Declare About Books Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
| Title | : | Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story |
| Author | : | Chuck Klosterman |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 245 pages |
| Published | : | June 13th 2006 by Scribner (first published 2005) |
| Categories | : | Nonfiction. Music. Autobiography. Memoir. Humor. Culture. Pop Culture. Writing. Essays |
Chuck Klosterman
Paperback | Pages: 245 pages Rating: 3.81 | 27166 Users | 1176 Reviews
Description In Pursuance Of Books Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
Building on the national bestselling success of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, preeminent pop culture writer Chuck Klosterman unleashes his best book yet—the story of his cross-country tour of sites where rock stars have died and his search for love, excitement, and the meaning of death. For 6,557 miles, Chuck Klosterman thought about dying. He drove a rental car from New York to Rhode Island to Georgia to Mississippi to Iowa to Minneapolis to Fargo to Seattle, and he chased death and rock ‘n’ roll all the way. Within the span of twenty-one days, Chuck had three relationships end—one by choice, one by chance, and one by exhaustion. He snorted cocaine in a graveyard. He walked a half-mile through a bean field. A man in Dickinson, North Dakota, explained to him why we have fewer windmills than we used to. He listened to the KISS solo albums and the Rod Stewart box set. At one point, poisonous snakes became involved. The road is hard. From the Chelsea Hotel to the swampland where Lynyrd Skynyrd’s plane went down to the site where Kurt Cobain blew his head off, Chuck explored every brand of rock star demise. He wanted to know why the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing...and what this means for the rest of us.
Specify Books Concering Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
| Original Title: | Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story |
| ISBN: | 0743264460 (ISBN13: 9780743264464) |
| Edition Language: | English |
Rating About Books Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
Ratings: 3.81 From 27166 Users | 1176 ReviewsCommentary About Books Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
As a longtime admirer of Chuck Klostermans writing on pop music and culture, it pains me to report that his latest book, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, is a dismal, shoddy piece of work. The premise is promising: Klosterman sets out on a cross-country road trip to visit all of the sites of rock n rolls long, rich history of death. It seems a brilliant idea Klostermans combination of irreverence and curiosity make him the perfect candidate to unseat the holy-pilgrimageThere's really nothing I could say about this book that would make it sound appealing to anyone other than thirtysomething music nerds. Klosterman on assignment from Spin magazine travels cross-country visiting some of music most infamous death sites. In the course of his travels he ruminates on life, love, and KISS. Klosterman's takes on pop culture are unfailingly funny, usually right on the mark, and more often than not reflect things I wish I had said myself. The whole book was like catnip
Made it to page 54 before I felt like I just might throw this book into a dumpster. I can't understand someone who is fascinated and in awe of an author who wrote about what music she'd listen to if she ever was brave enough to slit her wrists and bleed to death to, and yet finds no majesty, beauty or history in seeing the Washington Monument (or any monument in DC) or the Grand Canyon. He finds these "things" pointless, but music-to-suicide-to worth writing an entire chapter about. No thanks.
Witty, charming, hilarious and offbeat. Chuck Klosterman feels like the real life personification of Rob from High Fidelity. Eager to read more of his work!
Klosterman has a voice like no other. I've never read a book that made me feel so intellectually stimulated. I instantly wanted to tell everyone I knew to read this book so that we could have intellectual conversations about life, death, love. The book is supposed to be about Chuck's journey to find out what makes a rock star a legend when they die early. Not much of the book is dedicated to this topic. It's more of the back-story of the book, not necessarily the thesis of it. There were times
I wanted this book to be a Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation"-style account of the US history of rock n roll deaths as narrated by the typically witty Chuck Klosterman. That seemed like that's what this book was going to be. BUT IT WAS NOT. RNR history occupies maybe 2% of this book. 3% = talking about how great he thinks Radiohead is, 3% = talking about how great he thinks KISS is, 10% = talking about writing about music for a living and how much he hates the idea of this roadtrip, 30% =
I have loved some of Klosterman's writing, but this book is really not for me. It's about Chuck spending 5 weeks driving around the country, mostly by himself, locating the places where famous rock musicians have died. And he has some tremendous one-liners thrown in there, but Chuck and I don't care for the same music, and I just never really got into his chapter after chapter of how this or that song/album/group moved him, and his thoughts on how/where that person died. If you are a serious
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