‘X’ serves as engaging, smart commentary on life

Chuck Klosterman's writing is an engaging combination of style and substance. Sometimes the style seems to be Klosterman's dominant concern, but reading a collection of his cultural criticism and interviews reveals plenty of substance, as well.

His new collection advertises its style right up front. Only his name and the letter 'X” appear on the black front cover. The edges of the pages are black. The back cover reveals the subtitle: 'A Highly Specific, Defiantly Incomplete History of the Early 21st Century.”

The one letter title is no doubt a nod to the fact that this is Klosterman's 10th book. But it is also a clue to Klosterman's perspective and cultural concerns. He's a member of Generation X, and his snarky, discursive tone bears that out on page after page.

Klosterman is a fan of definitive statements: 'If you don't take (Taylor) Swift seriously, you don't take contemporary music seriously.” These declarations provide him with a framework: he makes a claim and he sets about backing it up. Often, his analysis takes him in interesting directions that may seem to drift from the subject at hand, but he always finds his way back. He has a knack for exploring serious subjects through the lens of the arguably less serious subjects - sports, popular music, and more - that occupy so much of our time and attention.

If one responds to his blend of style and substance, one will likely love his 10,000 work consideration of KISS, an essay which appears late in the book and which he goes out of his way to suggest he doesn't expect anyone to read. In the end, the essay is a consideration of the meaning of greatness as it applies, specifically, to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and, more generally, in the popular culture.

'X” also includes an interview of former Iowa State basketball player Royce White, which also serves as a consideration of mental illness, the role of athletes in society, and our responsibilities to them as we ask them to entertain us and pay them handsomely to do so.

Klosterman throws out allusions to artists and sports figures who may not be immediately familiar to all readers - I did a fair amount of Googling - but by book's end, these references often seem like a stylistic quirk that one can read right past.

All in all, 'X” is engaging and smart. The style serves the substance rather than distracting from it. That's a significant accomplishment.