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Killing Yourself To Live

by Chuck Klosterman

3.80 · rating details · 9,433 ratings · 769 reviews

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...more

Published (first published June 28th 2005)

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Dec 05, 2007

Mike Lindgren rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction

As a longtime admirer of Chuck Klosterman’s writing on pop music and culture, it pains me to report that his latest book, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, is a dismal, shoddy piece of work. The premise is promising: Klosterman sets out on a cross-country road trip to visit all of the sites of rock ’n’ roll’s long, rich history of death. It seems a brilliant idea — Klosterman’s combination of irreverence and curiosity make him the perfect candidate to unseat the holy-pilgrimage seri...moreAs a longtime admirer of Chuck Klosterman’s writing on pop music and culture, it pains me to report that his latest book, Killing Yourself to Live: 85% of a True Story, is a dismal, shoddy piece of work. The premise is promising: Klosterman sets out on a cross-country road trip to visit all of the sites of rock ’n’ roll’s long, rich history of death. It seems a brilliant idea — Klosterman’s combination of irreverence and curiosity make him the perfect candidate to unseat the holy-pilgrimage seriousness (and pathos) of most writing on rock ’n’ roll tragedy.

It doesn’t take long for the project to turn sour. Here’s the problem: Klosterman is used to skating by on the wit and originality of his own personal world-view; in his last collection, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, his observations on MTV, pornography, video games, and so on, emerged from a perspective that led him to some surprising conclusions. There was a sense of play, of intellectual gamesmanship, that was fresh and engaging. In Killing Yourself, however, he’s become self-reflexive to the point where he can no longer discriminate between what is valuable and what is piffle; it’s all self-narrative. If he’s looking at something, he thinks his reaction to it — how it affects him — automatically matters simply because it’s him, Chuck Klosterman, looking at it. He has become too lazy and uninterested to make any serious effort at thinking or observing and analyzing what a specific site or incident might mean, and falls back on relaying what it means to him, at that moment.

The most devastating element here is the incomprehensible decision to let Klosterman devote much of the book to pseudo-Hornby writhing about the three (!) women with whom he’s currently involved (that is, either sleeping with or wanting to sleep with). Aside from being, at times, downright creepy, it’s both lazy and irrelevant: as smart and funny and interesting as Chuck Klosterman is, I couldn’t really give two shits about his love life. His self-absorption on this count goes so far as to include a chapter-long conversation between the three women and himself that takes place entirely in his head. What’s sad is that he seems to realize this; the book closes with an actual, real-world conversation between the author and one of his female colleagues at Spin, who urges him not to become “the female Elizabeth Wurtzel.” At this point, one tends to agree wholeheartedly with the criticism, and Klosterman’s only retort is to tell her that “her disdain can only be voiced if I do the opposite of what you suggest.” It’s pre-emptive critical damage control. It’s embarrassing.

It is unsettling to see how turning Klosterman loose on such a promising theme brings out his worst instincts as a writer, because his feature pieces for Spin are often brilliant. A perfect example was his reporting on the Rock Cruise, one of those only-in-America phenomena wherein 40-year-old couples pay to hear REO Speedwagon and Styx perform on a boat. It is hard to imagine a riper opportunity for superiority and ridicule, yet Klosterman never condescends to these people — working-class Midwesterners who are paying money to see over-the-hill versions of the two of the most reviled bands in rock history — and in the end lends both the bands and fans an odd kind of dignity. It is frustrating to know that the author is capable of such insights and then to slog through 235 pages of crap that wouldn’t make it onto a Weezer B-side. One can only hope Killing Yourself was just something he needed to get out of his system.

From THE L MAGAZINE, July 20 2005(less)

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Jan 23, 2011

William Thomas rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: dont-believe-the-hype, non-fiction, ramblings

When judging Klosterman's work, what you're really doing is judging Klosterman. And yes, I say judging on purpose. Not criticizing. Because that would call for an in-depth assessment of a valuable work instead of a moral appraisal of the man behind the book. And I am judging him harshly in this book.

What was recommended to me as a great "road trip book" soon seemed like a chore, drudging through all of his pop culture references and insipid bullshit about his own life hist...moreWhen judging Klosterman's work, what you're really doing is judging Klosterman. And yes, I say judging on purpose. Not criticizing. Because that would call for an in-depth assessment of a valuable work instead of a moral appraisal of the man behind the book. And I am judging him harshly in this book.

