Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and Other American Stories (editie 1998)

My second read through, and its even better then I remember. There is an almost wistful longing under the nonstop madness. Its as much about something lost as it is about madcap, drug-fueled adventures. Also, its just crazy fun. ( )

You must read some of Thompson's other works. The shorter stories in this edition are great too! ( )

Creeping Jesus! This book is fantastic! I can't even remember the last time a book made me laugh so much. I'd seen Terry Gilliam's adaptation, of course, but even that pales by comparison. I'd never read Thompson before; however, his "Gonzo" style of journalistic writing resonated with me immediately. It grabbed me by the lapels and threw me up onto a literary equivalent of a mechanical bull. I held on and rode it out. It was like reading something that's written in the same way my mind works; same logic; same intensity; same madness. We seem to speak the same language -- Bourbonese, I believe it's called.

I decided to conduct a literary experiment while reading this book. Knowing that Thompson always wrote while drinking lots of Wild Turkey, I decided to tap the same mental current he was in when he wrote it. So I got real lit on Bourbon and dove in. It worked perfectly, just as I'd expected! I practically felt like I was channeling the shade of the late Gonzo master. His stuff is just brilliant!

Of course Thomson and his attorney's hilarious drug-fueled and debauched escapades across Nevada are only surface events in the story. The real story, indeed the very theme of the book, is the search for the "American Dream" -- whatever that is. The social commentary is priceless. It's sort of a snapshot of America circa 1971; still reeling from the various counterculture movements of the late 60s, and starting to come to terms with the fact that America wasn't going to have the bright, utopian, space-age future it was promised in the 50s and early 60s. It seems the nation was going through the equivalent of a societal hangover.

Included with the book are fantastic and outrageous illustrations by Ralph Steadman. Great stuff; they enhance the book tremendously. Their collective talents make a great duo.

This edition of FEAR AND LOATHING (Modern Library) also contains the works, "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan" and "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved". The former is about the police-killing of Hispanic news reporter Ruben Salazer; the latter is a hysterically funny commentary on Southern lifestyle. ( )

I don't get Hunter S. Thompson. In particular, I don't get a book that chronicles his drug taking and drug-induced psychoses. I never considered myself particularly straight, but I'm obviously too much of a stick in the mud to enjoy this style of writing. ( )

Finally, after years of looking and waiting, I have had my chance to actually read some of Thompson, as opposed to just wonder at his mystique. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of his better known works, leading to or perhapses because it became a Terry Guilliam/Johnny Depp film in the late Nineties. The book, originally appearing in Rolling Stone magazine, is a maybe-true account of Thompson's 1971 expedition into Sin City with his "attorney", nominally on a journalistic assignment, but seemingly more for the purpose of finishing off a case full of drugs in the car trunk. It is twisted, confusing, manic, and neurotic, equal parts observation and mescaline hallucination. Thompson writes that he hoped to find the American Dream in that city, but might have come away with nothing more than a headache and a better understanding of whatever the fuck happened to the Sixties. His descriptions and claims are often brutally honest, scathingly cruel, and guiltily funny, the most solid parts of reality, and are expertly accompanied by Ralph Steadman's grotesque paintings. Perhaps he is not always right in what he claims, but he forces one to think none the less. This book found me in the height of a miserable heat wave, and I do not think I could have picked up something better to sweat to.

In an afterward, Thompson admits that Fear and Loathing is not the Gonzo expose he originally intended, but instead has turned into a sort of truthful fiction. Some of the events depicted did occur, just maybe not quite like that. For those curious, however, he does give an explanation for the cause of the whole fracas, which happened while he was researching a story on a murdered journalist in LA. A full account, along with the actual article of Ruben Salazar's killing, are featured in this volume, giving the reader an idea of what Thompson's actual journalistic work tasted like. Capping the book is a short article he wrote on the Kentucky Derby, which was also marked his first collaboration with artist Steadman. It is a treat, for sure, angry and sickening. Seems like Thompson's life was one so outrageous, it couldn't be false. ( )