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A review by erikbergstrom
Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story by Chuck Klosterman
3.0
Often the success of any good book, nonfiction or fiction, is in how the writer keeps his or her promise with the reader based on the premise and the thesis stated in the beginning. I'm not sure Klosterman does that with this book. It's basically a rambling exercise of his thoughts, most of them personal and uninteresting related to his love life. I wanna hear about the music, man!
Chuck started his humble writing career at the same cold, upper Midwestern college as me and got big on how he crafted his essays and articles with humor and wit and charm. Basically, he's the one who got out! But here, he seems to meander a bit from his promise of delivering us an interesting road trip tale featuring dead musicians littering the landscape. The most he gives any story is one of his first, the Station night club fire. Here, he's at his best—showing off his roots as a farmboy from North Dakota by relating more to the kind of people who'd attend a Great White show in the 2000s and not making them a punchline like most others.
Other best parts include his thoughts on Led Zeppelin, KISS, and the state of Montana. The first time I chuckled out loud was past the halfway point, though, which may not be what he was going for.
ANYWAY, I'll maybe check out some of Chuck's earlier stuff, or even some of his more recent stuff to see how far he's strayed from his potential, but skip this one if you're looking for some peak Chuck.
Chuck started his humble writing career at the same cold, upper Midwestern college as me and got big on how he crafted his essays and articles with humor and wit and charm. Basically, he's the one who got out! But here, he seems to meander a bit from his promise of delivering us an interesting road trip tale featuring dead musicians littering the landscape. The most he gives any story is one of his first, the Station night club fire. Here, he's at his best—showing off his roots as a farmboy from North Dakota by relating more to the kind of people who'd attend a Great White show in the 2000s and not making them a punchline like most others.
Other best parts include his thoughts on Led Zeppelin, KISS, and the state of Montana. The first time I chuckled out loud was past the halfway point, though, which may not be what he was going for.
ANYWAY, I'll maybe check out some of Chuck's earlier stuff, or even some of his more recent stuff to see how far he's strayed from his potential, but skip this one if you're looking for some peak Chuck.