What was recommended to me as a great "road trip book" soon seemed like a chore, drudging through all of his pop culture references and insipid bullshit about his own life history. Like climbing up sand dunes, hard going and calf muscles burning, trying to find the oasis, but when you get over the ridge- there's more sand. And not a drop of water in sight. Only, it's more like a landfill. Yeah, a landfill, not sand. And you're climbing through everyone else's shit to try and find one salvageable piece of shit in the pile.

So here we are again listening to Klosterman, who it becomes more and more apparent isn't Mark Spitz. And I admit, I enjoyed some of Klosterman's other collections of essays because sometimes I am in the mood for his smarmy, spiteful, silly little shit-head takes on the world at large filtered through music and pop culture references. It's his bulwark and I understand that because the real world is too tough for him to deal with outside of the buffer of imagined connections and metaphors in the music, movies and books he reads.

And that really is the crux of Klosterman- he hides behind these things. Instead of making an honest assessment of life and his surroundings, he uses this sleight of hand in his pop culture internalizing to beat it back and not deal with it in any meaningful way. But we are supposed to think that he is thinking very deeply about his life and the world at large in regard and respect to pop culture. But he isn't. What little he does bring away from these analyses may seem deep but are rehearsed and forced. Making ontological connections from bad arguments.

So, in this, he connects even less to the pop culture he reveres and idolizes, and moves instead to make an even bigger pile of shit in this landfill I'll very loosely call "his work".

What this book is is a big heap of facts and rumors associated with different rock bands and their dead members. And intersperesed are pieces about his life that may or may not be true but which, in the end, matter very little. And that is the crux of this book. A big pile of crap you could have gathered off of wiki sites and wrapped around your own personal experiences. There is nothing really to take away except the petty gossip. So read it and get your fill of water cooler bullshit.

(less)

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Jul 03, 2007

AJ Griffin rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: anyone that just doesn't "get" me, really. And dudes who dig Kiss

...and Mr. Klosterman and I officially fall in love. If you're going to date me, you should read this book. If you want to learn how to smoke marijuana resin using parts of your car, you should read this. Don't read this book if you have epilepsy.

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Sep 29, 2007

Alex V. rated it

· review of another edition

I got a comment on an article once that said "Fuck Chuck Klostermand and his bullshit intellectualism, Cook is the new crown prince of music journalism" and who am I to disagree with SeductiveBarry's astute assessment? Ever since then, though, I've had a weird rivalry with Chuck Klosterman that, much like the romances exacted and protracted in this book, is completely one sided with myself as the hopeless loser, so outclassed that my opponent is likely unaware there is even a contest g...moreI got a comment on an article once that said "Fuck Chuck Klostermand and his bullshit intellectualism, Cook is the new crown prince of music journalism" and who am I to disagree with SeductiveBarry's astute assessment? Ever since then, though, I've had a weird rivalry with Chuck Klosterman that, much like the romances exacted and protracted in this book, is completely one sided with myself as the hopeless loser, so outclassed that my opponent is likely unaware there is even a contest going on.

I read this book in spurts over the last 6 months, basically a chapter or two every time I found myself at the bookstore for an extended period of time which has allowed me to slowly digest what is wrong with it:
1) For a critic, he has rather pedestrian tastes in music. His insight is honest and dead-on, but his subject matter generally seems undeserving of the pedestal he erects.
2) This book is near wholesale rip-off of Ross McElwee's rather singular film Sherman's March, which came out 20 years before this book. Both follow through on a preposterous, dubious quest (Klosterman visits the sites of rock star deaths, McElwee retraces Sherman's march to Atlanta) only to use it as a vehicle for visiting old girlfriends and then sitting in hotel rooms reminiscing about them. But that is excusable, in that anyone with a soul and any creative talent wants to do their own Sherman's March after seeing it. McElwee is more insightful, but Klosterman is funnier and ultimately more human in the end.

What's right about it is more important:
1) He is funny as hell, up there with David Sedaris and John Waters as the funniest modern writers talking about their art/selves.
2) This book makes me want to write more, and write more about writing, and then write more about that unafraid of how meta one can go before one finally implodes. I wanted to tear through the ending so I could write this. but, most of all
3) He can project his heart with pinpoint accuracy on the reader. You fall in love with these woman that you feel you fail to know very well in the same way he fails to know them. He can make a Beckett scene out of being stoned in a Montana hotel laundromat and classical literature out of Def Lepperd .
4) He's a good enough writer that he made me write this in pathetic mimicry of the tone of the book. (less)

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Mar 02, 2009

Elliot rated it

· review of another edition

The first thing I'd like to say is that this is not a book about travelling around the country and commenting on the deathsites of famous rock and roll legends. This is a book about the loneliness, depression, and relationship issues of Chuck Klosterman, carefully woven into some sort of hip road journal.

