Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
by Chuck Klosterman
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Book Summary Information
Author: Chuck KlostermanEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-06-06
ISBN: 0743264460
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Scribner
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Book Reviews of Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
Book Review: A Suprisingly Funny Read.
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm going to start off with this: Chuck Klosterman's "Killing Yourself to Live" did something that most books haven't been able to do, even if they were crafted to, which was make me laugh. A lot. I'm honestly pretty excited if a book manages to get me to chuckle out loud, but this make had me rolling at some points.
I won't give a detailed plot of the book, but the main objective for Klosterman in this book was to travel around the United States to where ill-fated rock stars met their early demise, like the Chelsea Hotel where Sid Vicious passed along with his girlfriend, or where Buddy Holly died. He also visits Graceland and why everyone seemed to feel the death of Kurt Cobain.
The book also visits various topics along the way, things that seemingly pop into Klosterman's head on the journey. For example, why Led Zeppelin was everyone's favorite band at some point in their life or how everyone he's had a serious relationship with (and some who weren't that serious) can be fitted into the roll of a Kiss band member.
The book is dedicated to some of his most serious relationships. We see one of them during the book seemingly end, one that's up in the air, and one that he tries to rekindle, but never comes to fruition. At the end, and throughout the book, I certainly start to feel for him. Both because he's overly critical of a lot of his relationships, and he knows that this is a flaw he has to live with.
I've only read one other book of his, "Sex, Drugs, and Coco Puffs"(which I picked up on solely title a couple of years ago), but found myself enjoying this book immensely more than my previous read. If you enjoy a critical thinking of popular culture with a humorous twist, or literary memoirs, do yourself a favor and pick it up.
Summary of Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story
For 6,557 miles, Chuck Klosterman thought about dying. He drove a rental car from New York to Rhode Island to Georgia to Mississippi to Iowa to Minneapolis to Fargo to Seattle, and he chased death and rock 'n' roll all the way. Within the span of twenty-one days, Chuck had three relationships end -- one by choice, one by chance, and one by exhaustion. He snorted cocaine in a graveyard. He walked a half-mile through a bean field. A man in Dickinson, North Dakota, explained to him why we have fewer windmills than we used to. He listened to the KISS solo albums and the Rod Stewart box set. At one point, poisonous snakes became involved. The road is hard. From the Chelsea Hotel to the swampland where Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane went down to the site where Kurt Cobain blew his head off, Chuck explored every brand of rock star demise. He wanted to know why the greatest career move any musician can make is to stop breathing...and what this means for the rest of us.Music Books
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