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A review by mschlat
Beautifully Unique Sparkleponies: On Myths, Morons, Free Speech, Football, and Assorted Absurdities by Chris Kluwe
2.0
There a lot of reasons I should like this book --- it's written by a punter, it's aggressively liberal, and the humor is almost omnipresent. (The sparkleponies in the title represent Kluwe's attempt to replace some of his profanity with a more imaginative approach.) Heck, there are a few essays here with a science fiction bend that are positively inspired.
But I still found the book a slog to get through. Reason one is Kluwe's writing style, which is highly manic and hard for me to take in large doses. Reason two is Kluwe's earnestness. The book gets points from me for its takes on marriage equality, but I never felt that Kluwe advanced an argument that was based on anything besides his views on human rights. Everything was straightforward. I never really disagreed with him, but I also never saw any attempt to persuade or address nuance. Reason three (which I think Kluwe would agree with) is a lack of the personal. Kluwe almost always prefers to argue a principled stance instead of making a personal appeal. That's great for a letter to the editor or an online rant, but for an entire book, it feels sterile.
But I still found the book a slog to get through. Reason one is Kluwe's writing style, which is highly manic and hard for me to take in large doses. Reason two is Kluwe's earnestness. The book gets points from me for its takes on marriage equality, but I never felt that Kluwe advanced an argument that was based on anything besides his views on human rights. Everything was straightforward. I never really disagreed with him, but I also never saw any attempt to persuade or address nuance. Reason three (which I think Kluwe would agree with) is a lack of the personal. Kluwe almost always prefers to argue a principled stance instead of making a personal appeal. That's great for a letter to the editor or an online rant, but for an entire book, it feels sterile.