Author: Hunter S. Thompson

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson

Posted March 30, 2015 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Book of the Month, Classic / 2 Comments

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. ThompsonTitle: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Goodreads)
Author: Hunter S. Thompson
Artist: Ralph Steadman
Published: Harper Perennial, 1971
Pages: 230
Genres: Classic
My Copy: Paperback

Buy: Amazon, Book Depository (or visit your local Indie bookstore)

Journalist, Raoul Duke heads to Las Vegas with his attorney Dr Gonzo in order to cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race. After experimenting with some recreational drugs, LSD, ether, cocaine, cannabis and alcohol, their assignment was quickly abandoned. What follows is a series of hallucinogenic trips that end in disaster from trashed hotel rooms, car wrecks and much more. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream is a roman à clef, with autobiographical elements in which Hunter S. Thompson writes a retrospective of the 1960s countercultural movement.

Hunter S. Thompson was a journalist, but he was best known for his novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. While working in Journalism he coined the term Gonzo journalism which is a writing style he adopted for his first person narratives. The style is a combination of fact and fiction that allows Thompson a more personal approach to his articles. Combining elements of sarcasm, humour, exaggeration and profanity it allowed a first person look into social criticism. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a result of Gonzo journalism and was originally published as a two part series in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971.

When thinking about the life of Hunter S. Thompson, I find it hard to imagine him as someone who  critiques the 1960s counterculture. I think of him saying things like “I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me.” Thompson has often stated that this novel was an exploration into the death of the American Dream but his views on counterculture are so fascinating. Drawing inspiration from his two favourite novels The Great Gatsby and On The Road, Thompson combines ideas of travelogue and the American Dream and goes on to show the reason why drug use was not the answer to social problems.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a pretty confronting novel; the descriptions of drug-induced hazes and lurid hallucinogenic trips are very vivid and confronting. I am pretty sure I have read this book in the past but I had not marked it as read on Goodreads, LibraryThing or even the spreadsheet I keep. However going into the novel everything felt so familiar and I cannot tell if it was due to the movie adaptation or if I have actually read the book before.

The experience of reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is enhanced by the illustrations done by Ralph Steadman. My edition of the book stated in the introduction that Hunter S. Thompson requested the art to be done by Steadman because he believed this illustrator really understood the concept of Gonzo journalism. The novel is an interesting book and well worth exploring, and I was interested to see the satirical side and surprised at the way Thompson criticised his own lifestyle in this autobiographical novel.

Adaptation Smackdown: The Rum Diary

Posted July 11, 2012 by Michael @ Knowledge Lost in Adaptations / 0 Comments

I haven’t talked about an adaptation for a while, so I thought it was time to bring out another adaptation smackdown. The idea is to look at the book and then compare the movie and see which one was better or worth your time. I thought this time I will take a look at Hunter S. Thompson’s The Rum Diary which was made into a movie late last year. Set in the 1950’s this story involves a tangled love triangle of jealousy, treachery and alcoholism of the staff of a Puerto Rico newspaper.

The mediocre semi-biographical novel focuses on a very ill tempered, drunkard of a journalist. I was expecting something with a bit of excitement but the plot seemed to drag on and while hinting at a plot this book never really took off. So when it came to seeing the movie it was nice to see them really cut down the story to give a resemblance of a plot but like the book it still seemed to drag on way too much.

Advantages of the book

There are no advantages, this book drags on and there really isn’t any point in wasting too much time reading this book.

Advantages of the movie

Well for one, Johnny Depp plays the lead role and let’s face it, he is an expert in playing a drunk. Amber Heard is a beautiful and great actor but still she isn’t enough to pull this movie through. Other than that this movie feels a lot longer than 120 minutes.

Winner: No one’s a winner, unless you skipped them both.

Hunter S. Thompson adaptations seem to follow closely with the novels, which is good for books like Fear and Loathing in Los Vegas where you have a bizarre plot to read and watch but when you have a below average one, it really doesn’t translate well to any format. Now I’ve had a little vent about this book and movie, I might have to work on a new adaptation smackdown, so if anyone has some good suggestions, I’d love to hear them.