ESSAYS

Eating the Dinosaur. Chuck Klosterman. Scribner. 256 pages. $25.

Chuck Klosterman has a theory. A lot of theories, actually. He has a theory about why grunge-rock icon Kurt Cobain was like the late cult leader David Koresh, why the read-option offense signifies something deep and meaningful about football, why ABBA will never reunite and why Garth Brooks created that goofy alter ego a decade ago.

``I've spent an inordinate amount of time searching for the underrated value in ostensibly stupid things,'' Klosterman writes in his latest book. So true.

Klosterman's trick is to use stupid-sounding subjects as grist for smart, funny essays. He has built a career on this, gaining early attention for defending '80s hair metal bands and later writing about popular culture for Spin and Esquire.

Klosterman performs literary high-wire acts with his essays: they're great when he succeeds, but things hit with a thud when he missteps. He mostly succeeds in this book.

Klosterman has more insights per page than most cultural critics have. His riff on the different ways major sports leagues market themselves is dead-on and funny. His quirky takes on laugh tracks and Unabomber Ted Kaczynski's manifesto are worth reading. And while many people have written about the cultural impact of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, Klosterman is probably the first critic to compare it to Keith Richards' guitar playing and Snidely Whiplash's mustache. In the same sentence.

Klosterman is so entertaining that readers might gloss over his tendency to pepper his arguments with ridiculously broad statements and the occasional sophistry. Consider this assertion: ``People who follow politics closely cannot comprehend people who aren't partially lying.''

And his argument tying the late Nirvana frontman Cobain to infamous Branch Davidian sect leader Koresh based on some similarities in their personalities is clever but silly. By his rules, you could argue that Cobain was like Bill Clinton (talented with strong appetites, peaked in the '90s) or Lindsay Lohan (brushes with trouble, long blonde hair).

The essays in this book are like guitar solos by his beloved Eddie Van Halen. They show exceptional talent and are original. They can soar, and part of the fun is trying to guess where they'll end up. The difference is that Van Halen didn't record the occasional bum note.

Michael Hill reviewed this book for the Associated Press.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@