In the early part of the last decade…well, maybe the last, last decade…Chuck Klosterman was sent out on a vaguely defined assignment by his employer, Spin Magazine. The assignment was to explore some of rock music’s more or less notorious sites of rock star deaths. He gets in a rental car and just goes. And on the way he pontificates on many things…his lost loves, his current loves, what it means to love, why Nirvana is totally misremembered, why Kurt Cobain’s death bumped PJ from being the much hotter band at the time…but most pointedly, he tackles death and what it means for the popularity of your band…

And it goes on this wild ride which goes across the country. It’s a digressionary style, flowing from thought to thought and there is no telling when he will take a turn and talk about Kiss or Falco or the Grand Canyon or what it’s like to talk to someone from Los Angeles…I at first compared it to a really well-written zine. Now I’m thinking I want to write a zine like Chuck Klosterman writes a book…maybe I already do….

And I’m sorry if my description of this book is so bad, but I just wanted to say that I loved it so much and I have to agree with one of the assessments on the back cover which compares reading this with going on a road trip with a really, really interesting dude. I found myself laughing out loud and nodding along with many of his observations. And I was indeed very sad to see it end.

After reading his book about the 90’s, I really wanted to read another Klosterman book. After now reading this, I want to read it again.

Dude’s arrogance pours thick and true out of every page. There’s an air of that early aughts misogyny that can be veiled behind a self-deprecating dive into the author’s own psyche. Ah, well. Can’t expect much more from a music critic whose favorite band is KISS.

No deja de ser una paja mental sobre amor, drogas y rockeros muertos (en ese orden), pero el autor tiene algunas ideas interesantes. Que parezca esforzarse por caerte mal lo hace más entretenido (spoiler: lo consigue).

I wish I hadn't wasted my time on this book. I kept thinking I would just stop reading, but then he would say something clever every once in awhile that made me think he was going somewhere with it. But, he wasn't.

Love is a Mixed Tape is similar but I thought that one was a much better book.