There's quite a bit of intelligent analysis and thought-provoking insight
packed into the pages of Chuck Klosterman's Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs,
which is a little surprising considering how darn stupid most of Klosterman's
subject matter actually is. Klosterman, one of the few members of the so-called
"Generation X" to proudly embrace that label and the stereotypical image of
disaffected slackers that often accompanies it, takes the reader on a witty and
highly entertaining tour through portions of pop culture not usually subjected
to analysis and presents his thoughts on Saved by the Bell, Billy Joel, amateur
porn, MTV's The Real World, and much more. It would be easy in dealing with such
subject matter to simply pile on some undergraduate level deconstruction, make
a few jokes, and have yourself a clever little book. But Klosterman goes deeper
than that, often employing his own life spent as a member of the lowbrow target
demographic to measure the cultural impact of his subjects. While the book never
quite lives up to the use of the word "manifesto" in the title (it's really more
of a survey mixed with elements of memoir), there is much here to entertain and
illuminate, particularly passages on the psychoses and motivations of breakfast
cereal mascots, the difference between Celtic fans and Laker fans, and The Empire
Strikes Back. Sections on a Guns n' Roses tribute band, The Sims, and soccer feel
more like magazine pieces included to fill space than part of a cohesive whole.
But when you're talking about a book based on a section of cultural history so
reliant on a lack of attention span, even the incongruities feel somehow appropriate.

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