Those expecting witty commentaries on the minutiae of our pop culture lives beware: this is terribly saddenning introspection, not comedy.

This is the kind of novel that's...more

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Dec 08, 2008

Alysemac rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: people who had a 'Led Zeppelin phase'

Recommended to Alysemac by: The Dude

I don't know what all the fuss is about...He's a good writer, entertaining, and even those people who absolute hated this work admit they couldn't put it down.

Ya, it's self-centered, nihilistic, and one-sided. Yes, he has horrendous taste in music. The writing is unconventional train-of-thought banter, sometimes rambling, and occasionally difficult to follow. Agreed.

For making his living as a music writer, he really does endorse some God-awful bands. But honestly, do yo...more

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Jun 03, 2008

Susie rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: i-commented

I wanted this book to be a Sarah Vowell's "Assassination Vacation"-style account of the US history of rock n roll deaths as narrated by the typically witty Chuck Klosterman. That seemed like that's what this book was going to be. BUT IT WAS NOT.

RNR history occupies maybe 2% of this book. 3% = talking about how great he thinks Radiohead is, 3% = talking about how great he thinks KISS is, 10% = talking about writing about music for a living and how much he hates the idea o...more

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May 17, 2007

Abe Brennan rated it

· review of another edition

Why do we care about Chuck Klosterman? There is nothing truly remarkable about his life. I disagree with 97 percent of what he has to say about music. The way he holds his political cards close to his chest makes me suspicious. And yet, once I start one of his books, I can’t put it down. Killing Yourself to Live is no exception. It takes us on a drug-fueled odyssey across the United States with stops at famous rock and roll death sites (the seedy hotel where Sid Vicious did himself in; the...more

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Feb 20, 2008

J. Unfun rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: favorite-pastbooks

I had been following Klosterman's columns in Spin for awhile. Though I disagreed with him on his view of punk rock. I liked his writing style. I picked this up when it came out in paperback. It changed my outlook on so many things. I know that sounds cheesy, but what Klosterman was writing about, was literally happening to me at that very moment (well most of it). This book is about Chuck traveling to various sites where rock stars had died. Site of the club where Great White played and the club...more

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Nov 23, 2008

Dennis Burke rated it

· review of another edition

Amazing. I Pushed this author off for such a long time only to regret it. If you haven't read Klosterman yet, take my recomendation... He's amazing

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Jan 10, 2009

Trin rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: music, american-lit

Reread. Apparently I felt like a dose of rock 'n' roll death. Sadly, there's really not enough of that in here for my taste (oh man, that statement is so wrong); in many ways, this book is more about Klosterman's failed relationships than about its ostensible purpose: touring the sites of a bunch of famous rock 'n' roll demises (from the room at the Chelsea Hotel in New York where Nancy Spungen was killed, to the greenhouse in Seattle where Kurt Cobain shot himself) and analyzing what effects th...more

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Dec 04, 2011

Joshua Rupp rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: my-reviews

Chuck Klosterman is an ego-maniacal, self-serving opportunity waster with no sense of priority or proportion. He has had sex more than three times and, with an insecurity rare outside of a Dungeons and Dragons group, wants us all to know about it. He isn't stupid, however, and realizes that if we knew that was all he was going to talk about we ... wouldn't read it. He covers for this by hiding his meandering verbal masturbation inside a good idea.

"Killing Yourself to Live"...more

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Oct 02, 2011

Tom rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

The premise of this book seemed to be visiting famous death sites of various rock stars, a musical Assassination Vacation. While the author does tour the country, and briefly muses about the role death plays in cementing a rock star's legacy, most of the book is about his love life. Perhaps if I knew the author better and his various paramours, this would be more engrossing. Like all of the Chuck Klosterman books I've read, the writing has a very conversational tone of a person getting lost in h...more

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Sep 28, 2011

Patrick McCoy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: biography-autobiography, non-fiction

