Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story | 
 enlarge | Author: Chuck Klosterman
Creator: Patrick Lawlor
Publisher: Tantor Media
Category: Book
List Price: $29.99
Buy New: $13.97
You Save: $16.02 (53%)
New (21) from $13.97
Avg. Customer Rating:  88 reviews
Sales Rank: 1529498
Format: Audiobook, Cd
Media: Audio CD
Edition: Unabridged
Number Of Items: 6
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.4 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 1400101700
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9781400101702
ASIN: 1400101700
Publication Date: August 1, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Ships immediately! Perfect and New- factory sealed! Unabridged. 2005 Audio CD.
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Product Description
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. 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 that means for the rest of us.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 83 more reviews...
 Not What You Expect September 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Whoever coined the phrase "you can't judge a book by its cover" saw this one coming. This book is a decent read if you're into first person narratives about contemporary pop culture.
I stumbled upon this book when some dude who had been reading it in a coffee shop suddenly stood up and angrily slam dunked it into a trash can. Intrigued by any piece of writing that could provoke such a visceral reaction I retrieved it and began to read.
It did not take long to discover the why some readers despise this book. As rock journalism goes it is basically an off topic response. When Klosterman does meander towards the genre his lack of objectivity is stunning. He openly despises almost all rock and roll born of the 60s (for example he says matter-of-factly that Eric Clapton sucks and his immense disdain for Jim Morrison pops up again and again) but he idolizes Kiss to the point that he sees the band as perfect ongoing metaphor for every meaningful relationship he has ever had with a woman. In a book that purports to be about death and rock & roll he spends dozens of pages on the mighty Kurt Cobain in his "Seattle" section without ever mentioning Jimi Hendrix.
Bottom Line: If you are interested in the relationship between mortality and rock & roll this book is very likely to let you down in the extreme. At best Klosterman pokes at the subject a bit here and there while lambasting you with his own personal biases. However, the book is actually a pretty fun read as long as you pretend its a Douglas Coupland novel. It is well written and is quite entertaining. If this was a novel about a guy from the sticks who somehow manages to become a sophomoric NYC rock critic it would be brilliant.
Not the best of Klosterman's work, but can be a worthwhile read. August 25, 2008
One thing I've learned from this book is that despite the fact that individual Amazon reviews are often opinions I don't even remotely agree with, I certainly value the overall score. This Klosterman book probably has the lowest score of all of his books on Amazon, and after reading it, I certainly understand why.
It seems like he wrote this book to pass time by, or maybe to earn some extra cash on the side, as opposed to his other books, which aren't as forced. There are times when I read his essays and I burst out laughing to the extent that I have to read passages multiple times. This book just isn't really funny. It's not as sarcastic, it's not as cynical, and it's not as smart. His investigation, overall, is boring, and that means he did something wrong: writing a book about tragic deaths of rock icons is actually a really interesting topic. I don't mind that he spends so much time rambling about his ex girlfriends (and, well, current girlfriends) because it ends up making sense in the end, but he's too much in his own head and has little venom for the pop culture he is such an excellent critic of.
That said, while I'd read anything he wrote, this is the least interesting of all of them. This may have to do with age (I'm 12 years younger than he is, and sometimes he goes back further in rock history than I can identify with). He's also a better essay writer than an actual novelist: Klosterman is a columnist, a reporter, not really an author. His other books (particularly IV and Sex, Drugs & Cocoa Puffs) are collections of essays/columns. So, all in all, worth the read, if you can find it for a few bucks on Amazon or [...], it's worth it, but overall this is the least interesting of his books.
 Narcissistic, yes, plus insulting! August 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This "journalist" is not qualified to comment on the multitude of musical artists he bashes; this fact is obvious by the evidence that the book wanders through his boyish experiences with women--which are, pathetic.
Aside from his boring, self-indulgent babble regarding first-time female experiences and pointless encounters with drugs and new-found friends, he blatantly insults some of the most legendary artists of all time, downplaying their careers and success (ie, relates the career of Waylon Jennings to the Dukes of Hazzard theme song). As the book progressed (if you want to call it that), the author continues to demonstrate his lack of research and/or knowledge about any of the individuals he speaks of, showing his lack of interest and his own immaturity in being able to draw any meaningful takeaways.
The author, for instance, goes to the Skynyrd plane wreck site, but does nothing once he gets there. Thanks for sharing. Profound. Do you have any first-hand experiences with members of this band? Then you just aren't qualified to say a word.
I couldn't endure the last few chapters. It went in the trashcan. Don't bother. It's the worst book I've ever encountered. And by the way, love how it is plastered with positive quotes from the press on the inside cover. I'd love to read the full reviews, because I am certain these blurbs are nothing but cherrypicking. A young, uninformed egomaniac who needs to go back to writing single newspaper paragraphs about local talent.
 Chuck Klosterman is the kind of man I would want a summer romance with July 16, 2008
JUST SHUT UP AND BUY IT. I've read this and a Decade of Dangerous and they are both highly entertaining and very addicting if you are into music, obsessive habits and cosmic ideas. If you do not have a sense of humor, do not buy this book. If laughing out loud in quiet public settings is not your forte, then maybe you should pass on this one. I've bought many copies for that special kind of friend and the ones I haven't met yet. -amen
Unfathomable, in a not so good way... July 14, 2008
Overall, I guess you could say I kind of enjoyed it...
However, I was really suprised to see how he wrote endlessly about himself. This book is completely lacking an insightful, charming, and inspiring voice - like I thought it would have. There were very few "laugh out loud" moments and I just found that I couldn't wait to finish reading it. This book didn't have any realism; any soul. I felt like he was just talking out of his butt, so I found him hard to fathom, hard to grasp, and hard to relate to. Whether this is 85% of a real story or not, he didn't give enough analysis or honesty for me to believe any of it.
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