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howifeelaboutbooks's review
4.0
While writing at Spin, Klosterman is sent on an "epic" assignment of his choice. He decides to road trip around the United States, visiting places where rock stars have met their ends. As usual, Klosterman's obscure music knowledge is incredibly interesting to read about - learning lots of assorted trivia without having to seek it out on your own. I loved that this book also included an inspection of his own relationships, including the "deaths" of two of them. Klosterman has a great way of writing intimately about himself, but somehow taking himself out of it. I think he gives out just enough personal information to leave the reader to complete the story, without exploiting those he knows by spilling his guts across the page.
ekafritsas's review
2.0
I'm a fan of Klosterman's writing, and this book was no different. But, this was definitely not my favorite book. It really had no point...which I guess would have been fine, had the jacket not made it sound like it had one. Some chapters were more interesting than others, but mostly I just found myself wondering where he was going with the story.
tripolie's review
2.0
Got halfway through. Couldn't handle groaning any more. This book has not aged well.
calamityrach's review
Klosterman is a total hipster intellectual but honestly I am a such sucker for it.
pixarnerd's review
2.0
Lucy Chance was right haha. Those words at the end very neatly summed up my thoughts about the whole book.
trin's review
3.0
Reread. Apparently I felt like a dose of rock 'n' roll death. Sadly, there's really not enough of that in here for my taste (oh man, that statement is so wrong); in many ways, this book is more about Klosterman's failed relationships than about its ostensible purpose: touring the sites of a bunch of famous rock 'n' roll demises (from the room at the Chelsea Hotel in New York where Nancy Spungen was killed, to the greenhouse in Seattle where Kurt Cobain shot himself) and analyzing what effects these early deaths had on the musicians' legacies. The whole thing is very entertaining while you're reading it, but at the end I found myself wishing (and remembering having wished the first time around) that there was more actual death discussed, and less "death of Chuck's love life." Klosterman skirts around some theories about how an early demise can actually bring a musician a weird sort of immortality (the discussions of Jeff Buckley, and yeah, Cobain, are particularly interesting) but he never really presents any kind of thesis and, I dunno, I'd've sort of appreciated even a half-assed one. He also, in his rant about why he hates L.A. and considers it the worst city in the country, seems to confuse "Los Angeles" with "Hollywood." BUT THAT IS ANOTHER RANT I WILL NOT TOUCH TODAY. *restrains self*
But ANYWAY...there's still a lot to enjoy in this book. Klosterman is, as always, a highly readable writer. (See? Watch me pillage one of his more fun devices!) Thus, if you're in even a slightly morbid mood, I really do recommend it.
But ANYWAY...there's still a lot to enjoy in this book. Klosterman is, as always, a highly readable writer. (See? Watch me pillage one of his more fun devices!) Thus, if you're in even a slightly morbid mood, I really do recommend it.
_reading_with_kate_'s review
2.0
My favorite part was the bit at the end where the lady discouraged the author from writing the book.
angus_mckeogh's review
4.0
Great book. Really funny stuff. And well written as most of Klosterman's stuff is. Perhaps if the topic wasn't so vapid or nonsensical I'd give it 5 stars. But since he's riding around looking at the locations where rock stars died, I can't say this was one of the greatest books I've ever read.
spectracommunist's review
5.0
I'm really glad that I went through this in this particular phase of my life. It mainly revolves around punk rock and death but it also has several intertwined romance plots too, which constitute equal interests. I also enjoyed it as a travel memoir, meeting people and contemplating death and music as we've always strived to understand it with our own romantic frustrations and yet so romantic. I don't agree about everything Chuck says, but I believe that he has a fascinating and erudite perspective of whatever he talks about. And this work consists of a plethora of criticism about labels and quite interesting films too. Overall, I believe Chuck to be a fine rock critic, although I don't always agree with his ratings.
Well, I was in a heavy metal phase but now I feel like diverting to Audioslave and Alice in Chains.
Well, I was in a heavy metal phase but now I feel like diverting to Audioslave and Alice in Chains.