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entertainment
THE N IN ET IES by Chuck Klosterman
WORDS Sara Putman, owner Bookish, visit bookishfs.com
I
If you are a history lover, Klosterman’s
way we schedule our time, but in
newest soiree into the decade that
how we understand one another, “In
positioned itself between the fall of
the pre-Google world, the internet
the Berlin Wall and the collapse of
changed the way we thought about
the Twin Towers will scratch that
computers and communication. In
contemporary history itch. This deep
the post-Google world, the internet
dive into pop culture will do more
changed the way people thought
than simply regurgitate facts, it will
about life.”
send you on a Google spiral for days. Klosterman’s analysis is a splash of
The 90’s brought about a revolution
Clearly Canadian for your nostalgic
in the human condition we’re still
heart, and for the first time for a huge
grappling to understand. He reminds
swath of our population, readers will
us how “pop culture accelerated
get a thoughtful and reflective analysis
without the aid of a machine that
of lived-in history. Klosterman’s The
remembered everything.” There was
Nineties will uncover exactly why we
an odd comfort in never being certain
loved what we loved and how it got us where we are today.
about anything or discussing Seinfeld or Friends around the water cooler every Friday morning. On a 90’s Thursday
Klosterman argues that there were wholesale shifts in how
night, more people watched any random episode of Seinfeld
society was perceived then versus now. Think about it, in 1995,
than the finale of Game of Thrones. But nobody thought
if you were expecting a phone call, you had to sit at home
that was important; if you missed it, you simply missed it. It
and wait for the landline to ring. Just five years later, Nokia
was the last era that held to the idea of a true, hegemonic
launched a portable phone and eleven million people owned
mainstream before it all began to fracture, whether you
one. Today, it seems unheard of that the postal service and
found a home in it or defined yourself against it – hence the
landline telephones were enough to perpetuate society.
rise of grunge, the fear of selling out, and Independent Party political candidates.
And then there was the Internet which spent most of the decade preparing us for its coming. Who can remember
Klosterman takes us on a time warp through it all: the film,
the day the Internet arrived at your house? Was it a huge
music, sports, TV, politics, changes regarding race, class,
ordeal with fanfare and celebration? Not for me. It just…
and sexuality. Only in a Klosterman book would you see a
appeared. These gradual, yet sudden changes proved to be
sentence like, “The video for ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ was more
more dramatic than most Gen Xers might admit, and these
consequential than the reunification of Germany,” and it
changes and cultural shifts are exactly what Klosterman
makes complete sense. This multi-dimensional work is wicked
unpacks throughout. These shifts upended not only in the
smart and completely delightful.
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