Culture Carton Review April 2021: Boyle
Culture Carton is a men’s subscription box designed to make tasteful improvements in your daily life, from intellectual growth to self care. April’s Standard Box includes a book and three to five lifestyle items. Let’s take a look.*
*They kindly sent us this box for review.
Culture Carton is based in the US and offers three subscription options (all prices in USD):
Book Club Get the handpicked book of the month from Culture Carton. Start building your library now with the best of classic and modern fiction. $16/month + free US shipping.
Standard All the best men’s lifestyle items and a book every man should read delivered to your doorstep monthly. $45/month + shipping.
Essential All the best lifestyle items, hand picked by the Culture Carton team, delivered monthly. $35/month + shipping.
Culture Carton also ships outside of the US. Shipping costs vary.
Each Culture Carton box includes a product card with a brief description of the contents and the retail price of each. I’d love to see this expanded to a pamphlet so the product descriptions could be more fulsome, more sexy, more cultured if you will but maybe that’s just me. I want to be romanced.
The Terranauts: A Novel by T. C. Boyle
April’s featured book is The Terranauts: A Novel by T. C. Boyle. “This modern classic provides an exciting glimpse into human behavior as a group of scientists prepare for a world saving project. This electrifying novel will make a great addition to your growing collection. ($17)” Here’s the description from the publisher to give you a better feel for the story:
It is 1994, and in the desert near Tillman, Arizona, forty miles from Tucson, a grand experiment involving the future of humanity is underway. As climate change threatens the earth, eight scientists, four men and four women dubbed the “Terranauts,” have been selected to live under glass in E2, a prototype of a possible off-earth colony with five biomes—rainforest, savanna, desert, ocean, and marsh.
Closely monitored by an all-seeing Mission Control, this New Eden is both scientific project and momentous publicity stunt for ecovisionary Jeremiah Reed, aka G.C.—”God the Creator.” In addition to their roles as medics, farmers, biologists, and survivalists, his young, strapping Terranauts must impress watchful visitors and a skeptical media curious to see if E2’s environment will somehow be compromised. As the Terranauts face increased scrutiny and a host of disasters, both natural and of their own making, their mantra, “Nothing in, nothing out,” becomes a dangerously ferocious rallying cry.
Told through three distinct narrators—Dawn Chapman, the mission’s pretty, young ecologist; Linda Ryu, her bitter, scheming best friend passed over for E2; and Ramsay Roothoorp, E2’s sexually irrepressible wildman—The Terranauts brings to life an electrifying, pressured world in which connected lives are uncontrollably pushed to the breaking point. With characteristic humor and acerbic wit, T.C. Boyle indelibly inhabits the perspectives of the various players in this survivalist game, probing their motivations and illuminating their integrity and fragility to illustrate the inherent fallibility of human nature itself.
I can’t speak to the book as I haven’t read it but I’ve seen mixed reviews. The Washington Post likened reading the book to “being trapped in tupperware” and watching “The Bachelor: Terrarium Edition” while NPR praised its “drama-packed plot” and the author’s “sensitivity and finesse.”
Kiko Wallet & Keychain
“This month’s items are a collection of tasteful accessories. First, the wonderfully unique dual textured wallet by Kiko Leather. This American Horween leather and wool felt wallet is unique while maintaining a classic slim wallet silhouette. ($65) And a tasteful keychain to keep your keys organized and readily accessible. ($10)”
I like the mixed materials in the wallet and the slim profile — much more elegant in a man’s pants’ pocket than some more substantial varieties. And I’d think the keychain would have wide subscriber appeal as well. It’s understated and looks expensive, even if it’s only $10.
Salt & Stone Deodorant
“An upgrade to the deodorant you’re been using since the sixth grade. Salt & Stone’s Eucalyptus & Bergamot deodorant for sensitive skin combines designer scent without harmful aluminum or parabens. ($18)”
A natural deodorant for sensitive skin that smells great and looks good on a vanity. Excellent inclusion IMHO.
As I’ve mentioned in past reviews I think Culture Carton could do a lot more to put its best foot forward with the presentation, but the contents are cleverly curated with items both useful and well-made.
April’s Culture Carton is valued at $110.
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