Apparently I have been unconsciously and in turn inactively wanting to read another book by Chuck Klosterman ever since I finished "Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs" during a short-lived hosting job in Denver.
I walked up to the checkout at the bookstore and was ready to spend only 20 bucks on 5 books. It was a good day, all the semi-intellectual books were on sale, because this bookstore was on the St.Cloud State University Campus, and come on, no one reads books at SCSU. Hell, I still haven't read those books I bought there. I'd hate to think I bought them purely for aesthetic purposes only. Fuck. Now I have to read them. Anyways, on my way towards the checkout I saw this black book with large white lettering. "Chuck Klosterman. IV" I didn't know what it was about, but two factors made me buy it; 1 being Chuck Klosterman and 2 being it had a 30% off sticker.
I just finished this book at my current job as a hotel desk clerk. I have a good feeling this one will last longer than that hosting job. This book is a collection of Klosterman's work as a contributing writer for Spin, Esquire, Page 2 and the Akron Beacon Journal. The first section of the book is labeled as, "Things That Are True" which isn't just a clever name. It's comprised of interviews he did with people that range from Britney Spears to Steve Nash to Robert Plant. It's especially entertaining to read the Spears interview, which is from 2003. While I was reading it, I couldn't help and think about the current day Britney and how during this interview, Klosterman seemed to have a Nostradomic like sense of what was to come in the future for Ms. Spears.
The second part of the book is entitled, "Things That Might Be True" which is a collection of "opinions and theories". Basically it was a bunch of short stories based on factual things that spun out of control like a wicked acid trip. Not that I would know about that personally, but I've heard things. Even though it was a collection of articles he had already written and published (mainly for Esquire, it seems) he updated the stories by prefacing them with hypothetical situations accompanied by questions about what you would do. I really wish I could hear his answers for them. After reading those questions I got a feeling in my stomach like there are correct answers, but I will never find out what those answers are. Along with the hypothetical questions, he also added footnotes to the story, updating the information or changing his opinions on certain things (like writing about Jason Bateman before Arrested Development, before it was “cliché”).
The last section of this book was, "Something That Isn't True At All", which is a novella "loosely" based on his life. And when I say "loosely" I mean the character has pretty much the same job, same appearance and same demeanor (from what I can tell, for I have never meet Klosterman and will never meet his fictional character). The main differences between the two is that Klosterman is not addicted to angel dust and the events in the story never actually happened to him...yet.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There were a few stories that didn't really capture my interest. One of them had a footnote on the second page that said this was a mediocre piece that he mainly just wrote because he had to, so if he's saying it's mediocre, that can't be good. The other piece was about Barry Bonds. This book was a very easy read, especially for an ADHD kid like me. The short interviews and stories kept it interesting and made it possible to read page after page. I would definitely read this one again, after I finish those other books I bought at the SCSU bookstore.
* * * * out of * * * * *
or * * out of * * * * (read the book, you'll get it)
(photo credit a2.vox.com)
