RAISED IN CAPTIVITY - CHUCK KLOSTERMAN

Finally got this one. I’ve been on a library waiting list for this title since before it came out and just got it 2 days ago. There are a few books I’ve had on request for months. That CIA Mason book that came out a few months ago? I’ve been waiting since June for that one. The line for HOW TO DO NOTHING was so long I just said, fuck it. All things in time, I suppose. Irregardless, I saw Klosterman speak a few weeks ago, as part of his tour for this book, and I’ve been looking forward to this book since it promised a new, or new-ish literary form, always an intriguing proposition. The book is subtitled “Fictional Nonfiction” which is also how Klosterman described it in person, this description is wrong. To me, Fictional Nonfiction would be something closer to what David Sedaris does or This American Life. Live, Klosterman explained that it was about writing fiction in the same way he would write a magazine piece, which also isn’t a good description of what he’s done with this book. Basically, the book is a collection of premises: What if a non-racist band’s song became very popular with white supremacists? What if you could use technology to transfer pain from one person to another? What if the universe was becoming less random? Is this sort of like having someone explain the plots of Black Mirror episodes to you? Somewhat, the book even raises then dismisses this idea in the dialogue of one story. The stories last just as long as it takes to really outline the idea, a few pages (the longest thing in here has got to be less than 15 pages, maybe 10), then abruptly end. It’s very Italo Calvino-ish. It’s got the typical Klosterman themes, rock music, identity and authenticity, pessimism towards technology. Like most Klosterman stuff it replicated the experience of being next to a smart guy at a bar who gets himself going about something (typically that something is KISS), in this case, this person is telling you a weird story they heard. Most of these short stories are strong, though there were a few where it wasn’t totally clear to me what the “hook” even was. I was partial to the one about cults as well as one about an afterlife that is either heaven or hell. Overall, read fast, fits comfortably in the Klosterman cosmos. 55 half-baked ideas.