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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
Klosterman's collection of meditations on villainy is a quick-read. Referencing pop-culture creations and personas including Batman, Taylor Swift, Walter White, OJ Simpson, and yes, even Hitler, Klosterman explores his essential thesis that, "the person who knows the most and cares the least is the villain." I'd hoped for a few more tv culture references from the last decade, but Klosterman is, obviously, about 10 years older than me in the pop-culture game (judging by his numerous music and sports related anecdotes). I found this aspect of his frame of reference interesting -- as I was unfamiliar or tangentially aware at best of most of them.
I believe hist thesis has merit and his writing is both informed and entertaining.
I believe hist thesis has merit and his writing is both informed and entertaining.
informative
reflective
medium-paced
3 things about this book:
1) This books has aged terribly. Truly atrociously. The context of this book is so critical to its value that it’s almost archaic now.
2) I liked Klosterman more before I read this. Not because it’s about villains, just look at my reading history, but because he picks such boring villains to discuss. His American centred bullshit is tedious.
3) I hate white men claiming they are apolitical it’s just such a fucking cop out. Even in 2016 you can’t be apolitical, you are just comfortable in your status quo.
Overall, megh.
1) This books has aged terribly. Truly atrociously. The context of this book is so critical to its value that it’s almost archaic now.
2) I liked Klosterman more before I read this. Not because it’s about villains, just look at my reading history, but because he picks such boring villains to discuss. His American centred bullshit is tedious.
3) I hate white men claiming they are apolitical it’s just such a fucking cop out. Even in 2016 you can’t be apolitical, you are just comfortable in your status quo.
Overall, megh.
Cute.
I hate Chuck Klosterman. He has some wonky arguments I'm this book about how we decide whom is a good guy in our minds and who is a bad guy ; or why do we hate some people and not other people who may have been equivalently nasty or dumb or rich or lucky or.....whatever gets them into the news or under our skin.
I thought it dwelt an awful lot on pop culture and then I read the author is a pop culture writer. That explains his point of view and that he really can't help it, that's what he knows.
So perhaps I hate him a little less.
And then I found that some of his anecdotes and arguments are at least semi legitimate and frequently amusing.
So maybe I don't hate him that much.
Oh, and he's from Minnesota so he's clan.
Clan is the glue that binds us so I find that now I really love Chuck Klosterman.
Why is that?
3.5 stars
I hate Chuck Klosterman. He has some wonky arguments I'm this book about how we decide whom is a good guy in our minds and who is a bad guy ; or why do we hate some people and not other people who may have been equivalently nasty or dumb or rich or lucky or.....whatever gets them into the news or under our skin.
I thought it dwelt an awful lot on pop culture and then I read the author is a pop culture writer. That explains his point of view and that he really can't help it, that's what he knows.
So perhaps I hate him a little less.
And then I found that some of his anecdotes and arguments are at least semi legitimate and frequently amusing.
So maybe I don't hate him that much.
Oh, and he's from Minnesota so he's clan.
Clan is the glue that binds us so I find that now I really love Chuck Klosterman.
Why is that?
3.5 stars
funny
informative
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
An excellent collection of essays on personalities in pop culture perceived as villains.
I really liked a lot of the ideas presented in this, and actually learned a lot about different people in history. Very good.
Chuck Klosterman is like a cheerful David Foster Wallace: brilliant, knowledgeable, verbose, and potentially overanalytical. He connects social themes from a wide array of sources. There's music (his specialty), history, sports, politics, and pop culture in general. Some of them open up brand new areas of inquiry I'd never considered; others, like the essay on Sandusky/Paterno (something that strikes close to home -- I live in Central PA) are like a scalpel to the knots of worry I'd had in my own mind. I don't know how he does this, again and again, but this book is a fascinating inquiry into the nature of knowledge, posturing, and morality. I strongly recommend it.
"The villain is the person who knows the most but cares the least."
