth your time.

I wish I had the writing skills to properly review Chuck's latest work `Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas'. If I could explain to you that this book is unique and insightful, would that be enough for you to buy it? Probably not, but this does explain part of what makes Chuck such a compelling read. I constantly find myself laughing out loud at Chuck's cultural insights and observations. In some ways, I actually feel smarter from reading his essays because he sums up thoughts with a style of intellectual writing that I could only aspire to. To make matters better, Chuck has also included his various interview / cover pieces with some added footnotes and background information. Where else can you read informative and funny pieces about Britney Spears, Bono, and Metallica in one bound copy? Basically Chuck remains the only writer I know of that combines humor, wit, and intelligence when writing about seemingly inane cultural events and celebrities. This is a must own for all fans of Chuck's work. And if you have never read Chuck's work, please do yourself a favor and pick this up. You will not be disappointed!!