Thank you to LibroFM and Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group for providing me with a copy of Chuck Klosterman’s The Nineties: A Book.
Klosterman examines some of the key cultural, technological, and political events of the nineties with a specific focus on how this decade shaped the people who came of age during this period.
I am the audience for The Nineties. I graduated from high school in 1995 and I vividly remember every key event that Klosterman mentions in his book, including the OJ Simpson trial, the Clinton scandal, the Los Angeles Riots ( happened a mere fifteen minutes from my home), death of Kurt Cobain, Oklahoma City Bombing, et… But I must confess that I had not given much thought to many of these events in many years and Klosterman’s analysis brought me right back to that era of my life, but with the benefit of distance.
As small as this seems, I was most struck by Klosterman’s dive into how movies shaped the nineties attitude. Klosterman reminded me of a attribute associated with people of my generation, a general vibe of not-caring, but even more, the desperation of showing others how nonchalant you can be, as if it was a contest. I’m not sure how much of this is actually true, but it is certainly reflected in the pop-culture of the nineties. Klosterman uses the example of the film Reality Bites to reflect the worst of this attitude.
I have not watched Reality Bites since I was a teenager, but at the time, I loved the film. Klosterman points out that the film has aged poorly with the protagonist, Lelaina played by Winona Ryder, choosing the wrong love interest, a slacker played by Ethan Hawke, who berates and belittles her choices., including her dream of becoming a documentary filmmaker.He doesn’t show her much attention and is negative towards the good guy, played by Ben Stiller, who tries to date Lelaina, while showing nothing but love and support. But of course, in nineties fashion, the actual good guy loses, because he cares too much, and because Lelaina is culturally programmed to find the detached, aloof guy, far more appealing. In fact, she spends much of the film quite desperate to get his approval. The nineties teen me was in full-on approval mode for Lelaina’s choice, but now, the forty-four year old me living in 2022 is horrified by this choice. Again, I’m not sure if the films of the era truly reflected my own life, but I can see how the messaging impacted the way I viewed relationships and motivations. It was toxic.
Klosterman narrates his own audio book and I found his voice to be pleasant and easy on the ears. I appreciated this time hop back to my teens and although some uncomfortable revelations were experienced, I enjoyed Klosterman’s keen observations. This book would be fascinating for many people, but it will have special meaning if you were old to remember the nineties.