Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman

Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman. With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an almost effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter, Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Pamela Anderson and literary Jesus freaks. And don't even get him started on his love life and the whole Harry-Met-Sally situation.

Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/Lakers rivalry, Chuck will make you think, he'll make you laugh, and he'll drive you insane -- usually all at once. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about art, entertainment, infotainment, sports, and politics but -- really -- it's about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever 'in and of itself.' 

I quite enjoyed this. It's not really a story, more like a collection of thoughts and opinions put into a book. I suppose it's not unlike one of Jeremy Clarkson's books. It also reminded me a little of Freakonomics (not the economics part).

It definitely has some entertaining moments (which I read out loud to The Trucker) and others that don't make as much sense to a non-American (Celtics/Lakers, whatwhat?). The only other super annoying thing about the book was all the footnotes. Which, seem to be the MOST annoying thing ever on a Kindle o_0 It's easy enough to click and get to the footnote, but how in the hell do you get back to where you were busy reading? (If there is a way to do this please could someone tell me, cause it was not glaringly obvious to me). So I stopped bothering reading those rather quickly.

Anyhoo, I enjoyed this as a little light entertainment :)

1 comment:

Paula Gruben said...

I LOVE the title of this book, waha!!

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