book review
Title: I Wear The Black Hat: Grappling with Villains (Real and Imagined)
Author: Chuck Klosterman
# of Pages: 224
Summary (from amazon.com): Name one writer who could drop Eazy-E, Hitler, and Linda Tripp into the same conversation and spark neither rage nor derision. I count Chuck Klosterman and maybe no one else. But that's what his new collection does: I Wear the Black Hat examines "villains" of all stripes and scale, as well as our varied (and often counterintuitive) reactions to them. For example: If Batman were real, would he be any less reviled than Bernhard Goetz, the 1980s NYC subway vigilante? (Probably not--he'd be a scary freak.) Why would D.B. Cooper, a hijacker who parachuted into the night sky over Washington state with 200 thousand dollars in stolen money, become a legend and a folk hero? (Because he seemed smooth and he wore a suit.) Is Don Henley evil? (That’s a personal decision.) The subject is serious--at first blush there’s nothing funny about murderers, tyrants, and Al Davis--but Klosterman's pop culture sensibilities and skewed vistas offer interesting angles into what makes some bad guys bad and other bad guys good, while his deceivingly lightweight style keeps things brisk and entertaining. Instead of getting mad at what might seem glib or impertinent, you admire the audacity of the observation and wish that you’d thought of this yourself (or at least that you had written it down). The question of who could do this might be irrelevant; how many would even try?
Opinion: I always like reading Chuck Klosterman's short stories, mostly because he can present an idea in ways in which are easy for me to understand - thats to say, with tons of relevant and recent pop culture references. This book focused mostly on the idea of villains and villianization, but done in a way that makes you question what the 'right' answer is to the questions he poses, and also makes you think long and hard about what your reaction says about you. While some of the stories were more engaging than others, I do appreciate how the entire book tied together around a common theme and all the stories connected in some way.
Now Reading: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick
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