Raised in Captivity

May 1, 2019
Thirty-four wry bits of metafiction from the eternally ironic Klosterman (Chuck Klosterman X, 2017, etc.). Billed as "Fictional Nonfiction," in this we get more echoes of the creative process behind Gen X icon Klosterman's two absurdist novels (Downtown Owl, 2008, and The Visible Man, 2011) than we do from his tart essays and meandering nonfiction. It kicks off with an interesting scenario in "Raised in Captivity," in which a nominally successful dude is presented with an existential crisis when he discovers a puma in an airplane bathroom. It's a bit worrisome that the collection is absolutely laced with confessions--the perp being interviewed in "Experience Music Project," the dying father in "To Live in the Hearts of Those We Leave Behind Is Not to Die, Except That It Actually Is," and the guy who swears he didn't kill those people in "Execute Again," to name just a few--but they're acidly funny. Even stranger: The serial attacker in "Cat Person," who...rubs cats on people, is drawn in glorious noir-tinged prose. Klosterman not only excels at character and dialogue, as the people and conversations in the book seem very organic, but he's also keen on setting up offbeat scenarios, which often drift toward the bizarre. In "Every Day Just Comes and Goes," a regular Joe finds himself arguing with a time traveler. There's a surreal conversation about magic in "Tricks Aren't Illusions." A terribly polite housewife hires an overeager hit man in "Not That Kind of Person." Elsewhere, Klosterman savages political correctness in "Toxic Actuality," conjures up a band with a hit single that's superracist in "Blizzard of Summer," and imagines a death cult in Silicon Valley in "What About the Children." Armed with everything from existential crises to a robot dinosaur, there's really something for everyone in this crisp collection of imaginative snippets. A colorful, somewhat wicked collection of stories that are touching as often as they are laugh-out-loud funny.

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May 27, 2019
Klosterman (Chuck Klosterman X), in this irreverent collection of what he calls “fictional non-fiction” stories, creates a multitude of clever scenarios, blasting off with the title story about a wild animal found in the bathroom of the first-class section of an airplane, and careering to the final tale about a hapless man spurred on by a nosy neighbor to continue working on a mysterious contraption in his backyard shed. In these 34 stories, most featuring a hilarious denouement, the author takes on racism, diets, cults, white privilege, and life with Trump as president. Standouts include “Execute Again,” which features a philosophical football coach who teaches his team one play—characterized by the narrator as “learning how to foxtrot and moonwalk at the same time,” the results of which are eye-opening; “Of Course It Is,” which explores the banality of the afterlife; and “Pain is a Concept by Which We Measure Our God,” in which husbands can have a procedure to take on the pain of their wives’ giving birth. No matter the topic, Klosterman’s gimlet eye and trenchant prose bedazzle.

May 15, 2019
Klosterman, one the most distinctive contemporary writers of nonfiction (But What If We're Wrong?, 2016) and fiction (The Visible Man, 2011), presents a collection of very short stories?the longest is around 10 pages?in a delightful grab-bag of ideas, characters, and fantastical plots, all in prose that jumps off the page. From a football coach who trains his team to play only one play, a character meeting his future self on a jog, and numerous murders, crimes, and dramatic events, these vignettes, often with Twilight Zone- or Black Mirror-like premises, are both profoundly weird and weirdly profound. Some take the form of long-form jokes, some are more like parables, but in each, despite its brevity, Klosterman develops a stunningly complete world. At times it feels like Klosterman is channeling David Foster Wallace, Lorrie Moore, and/or Tom Robbins, and though some stories feel a bit gimmicky, the collection is, overall, quite remarkable. Designed to be dipped in and out of in short bursts, this book of quirky tales from a supremely confident writer is moving, funny, and ceaselessly entertaining.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)