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. ( )

Ok...I expected to like this book. I loved "The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test" by Tom Wolfe....which is about the first hippie commune in the late 60's. That book was also about drug abuse, but it was humorous and entertaining.

"Fear and Loathing" was just plain trash. If you like reading books about people making utter fools of themselves, exhibiting extremely self destructive behavior and a total disregard for other peoples property and then bragging about it in a crude, obnoxious way....you will like this book.
I couldn't bring myself to read the accompanying stories. ( )