Audiobook (abridged)5 hours
Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs: A Low Culture Manifesto
Written by Chuck Klosterman
Narrated by Chuck Klosterman
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
3/5
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About this audiobook
Countless writers and artists have spoken for a generation, but no one has done it quite like Chuck Klosterman. With an exhaustive knowledge of popular culture and an almost effortless ability to spin brilliant prose out of unlikely subject matter, Klosterman attacks the entire spectrum of postmodern America: reality TV, Pamela Anderson and literary Jesus freaks. And don't even get him started on his love life and the whole Harry-Met-Sally situation.
Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/ Lakers rivalry, Chuck will make you think, he'll make you laugh, and he'll drive you insane -- usually all at once. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about art, entertainment, infotainment, sports, and politics but -- really -- it's about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, "In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever 'in and of itself.'"
Whether deconstructing Saved by the Bell episodes or the artistic legacy of Billy Joel, the symbolic importance of The Empire Strikes Back or the Celtics/ Lakers rivalry, Chuck will make you think, he'll make you laugh, and he'll drive you insane -- usually all at once. Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs is ostensibly about art, entertainment, infotainment, sports, and politics but -- really -- it's about us. All of us. As Klosterman realizes late at night, in the moment before he falls asleep, "In and of itself, nothing really matters. What matters is that nothing is ever 'in and of itself.'"
Author
Chuck Klosterman
Chuck Klosterman is the bestselling author of many books of nonfiction (including The Nineties, Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, I Wear the Black Hat, and But What If We're Wrong?) and fiction (Downtown Owl, The Visible Man, and Raised in Captivity). He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Esquire, Spin, The Guardian, The Believer, Billboard, The A.V. Club, and ESPN. Klosterman served as the Ethicist for The New York Times Magazine for three years, and was an original founder of the website Grantland with Bill Simmons.
Reviews for Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs
Rating: 3.0441389290882777 out of 5 stars
3/5
1,382 ratings53 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A great collection of pop culture essays. My favorite had to be the one about the Sims, and how it's pathetic that we love playing such a boring game that is basically just fake versions of us living their own borings lives. We're trying to make them succeed in their careers and socialize with their neighbors while we're sitting in front of our computers. (Disclaimer: I used to be addicted to the Sims.) Basically, Klosterman is amazing and I kind of want to marry him. Or at least read all his other collections.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Hilarious!
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hilarious. Must-read for gen-xers.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I clearly was late to the party reading this book, as most of the pop culture references date back to the 90s. Still, I found Klosterman hilarious (not consistently but if I laugh out loud more than once throughout a book I consider said book worth reading), and am definitely inclined to read more of him.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very interesting book. Some of Klosterman's essays were better than others, also slightly outdated, but all were insightful, funny, and he definitely has a point of view. I enjoyed the read and am looking forward to some of his other collective works. 7/10
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Overall, a good read. I'm not sure I comprehend his point re: Saved By The Bell, largely because I missed this 'phenomenon' somehow. Other essays I just kinda feel 'meh' about. But there are a few gems, e.g. "All I Know is What I Read in the Papers."
Clearly, from some reviews here, some people really did not like this book. Fair enough; this is a bit of pop culture, aspiring to be (and I think somewhat successful at being) a bit more, but still basically passing commentary on the here and now. Or, what was here and now 5 to 10 years ago, at the time of my reading.
What I don't get is the tone of some of the comments; apparently some folks came looking for Hume or Kant or Jesus and left pretty disappointed and/or pissed off that they found some random, snarky, Midwesterner instead.