The July issue of Bookslut is online, featuring "Stripped Books," starring Neil Gaiman at the Nebula Awards told in comic form; "Susie Bright Co-Stars," in which the latest and not so latest covers of Bright's books are stripped down and analyzed; "Killing Yourself to Live," a review of the new Chuck Klosterman book of the same name about visiting the death sites of mostly punk rock icons; and "An Interview with Kevin Sampsell," the one-man, Portland-based indie book publishing brand.
Sections of Killing Yourself To Live show off Klostermans trademark ability to find deep meaning in pop culture. Klosterman makes the 1980s cult classic Heathers into a philosophical work of art when he discusses the scene where Winona Ryders character writes in her diary. Suicide gave Heather depth; Kurt a soul; Ram, a brain. He continues, Suicide gave the dead qualities they never possessed in life. Klosterman takes hold of this statement (it is the basis for his books title), and while he notes that Ryder does not express anything new, he puts it in context: Suicide made Judas sympathetic, Sylvia Plath irrefutable, and Marilyn Monroe unfortunate. Peoples morbid fascination with, and hope for, life after death, he suggests, can make death larger than life.
susannah_breslin
I'm lost
June 2005
JUL 07, 2005 08:50 PM