Since his 2001 debut Fargo Rock City, Chuck Klosterman has had a pretty good decade—no nonfiction writer has been as prolific or popular. His forays into fiction, however, have been less successful. While 2008′s Downtown Owl was well received by some, it couldn’t compare to his most popular works, Eating the Dinosaur or Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs.
With The Visible Man, Klosterman sets out to apply his strengths—his ability to formulate an idea, expand that idea, explain that idea, expand that idea more, discuss the ramifications, however far-reaching, of that idea, re-explain the idea, argue against the idea, expand the idea once more, then tear the idea down and start from scratch—in his non-fiction writing to fiction. And while it’s not the most graceful transition, Klosterman mostly succeeds.
The Visible Man is written in first-person, fictional memoir style, from the perspective of Austin, Texas therapist Victoria Vick.
Works that deal with the end of civilization can be entertaining. They can also be preachy. They can be didactic and stilted and annoying as hell—especially those set in the far-off future, where our—i.e. society’s—craven self-interest bites us in the ass, where the World As We Know It is no longer, and we deserve it. Finally, payback for our selfish ways. Society, in a sense, deserves what’s coming.