I recently read Chuck Klosterman’s latest book, Killing Yourself To Live, and enjoyed it as much as his other books. It’s another witty, irreverent look at life, death, love, and rock and roll. Klosterman sets out to visit rock and roll landmarks-places where rock and roll fatalities took place. He drives a rented car from New York to Seattle. But with Klosterman, these experiences are filtered through his pop culture/personal sensibility and it becomes a sort of pastiche of obscure pop facts, p...moreI recently read Chuck Klosterman’s latest book, Killing Yourself To Live, and enjoyed it as much as his other books. It’s another witty, irreverent look at life, death, love, and rock and roll. Klosterman sets out to visit rock and roll landmarks-places where rock and roll fatalities took place. He drives a rented car from New York to Seattle. But with Klosterman, these experiences are filtered through his pop culture/personal sensibility and it becomes a sort of pastiche of obscure pop facts, personal history, and travel log. Here’s a choice personal memory/observation:

When you are a male entering the 10th grade, there are only four kinds of people on the planet: girls you want to fuck, girls who are unfuckable, guys you want to kill, and guys who seem generally okay. For a10th grader, those are the only four demographics for the entire world population. Obviously, that worldview changes as you become an adult; now that I’m 31, I realize there are at least six categories.

I didn’t know that there were people who could listen to Ratt followed by Raidiohead or Drive By Truckers followed by Def Leppard-but Klosterman is one of the few. There a great passage where explains how Radiohead's album "Kid A" is the soundtrack for 9/11. Along the way you get the differences between pot smokers and coke snorters, his only truly bad drug experience, what it’s like to be a rock critic living in New York among the hipsters:

In New York, I sometimes catch glimpses of Ryan Adams at a bar called Hi-Fi, and he seems to be living the most stereotypical hipster-ish life imaginable (i.e., always rumored to be addicted to drugs, always rumored to be dating Parker Posy, always falling off the stage in Liverpool, always leaving angry voice mails for rock critics in Chicago, etc.). His life is almost imaginary, and it seems like his feelings and emotions should not relate to anyone, except for Courtney Love.

He also has some great pop culture observations, consider this about Falco:

Everybody in America thinks of Falco as a ridiculous one-hit joke rocker from Vienna who’s only remembered for a novelty single, 1986’s “Rock Me Amadeus.” Europeans, however, thought that he was some kind of controversial genius (several of his songs were banned from international radio, including a track called “Jeanny,” which certain listeners interpreted as a glorification of rape and murder). In the “90s, he fled the omnipresent media and lived like a sultan in the Dominican Republic, only to die there in 1998 when his Mitsubishi Pajero was hit by another car. The lesson: Europeans have terrible taste in everything.

Reading Klosterman calls to mind all the intense conversations I've had with my college friends about such subjects as the best Simpsons secondary characters, who you'd rather have sex with Sally Jesse Raphael or Oprah, etc...ridiculously entertaining.(less)

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Jan 07, 2011

Michelle rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: memoirs

Chuck Klosterman, a writer for Spin magazine, traveled around the country visiting spots where famous rockers died. In the process he reflects on his life - mostly the women in it - and manages to use music as an analogy for pretty much everything he goes through. (A highlight is comparing his entire romantic past to the career of the band Kiss, down to the minute changes in cast and crew.) His analysis of Kurt Cobain is spot-on.

I like this guy. He's funny, he knows a lot about p...more

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Sep 22, 2010

Meagan rated it

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Shelves: books-read-in-2010

This is a memoir from a writer from SPIN magazine who is writing about death and rock and roll. How they are linked and how a true rocker only becomes a god when he dies. Or that is what I think he is traveling from New York to Seattle by car, visiting various places where rock star died. From the Allman Brothers to Kurt Cobain.

The book itself seems to be how he views his life through music. Which is common and I would imagine a writer for a music magazine would do this...I think I'd ...more

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Sep 01, 2010

Parksy rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: humorous, non-fiction

Loved it. Great take on rock and roll, love, and pop culture. Really like how he writes.

From Publishers Weekly
Klostermanfollows up on 2003's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by expanding on an article he wrote for Spin about driving cross-country to visit several of America's most famous rock and roll death sites, from the Rhode Island club where more than 90 Great White fans died in a fire, to the Iowa field where Buddy Holly's plane crashed. Along the way, Klosterman opines on roc...more

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Jun 28, 2010

Lindsey rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: addictive, could-not-put-down, love-to-be-a-hater, nonfiction, cross-country

I love how full of shit this guy is.

