Chuck Klosterman is the patron saint of Dead End Follies. I've started this blog a couple months before reading any of his books, but it's only after spending a couple enraptured days with his essay collection Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs that I figured out what to do with it. I had found a successful literary figure who cared about the same things I cared about and who thought of his everyday life with an intensity I recognized in myself too. I have yet to figure out how to be as goddamn consistent with my thinking as he is, but I always gain mystic analytical powers whenever I read (or reread) one of his books.
What does Chuck Klosterman thinks and writes about? Obscenely popular recording artists, professional sports, the ethics of consumerism, modern zombies, the mechanics of cultural phenomenons and thinking critically about the world we're being sold every day. The main knock against Klosterman is that he writes about unimportant things, which I believe is not true. What you're being sold should be as important to you as what is (politics, terrorism, war) because that is what shapes you as a human being. If you're not traveling regularly or getting involved with war refugees, there is a good chance that your opinions on Game of Thrones tells something more pertinent about you than whatever you might think about terrorism.
Klosterman has a new book out in June titled: But What if We Were Wrong? Thinking About the Present as if it were the Past and I'm pretty darn giddy about it. Expect an early review if I can get my hands on a goddamn review copy. It's harder to get in contact with his publisher Blue Rider Press than to break into North Korea. If anybody has a line on them, please holler *. Either way, you're getting a review in June. In the meantime, In the meantime, I invite you to read my reviews of his previous books and pick up some of his earlier works. If you like this blog, there is a great chance that you love Chuck Klosterman.
Fiction
* Send me an email at benoitlelievre (at) gmail (dot) com.