Country: USA
Genre: Non-Fiction/Essays
Pages: 398
Britney's secret garden will not be seen this afternoon, or at least not seen by me. All her pictures are ultimately shot behind a fifteen-foot-high opaque partition, and nary a heterosexual man is allowed behind its wall. Apparently the reason I am here is to be reminded that the essence of Birtney Spears' rawest sexuality is something I will never seen even though I know it's there. This is why I am a metaphor for America and this is also why Britney Spears is a metaphor for the American Dream.
It's a minor tragedy in the American cultural landscape that Chuck Klosterman is considered a literary eccentricity. Really, I don't know why his books aren't ferociously discussed on national television, chic intellectual cafes and internet message boards is beyond me. Here's a guy who takes REAL pop culture (not abstract concepts) and deconstructs it for you to understand with a classy but straightforward approach. Writers like Klosterman are literally a physical link in between Academia and the normal world, something most people have given up on. IV: A DECADE OF CURIOUS PEOPLE AND DANGEROUS IDEAS is more of a greatest hits rather than a book of new material, but I'd say it's Klosterman in a tip-top shape. More mature, serious, focused and a little bit darker (oh yeah, I went there). It's a little scattered, but I'm not going to complain about a four hundred pages greatest hits.
The book is separated in three sections: Things That Are True (Portraits and whatnot), Things That Might Be True (essays, mostly short ones he wrote for Esquire) and Something That Isn't True At All (a semi-autobiographical novella). The portraits section starts off with a roar, with Britney Spears and Bono. While Klosterman does his journalist job at making the personality of his subject transpire through his piece, he adds his trademark subjective remarks and this is what made these articles take a life of their own. You see that 1) he's an honest guy and 2) he has a rather big pair of balls. While most journalist would have droned through an interview with Britney Spears out of pure respect for her superstar status, Klosterman questioned her about "the concept of the wet-hot virgin" that she was marketed on. The answers she gives reveal a darker side of Britney that I had never seen before in interview.
Not all the Things That Are True pieces are good, I thought the articles on Disneyland's goth day and the celebrated rock cruise one were too observational and a little flat and some others like DEBRIEFING AGENT ZERO, on NBA's official madman Gilbert Arenas were great but extremely short. Most pieces are worth a read. The portraits of Radiohead and Wilco's singer Jeff Tweedy are done in a super respectful way and I thought it was really cool to see Klosterman interview bands he had a genuine interest for. That leads us to the Things That Might Be True section, which was considerably shorter, but had some nice surprises.
I refuse to discuss abortion with anyone who is pro-life or pro-choice; I refuse to discuss affirmative action with any unemployed white guy or any unemployed black guy. All the world's stupidest people are either zealots of atheists. If you want to truly deduce how intelligent someone is, just ask this person how they feel about any issue that doesn't have an answer; the most certainty they express, the less sense they have. This is because certainty only comes from dogma.
Boom. I have often criticized Klosterman's ironic stance in reviews and discussions in the past, but it's almost absent from the Things That Might Be True section. Most of his essays are from an column he had in Esquire, where he tackled general pop culture issues and in most of them he shows a relentless passion and yes, even a darker side. The quote is from a piece he wrote on the Olympics and the hypocrisy of partisanship of something you don't care about (he gives for example Women's 3000 M race), just because the athletes compete under your national banner. Klosterman, a long time sports enthusiast, explains there what partisanship means to him and one has to realize it's a deep relationship*. NOT GUILTY, where he slams the concept of guilty pleasure is also an absolute delight to read.
The novella at the end is a puzzling piece, not only because it's short, but because it's fast paced, manic and nothing much happens. There's not much material to talk about, except that you should expect me to review DOWNTOWN OWL, his first full novel, sooner than later and this novella has something to do about this decision.
Pop Culture might not be important for you. Maybe it's just something that is, like water for fishes **. To me, it's something alive, that constantly changes and evolves, but that keeps trying to sell things to me. So, I find it important to remain aware and critical about it. If Pop Culture would be a river, Chuck Klosterman would be that biologist that gauges the pollution levels. IV: A DECADE OF CURIOUS PEOPLE AND DANGEROUS IDEAS is particularly satisfying, because Klosterman left his overbearing hipster irony at the door while writing it***. It's also a good place to start with him, because he's at his most presentable. Writing for magazines will do that to you, you will remain polite, objective and professional. Klosterman does all that while keeping his inquisitive edge. IV: A DECADE OF CURIOUS PEOPLE AND DANGEROUS IDEAS is my favorite book of his, so far.
* While I understand that, this piece might offend some people. In both case, it's polarizing.
** Oh yeah, I went there. Again
*** He's still funny, but it's not judgmental.