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Dec 07, 2009 Web Exclusive By Aaron Passman

After a collection of previously-published essays and taking an ill-advised stab at fiction, Chuck Klosterman’s latest offering gets back to what he does best, but it all feels a little too familiar. In Eating the Dinosaur, Klosterman once again takes the position of all-encompassing cultural commentator, riffing on Abba, Garth Brooks, Kurt Cobain and David Koresh, time travel and more. Composed of a collection of unrelated essays, Dinosaur ostensibly replicates 2002’s Sex Drugs & Cocoa Puffs, inexplicably Kosterman’s best-selling title to date (as he himself admitted in a 2008 Borders.com interview). If the book is “about” anything at all, it’s a dual treatise on the nature of authenticity and the way we as a society make meaning out of shared media experiences. The problem, among others, is that Klosterman is at his best when sticking to one subject and following that thread throughout a book, as he did with hair metal in Fargo Rock City and dead rock stars in Killing Yourself To Live.

Despite some successful moments—particularly essays on time travel and Garth Brooks, respectively—the book unsuccessfully tackles some pet projects rather than sticking with what’s tried and true: the introductory essay on the nature of interviewing falls flat and belabors its point, and the author twice delves deep into sports—a topic he admits much of his readership doesn’t give a shit about.

There’s enough winning moments here to make it worth a read, but at this point Klosterman is enough of a known quantity that he can do just about whatever he wants (see: Downtown Owl) and his fans will still buy it. (www.authors.simonandschuster.com/Chuck-Klosterman)

Author rating: 5/10