This book purports to be the record of Chuck Klosterman's pilgrimmage to the U.S. sites hallowed by the deaths of assorted rock 'n' roll personages. That's not really what it's about. Or, that's what it's about in only the very loosest sense. Probably only around 5% of the 235 pages of text are actually devoted to the thesis Chuck set out to write about when he left New York. That's alright. The rest is written affably, and I enjoyed it a lot. I read it in fewer than ten waking hours, which is EXTREMELY fast for me.

Klosterman put me in touch with my inner teenager, obsessed as I was with "love, death, and rock 'n' roll" (p. 234). I remember feeling that way, and the book mostly made me realize how much work it was to walk around smoldering like that all the time. It is absolutely bizarre how much more time you spend thinking about your mortality when you're sixteen than when you're twenty-six. Klosterman never quit feeling that way, apparently, but luckily, he's more articulate than my friends were when I was in high school. I'd highly recommend this to recovering teenagers looking for something to read on a lazy afternoon.

probably my favorite of his, Klosterman travels around the US to different grave yards and murder grounds of famous rockers throughout the ages including Elvis, Kurt Cobain, and Jeff Buckley. his style is immaculate and very catchy. this book came out during the time I was all syked when new Klosterman came out. so yeah, I got it signed haha. ( )

At first, I thought I would love reading this -- it was Eggers-y (road-trip, life dilemmas, made fun of itself for being Eggers-y) and there were hip little jokes about popular music. But it lost steam about halfway through and his ending soliloquy (actually spoken by his editor) about whether anyone would actually care about his non-love story with little plot or personal development was a little too on-point. He should've taken her advice. ( )

I bought this book because I really liked reading Xhuck Klosterman's articles in 'Spin' magazine. Turns out he doesn't work out so well when he has a whole book to ramble about Led Zeppln.

The book has a really great premise (he travels to places where famous musicians have died in a quest to gain some insight into death, pop culture, and music), and it does have some really funny and really insightful parts.

Too bad 80% of the book is about chicks Chuck Klosterman has made it with. ( )

A fun listen.

A man and a woman are happily married for 10 years. During the tenth year the man dies unexpectedly. At the funeral the (now-) widow meets a man and greatly enjoys her conversation with him. A week later the widow kills her sister.

What happened?

If you're normal, you say that the widow killed the sister because she was talking to her husband.

If you're schizophrenic, you say that the widow killed the sister because she enjoyed the conversation with the man at the funeral and wants to go to another funeral in order to see him again.

Of the folks I've posed this question to, I've only had one who gave the schizophrenic response. ( )