Chuck Klosterman IV: Book Review

Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas
by, um, Chuck Klosterman

As part of the press run-up to the release of this, Chuck Klosterman's fourth book (hence the title) he was profiled by media organizations ranging from MSNBC all the way down to random Midwestern newspapers no one ever heard of. He's big time like that. I read a few of them and I notice they all made it a point to refer to him as the voice of his generation.

The amazing thing isn't so much that he's risen from local token Gen-X reporter out of Akron, Ohio to such a lofty perch in such a short period of time as the the fact that's he's done it by creating so very little of any real value.

Fargo Rock City, the book that got him a job at SPIN, would've been incredible if it was about anything other than '80s hair metal. Unfortunately it wasn't. Its follow-up, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, was great though and remains on best seller lists to this day. However, last year's Killing Yourself to Live, which I reviewed here, could very well be the most pointless book I ever read in my life, and trust that I've read some bullshit.

Which brings us to Chuck Klosterman IV, a collection of mostly previously published celebrity profiles, trend stories, and opinion columns for the likes of the aforementioned SPIN, Esquire, and the New York Times Magazine, as well as a few others.

Since the bulk of this collection only dates back to like '02, you have to wonder though: Is Chuck Klosterman really at the point in his career where he's done enough great work to warrant a 350 page-long career retrospective, or is he just so paid now that he figures he's not going to be doing as much magazine work anymore anyway, and so he might as well pawn this shit off while it's still halfway relevant?

The answer lies somewhere between the two, but sadly a bit closer to the latter than the former.

There's some really good stories in here, but only about enough to fill up a really thick pamphlet. Of what's left, most of it's at least enjoyable, but some of it decidedly isn't. One thing you notice is that Klosterman has gotten a lot better over time, and even more so in the past year or so. Some of the best stuff he's done for Esquire and the Times Magazine isn't even here. Meanwhile, I can't imagine even his own mother being interested in some of the shit he did in Fargo and Akron and, to a lesser degree, for SPIN magazine.

In terms of the Klosterman oeuvre, I'd recommend this second to only Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs - due primarily to the asinine nature of his other two books - but there's still only a fraction of this that's really essential. As they say in France, caveat emptor.