For all of the people who hated this book because they thought Klosterman has 'terrible taste in music' I think they might have skimmed over this one part:

So many of the rock concerts I've attended have been filled with people who were there only to be there, who just wanted to be seen by other people who were there only to be there... ... Half the people who attend concerts only go so that they can tell other people that (a) certain sh

...more

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Jun 27, 2010

Scott Huizenga rated it

· review of another edition

In this round, Chuck Klosterman expands a journal article into a book narrative of his cross-country trip to seek out the death sites of multiple rock stars. Unsurprisingly, he focuses most of the narrative in the Midwest, from where he hails. Also, unsurprisingly, he delivers some memorable one-liners and anecdotes mixed in with many throw-away references to KISS, Fleetwood Mac, and pop culture generally.

The most refreshing aspect of Klosterman is his unapologetic focus on pop cu...more

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Jan 11, 2010

Lana. rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 02, 2009

Kevin rated it

· review of another edition

Chuck Klosterman.....not sure how to describe this. He's. He's a stream of consciousness writer which can be hit or miss with me. For example, I hate Charles Bukowski, but I tend to like Henry Miller. I think Chuck Klosterman is snarkier and much funnier than the former and as interesting as the latter. It's hard for me to credit stream of consciousness writers with much as they pride themselves on writing off the top of their heads. They're like buying a square mile of ocean from a chef a...more

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Jul 07, 2009

Stacy K rated it

· review of another edition

When I first saw that this book was apparently about rock n roll and traveling across the country to visit the death sites of many of rock n roll's finest, I was very intrigued. However, I was not very far into this train wreck when I started dreading having to read it through. Being "85% of a true story" I thought it might be written in a similar story telling fashion to other partly true biographies, such as James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, however Klosterman's story just proved...more

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Apr 22, 2011

Jim rated it

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Shelves: nonfiction

Sarah Vowell, Tony Horwitz, or Canada’s Will Ferguson, should pick up this book, read it, and then decide to do it correctly. Yes, I know, that may be a harsh critique, and it is not that I totally hated it, but when I grab a book that has such laudable reviews and expect something more stimulating and, well, educational and enlightening, mixed with actual humor, I am mightily disappointed when the result is something like this. Lazy and self-indulgent. I know some people revel in this style of ...more

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Feb 05, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine added it · review of another edition

Armed with 600 CDs in the back seat, a task of gargantuan rock ��n' roll proportions, memories of three dysfunctional relationships (an ex, a sort of ex, and a true love), and a wild imagination, Klosterman's in good shape for his cross-country death trip. A few critics compared his pop-culture musings to Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. Yet Klosterman (Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs *** Nov/Dec 2003) tries harder, indulges himself more, chats faster, uses more gimmicks, and doesn't achieve Hornby's he

...more

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Feb 22, 2010

Morgue Anne rated it

· review of another edition

I am going to start this review by saying that Chuck's friend was right. He shouldn't have published this book. I picked it up (or, rather, was given) thinking that it would be an exploration of sites where dead rockers perished. Growing up in Seattle, I was bred with an intense love of Kurt Cobain. Growing up goth, I have an intense love of death. So this book would have been a LOT better in my mind if it had either a) Actually talked more about dead rock stars or b) Been a little clearer that ...more

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Jan 24, 2010

Geoffrey rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: humor, ebooks-unlendable

Chuck Klosterman is only 6-years younger than me. He is a pretentious hipster, a stoner and a self-conscious kid playing at being a grown up. To a degree, he reminded me of me at his age. He's also very funny and kept me entertained with this book.

The book's premise is Klosterman touring the US visiting the sites where various and sundry rock stars died. That is the basic structure, but the book is really about Klosterman and his relationships with current and ex girlfriends. (well, ...more

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Jun 11, 2009

Callie rated it

· review of another edition

Recommends it for: music-lovers, Spin readers, wannabe hipsters

Recommended to Callie by: Laura McCord

Shelves: non-fiction-and-memoirs-2009

Chuck Klosterman goes on assignment for Spin magazine, hoping to have an "epic" journey as he travels the country in a rented car visiting the death sites of famous musicians. Sounds morbid, but the book is really more of a memoir about Klosterman's romantic interests/obsessions and his CD collection. His casual attitude to drug use throughout the book was a bit disturbing, but overall it was an interesting and funny take, steeped in nostalgia for the music of the 70's and early 90's...more

