Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I should be absolutely 100% appalled by this book. I should be outraged! I should be steamed! Fear & Loathing's wanton, unapologetic depictions of controlled substance binges and boozy ennui masquerading as "Gonzo" journalism should be an affront to my moral sensibilities. Is getting pulled over for a DUI off I-15 in Baker, CA, and convincing the CA Highway Patrol to let you off with a warning based on the stipulation that you pull into the rest stop up ahead and sleep it off any laughing matter? Yes (I mean no; no!) it isnt! So why am I in tears? There's nothing funny about drunk driving -- unless, that is, Hunter S. Thompson's the one sitting sauced behind the wheel.

Am I bad person for impersonating a hyena (explosions of spittle show more spewing over my paperback copy of Fear & Loathing I addictively consumed in one sitting) when Hunter attends the anti-drug conference in Vegas and shows up in his sleep deprived, rowdy rancourous self and interacts with police officers, engaging the more gullible cops with ludicrous conversations about drugs & drug enforcement, while completely stoned on dope; out of his freaking mind on a cocktail of drugs ranging from shrooms to blow to mescaline and who knows what all else? He mocks the anti-drug movement merely by appearing at the conference. Can't the cops, experts in drug detection & prevention, tell there's a raving drug abuser in their midst? And as bad of a bad boy Hunter S. Thompson behaves, what about his lawyer instigating the entire sordid mess, and encouraging Hunter's highs in the first place? How did Hunter get away with so much irresponsible behavior and, rather than scold him for it, make us readers want to mimic his depraved attorney and belch out, "Party on Hunter! Go for it! Gonzo gonzo all the way!"

How can such a good book like Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas be so bad? I feel guilty for loving & adoring it so much. I think I should be arrested for giving it 5 stars. I cannot and will not recommend it (my morality trumps Hunter in the end), though I think you'd be a fool not to read it. show less

I was impressed at how he captured the zeitgeist of Vegas, which is still in many ways that insular, greed-driven city, run by its own rules and populated by its own particular cast of characters and yet such a microcosm of American life, distilled and left to mutate in its own petri dish in the middle of the Nevada Desert.So what is this incarnation of the American Dream? A drug-addled journey into the heart of Vegas, where washed up strippers,addicts and debtors get swept to the fringes of the city, having long out-lived their usefulness. An insular culture where only the rich and powerful are "in" and you're only hope is to win the privilege of worshiping at their feet. A society that at once rewards youth and reviles it, meeting the show more drug culture of the 60's and 70's with suspicion and wide-eyed fascination. Thompson is Goodall in the wilds of this culture. show less

Straight 5/5

Wow, I wish could write like this.

Expected : A guy and his attorney goes on a funny journey to and in Las Vegas, tripped on balls.

After read : A guy and his attorney goes on a funny journey to and in Las Vegas, tripped on balls. While the guy explains about the history of Counter-culture and the concept of the American Dream, beautifully.

If this is literature, it's a damn good literature. If this is just a nonsensical ramblings, it's a damn good nonsensical ramblings !

This 100-page book contains more something than any 100-page book ever could, dare I'd say.

I'm sure as hell gonna watch the movie now.

It's a book I really wanted to enjoy, but simply didn't. Unlike many others, I didn't find the drug-fueled antics in this book funny, and found many of the manic delusions that took up pages of this book boring. There were definitely enjoyable moments in this book, such as the famous 'wave' passage and his thoughts at the end of the novel about how the politics of the era changed the drug scene ("and it is worth noting, historically, that downers came in with Nixon"), but they were few and far between.

I had heard that this novel focused on the American Dream, but it seemed more like flavor text tacked onto the very end of the novel, stuck between scenes of the two main characters threatening another woman and Duke flying out of show more McCarran. The little bits that we got were very interesting, but having to slog through the other bits didn't improve my feelings on this novel. show less

I remember reading about Thompson way back during my O-levels. His 'gonzo' style of writing - mixing reality and fiction together in a journalistic style - was fascinating. I was also intrigued by the movie starring Johnny Depp. It was all over Reddit, and people would constantly gush over it.

So, here I am, more than a decade later, finally checking out the book the movie's based on, and damn, what a ride it was! Initially, it felt more like a fever dream than reality, especially the events leading up to the race. The antics he and his 'attorney' get up to were hilarious and sad at the same time, mostly in the way they con their way through Las Vegas (and an assortment of characters).

The writing hit that sweet spot between being show more self-aware and absurd. He knows what he's talking about; he also knows what he's talking about is utterly ridiculous and nihilistic to the point Nietzsche would blush. Finding the elusive 'American Dream' is exactly that - a fading reality and a dream that was crushed much earlier. But more than that, I enjoyed his depiction of the police conference - the irony there was simply too much.

