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Favorable
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Village Voice Mikael Wood
Warm, occasionally aggravating.
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Favorable
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Entertainment Weekly Gregory Kirschling
Klosterman might be headed for Hornby, Eggers, and Sedaris status; Killing Yourself to Live should be his breakout book.
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Favorable
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The Onion A.V. Club Noel Murray
But though his thoughts are a little scattered, Klosterman still arrives at a kind of accidental theme, having to do with whose legacy endures, and what moments in our lives we keep returning to.
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Favorable
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Washington Post Joe Heim
As entertaining as it is unpredictable, as madcap as it is occasionally maddening.
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Favorable
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The New York Times Janet Maslin
Where Mr. Klosterman goes flat is at the coup de grâce stage: he seldom succeeds in wrapping up his anecdotes and arguments with a good closing insight or tag line. Given the book's skimpy premise and how much it exceeds expectations in other ways, this seems only a minor shortcoming.
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Favorable
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Publishers Weekly
This literary cleverness recalls classic gonzo journalism, but also contains a self-conscious edge, inviting comparison to Dave Eggers. [18 Apr 2005, p.50]
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Favorable
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Los Angeles Times Mark Rozzo
What emerges in "Killing Yourself to Live" is an amusing gazetteer of modern America, seen through the lens of high-profile plane crashes, overdoses, nightclub fires, drownings, suicides and motorcycle accidents. [10 Sep 2005]
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Favorable
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The Observer Robert McCrum
[Klosterman] has a very likeable, winning tone, a sure comic touch and a singularly wry comic vision.
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Favorable
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The Independent Dave Pollock
An account that, although self-referential and in-jokey, will appeal enormously to anyone of similar age and tastes.
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Favorable
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Daily Telegraph Harland Miller
I enjoyed the book, especially all his inner monologues, with their erratic and often informative asides.
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Mixed
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Daily Telegraph Paul Morley
The book oozes with a whiny, whimsical mixture of self-publicising self-deprecation and entertaining idiocy masquerading as refreshing wisdom.
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Mixed
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The New York Times Book Review Stephanie Zacharek
While reading Klosterman is clearly supposed to be fun, it's often hard work.
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Mixed
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Kirkus Reviews
Entertaining in a spontaneous, distracting way. When it ends, though, and Klosterman slams shut the door to his head, most of what went before melts into air. [1 Apr 2005, p.403]
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Mixed
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Library Journal Dave Szatmary
A sometimes hilarious but ultimately superficial account of the meaning and challenges of everyday life. [1 May 2005, p.87]
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Mixed
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San Francisco Chronicle Will Crain
Reading Klosterman at his best is like hanging out with your favorite drinking buddy in college and riffing all night on your pop culture obsessions. At his worst, however, Klosterman is like that favorite drinking buddy, 10 years after college, still drinking and still obsessing over the same old things.
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Unfavorable
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Bookslut Alexa
The plot is all but subsumed by Klosterman’s musings on girls he’s slept with, girls he wishes he could sleep with again and girls he likes the eyebrows of but has never even kissed.
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Unfavorable
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Flak Taylor Carik
If there is anything more frustrating than listening to a man go on about the fact that he has nothing good to say, it is a man who insists that you shouldn't listen to him. Even worse is listening to that man elaborate on the reasons why you shouldn't listen to him.
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Unfavorable
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Boston Globe John Dicker
A mediocre Chuck Klosterman book is a lot like a Woody Allen film from 10 years ago. Delightful in parts, disappointing as a whole, but still sadly superior to the greater dessert tray of cultural offerings.
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