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May 13, 2010

Tung rated it

· review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction

As I wrote in my review of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Klosterman is the poster child for postmodern American writers. His knowledge and usage of pop culture in his writing should resonate with me. Unfortunately, he makes a lot of general statements as if they are fact rather than opinion, and many of his allusions are too obscure, as if the more obscure the reference, the smarter he seems. Unlike Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs which was a collection of unrelated essays, Killing Yourself to Live i...moreAs I wrote in my review of Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, Klosterman is the poster child for postmodern American writers. His knowledge and usage of pop culture in his writing should resonate with me. Unfortunately, he makes a lot of general statements as if they are fact rather than opinion, and many of his allusions are too obscure, as if the more obscure the reference, the smarter he seems. Unlike Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs which was a collection of unrelated essays, Killing Yourself to Live is a singular work. Klosterman is instructed by his editors at Spin to travel across the country by car visiting the places where tragedies related to musicians occurred (beginning at the hotel where Sid Vicious killed Nancy Spungen, and moving to places like the venue where the Great White conflagration happened and ending in Seattle where Kurt Cobain shot himself). He documents his road trip by describing how the sites made him feel, and including conversations he has with fellow pilgrims and how they feel. Klosterman also interweaves some of his thoughts and feelings from several of his real-life relationships (a woman he is currently dating, and several from his past) into his narrative on what his journey is teaching him about life (and love) and death. Overall, it’s a much more focused and compelling read than Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs because the subject matter is deeper, and his usage of his relationships adds a level of humanity and emotion to the narrative. On the other hand, most of his writing tics still annoyed me – like the inclusion of random tangents of his opinion. For example, he spends two pages trying to convince the reader that Radiohead’s Kid A album was a foretelling of 9/11. There’s also too much self-awareness and awareness of his self-awareness – like a scene where he has an imaginary conversation with his current girlfriend and two former ones, and the imaginary voices remind him he is having this imaginary conversation. Screw you, Dave Eggers, for affecting modern nonfiction writing in this way. Fans of music and fans of Klosterman’s writing style will enjoy this, I think. For others, it’s a quick and mostly solid read with minor annoyances. Recommended.(less)

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Feb 22, 2009

Archie rated it

· review of another edition

This is Chuck Klosterman's third book. It's about a unique writing assignment for Spin magazine that has him driving across the United States visiting historical rock sites.

So if you are a rock n' roll historian, then you just might like this book.

But the premise for the book, soon becomes interesting trivia filler for Klosterman's chaotic love life story that consists of three women: Diane, Lenore, and Quincy. One women he loves, but doesn't love him back. The other lov...more

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Aug 10, 2011

Steve rated it

· review of another edition

This book is a victim of bad marketing. Its sold as the author's journey to the sites where a dozen rock stars died ... and his struggle to find a connection between their death, their life, and their success.

It is, in fact, the author's struggle to sort out his own personal love life. And along the way, he muses about some music and CDs and dead artists.

That said - its not a bad book. He's got a very easy-to-read style, and his thoughts are pretty entertaining. But ultimately it was a littl...more

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About Chuck Klosterman

Charles John "Chuck" Klosterman is an American pop-culture journalist, critic, humorist, and essayist. He was raised on a farm near Wyndmere, North Dakota and graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1994. After college he was a journalist in Fargo, North Dakota and later an arts critic for the Akron Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, before moving to New York City in 2002.

More about Chuck Klosterman...

Books by Chuck Klosterman

Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto

Chuck Klosterman IV: A Decade of Curious People and Dangerous Ideas

Fargo Rock City: A Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota

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Quotes from Killing Yourself To Live

“We all have the potential to fall in love a thousand times in our lifetime. It's easy. The first girl I ever loved was someone I knew in sixth grade. Her name was Missy; we talked about horses. The last girl I love will be someone I haven't even met yet, probably. They all count. But there are certain people you love who do something else; they define how you classify what love is supposed to feel like. These are the most important people in your life, and you’ll meet maybe four or five of these people over the span of 80 years. But there’s still one more tier to all this; there is always one person you love who becomes that definition. It usually happens retrospectively, but it happens eventually. This is the person who unknowingly sets the template for what you will always love about other people, even if some of these loveable qualities are self-destructive and unreasonable. The person who defines your understanding of love is not inherently different than anyone else, and they’re often just the person you happen to meet the first time you really, really, want to love someone. But that person still wins. They win, and you lose. Because for the rest of your life, they will control how you feel about everyone else.” — 527 people liked it

“Art and love are the same thing: It’s the process of seeing yourself in things that are not you.” — 243 people liked it

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Groups That Shelved Killing Yourself ...

The Mariachi’s

21 members

last activity Feb 03, 2012 03:46pm

shelf: read

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/593381.Killing_Yourself_To_Live?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176099997m/593381.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/593381.Killing_Yourself_To_Live?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Killing Yourself To Live by Chuck Klosterman[/url]

Killing Yourself To Live

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