Of course, as I read more about the book (and how it came to be), I understood why and where its gonzo style comes from. Thompson himself noted that much of the drug-fuelled rampages he and his attorney go on in the book is fiction and that they were sober at the time. There are also sequences that were complete fiction (understandable) though much of the story is true or exaggerated from what actually happened.

Thompson has written a lot more since then and given fascinating interviews. Sadly, he took his own life at the age of 67, leaving behind this note: "No More Games. No More Bombs. No More Walking. No More Fun. No More Swimming. 67. That is 17 years past 50. 17 more than I needed or wanted. Boring. I am always bitchy. No Fun -- for anybody. 67. You are getting Greedy. Act your old age. Relax -- This won't hurt."

Long live Thompson. No one will replace or can even emulate you. Now, go read the damn book you filthy degenerate. show less

"A estrada é a vida". Assim profetizou Jack Kerouac em seu "On the Road: Pé na Estrada" e assim ficou. Desde uma linhagem unívoca de libertários, malucos e aventureiros, que começa na geração beatnik com Allen e Kerouac e segue até Bob Dylan e passa por toda a contracultura e sua necessária decadência, culminando na depressão e fim do sonho, a história recente dos Estados Unidos está nos relatos de estrada e na poesia urbana de alguns corajosos que ousaram ir contra o establishment político de sua época. Muito me admiram e sempre fui nostálgico dessa época. Eles eram pequenos em relação ao todo poderoso estado, mas nunca foram irrelevantes. Usaram de sua pequenez para subverter e criar poesia. Devemos muitíssimo a show more eles. Mas o sonho acabou. Nesse contexto surge o jornalista gonzo (palavra que dizem ser a gíria para denotar o último a ficar de pé em uma bebedeira, o que parece muito apropriado) Hunter S. Thompson e sua viagem regada a drogas. Um impressionante relato de uma viagem à Las Vegas, em Nevada que poderia passar por apenas mais um fim de semana estúpido e hipócrita não fossem alguns detalhes que mostram uma razão muito clara e definida por trás de todos os atos aparentemente irracionais que ele e seu advogado igualmente insano performam em alguns dias com muita fraude e mentiras. Sim, é fácil escrever um livro e anacronicamente atribuir algumas razões maiores à suas ações - hipocrisia pura, como diz o senso comum, mas Thompson faz questão de contextualizar com as notícias da época e algumas reflexões surpreendentemente relevantes sobre algumas pessoas ilustres da sua época, desde um ex-guru das drogas a um astronauta com mania de grandeza. Enfim, leia com a mente aberta que voce vai se supreender, mesmo que hoje o jornal seja mais assustador do que naquela época e mesmo que voce mesmo se drogue muito mais - principalmente por isso... no fundo, este livro é sensacional porque não se perde em auto ilustração ou engrandeciomento, mas diverte e cria asco em iguais medidas e nos faz refletir se às vezes a loucura não é a nossa melhor qualidade.

"Não tenha compaixão pelo diabo; lembre-se disso. Compre a passagem, embarque na jornada... e, se as coisas ficarem mais sérias do que você imaginou, bem... talvez o melhor a fazer seja considerar isso tudo uma expansão de consciência forçada: se ligue, enlouqueça, apanhe. Está tudo na bíblia de Kesey... O Extremo da Realidade."

Thompson, Hunter. Medo e delírio em Las Vegas. L&PM Editores. Edição do Kindle. show less

I didn't enjoy this book. I've never found drug stories funny or entertaining in themselves. When someone is relating how incredibly drunk their friend was and describing the stupid things they did, and everyone else is falling about with laughter, I just find myself bored and wondering what I'm missing. So you took drugs and then behaved in a way consistent with the effects of those drugs? I'm sorry, but I can't see what is interesting about that.

In fact, I can't help but think of all the people who were around you while you were using drugs, or who have to clean up after you - the people who have to walk past your "hilarious" spew on their way to work, the workers who have to put up with your selfish behaviour and so on. Which is not show more to say that I'm anti-drugs. I use drugs recreationally and so do my friends and family - I just think it's as important to be respectful of others while using drugs as while doing any other activity. The two main characters in this book are not respectful of others while using drugs.

So, fundamentally, this book is about a couple of men being selfish, disrespectful and even actively harmful while - and this is the part I found disappointing - absolutely nothing deeper happens. Apart from scattering the phrase "American Dream" throughout the book - almost at random as far as I could tell - this book didn't even attempt to tell a deeper story. There's a bit of shallow stuff about the sixties being over, and maybe that was profound and insightful at the time this book was published, but it didn't show me anything new and it didn't seem to relate to the events in the book. It's possible to write a good book about horrible people being horrible, but it has to be better written and deeper than I found this book to be. show less