Well, that's several hours of my life that I won't ever get back. Interesting first person account of drug abuse, paranoia and distraction. No plot. What is the struggle?

I just don't see the big deal here.

As a desert rat, I found the description of the Vegas scene in the early 19y0s enchanting, amusing, and, in some ways, disturbingly true to life. The illustrations featured in this edition, I felt, also very effectively supplemented the piece. While I feel the Las Vegas establishment wishes this descriptive narrative would vanish into thin air because of the seedy, drug-addled portrayal of the place, it's a wonderful and easy read that'll take you on a vacation that you'd truly rather read about second hand.

A very influential book on me in my younger years. Still makes me laugh now, though. A good book to read every 10 years, or so, to scrape the crap off of your soul. Thompson had a way of showing the beating human heart underneath whatever situation he was writing about. Poignant and crassly funny and sociologically insightful all at the same time. The world is a poorer place now that he is gone.

“No sympathy for the devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it off to forced conscious expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”

n  n

When I was attending college at the esteemed institution of the University of Arizona I scored a ticket to see Hunter S. Thompson. My book friends were green with envy or it could have just been the pallor left over from the drinking bout the night before. Anyway they all looked at me with that glint in their eye as if I was in for a potentially perverted experience like going to a strip club with flying monkeys or a backroom orgy with nuns. They were all excited for me and I was feeling a little taller and a little more sassy knowing that I was going to come away from the event a changed man.

He didn't show.

It would have been so much more interesting if I could have said he had staggered out on stage and blew chunks all over the front row of attendees. I was okay with that because I was no where near the front. Or if he had shown up intoxicated terminating the event with a spectacular 360 degree fall into the crowd. I didn't ever get my ticket cost back. They offered, but one thing or another always got in my way actually getting my money back.

That is the closest I came to actually breathing the same fetid air as Dr. Duke.

n  n

Okay I got to say first of all this is a silly, silly book. I had many moments when I wondered why I was reading it at all...well...it might have been because of all those other times when I caught myself snorting with laughter. Thompson called this book a failed experiment, "a style of 'reporting' based on William Faulkner's idea that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism." This book is one of best examples of Gonzo Journalism. Below is the Wikipedia explanation.

"Gonzo journalism is a style of journalism that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story via a first-person narrative. The word 'gonzo' is believed to be first used in 1970 to describe an article by Hunter S. Thompson, who later popularized the style. The term has since been applied to other subjective artistic endeavors."

Synopsis: The journalist Raoul Duke is asked to report on the outcome of the Mint 400 motorcycle race in Las Vegas. He brings his 300+ pound Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo along for the ride. Reporting on the race is soon abandoned as the duo begin experimenting with a cornucopia of recreational drugs. LSD, marijuana, cocaine, mescaline, ether, a pineal gland abstract drug (whoa!!), uppers, downers and all washed down with copious amounts of alcohol. The book is one drug inspired adventure after another. The cocktail of illegal pharmaceutical use brings on imaginary flying bats dive bombing their heads, car crashes, and general mayhem perpetration on the tourists of Las Vegas.

n  n

The artwork of Ralph Steadman really enhanced the experience of reading the book. I have a copy of Animal Farm illustrated by Steadman and in both books he presents a mind bending VISION of events. The splatter of his brush and the drug altered expressions on the faces of the Fear and Loathing characters gave me several chuckles, but also deepened my impression of how really whacked out these guys were. They do as the novel progress start to get a handle on the hallucinations.

"Hallucinations are bad enough. But after a while you learn to cope with things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth. Most acid fanciers can handle that sort of thing."

And offer sage advice. "One of the things you learn, after dealing with drug people, is that everything is serious. You can turn your back on a person, but never turn your back on a drug--especially when it's waving a razor-sharp hunting knife in your eyes."

n  n
Look into my EYE...Give me your drugs...Look into my EYE...Do you have more drugs?...Look into my EYE...Find me more drugs.

I do wish that Hunter S. Thompson had shown up for the event. When I was younger I always felt there would be another chance to do everything, but as I've gotten older I've come to realize that we don't get as many opportunities as we think. Thompson may not have been one of my favorite writers, but he was a dynamic personality and he was always an on going story.

“Too weird to live, too rare to die!” Well he did die, but he will certainly never be forgotten.

I began this thinking that I would not like it that much, but more than the cover, you can't judge a book by the people who love it. The main piece, Fear and Loathing itself, impressed me as a piece of writing, but I was also rather appalled by the paranoid disaster that was the combined forces of Duke and his Attorney. Beautifully written, I found very little admirable in what they did, and was continually amazed that neither had died. After I finished it I read the original jacket copy for Fear and Loathing written by Thompson. That turned me around. This piece had the same level of talent behind it, but also was written by a person who was actually believable as a successful career journalist with a Ph.D. Two other pieces are included in the collection, one was Strange Rumblings in Aztlan, and the other was the Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved. These two were phenomenal. Strange Rumblings in Aztlan is the kind of journalism that is desperately needed in this country and rarely seen. It asks questions, provides details, and where it does draw conclusions it is unapologetic enough as to make differentiating opinion from fact fairly easy. It is also powerfully researched and detailed, and incredibly convincing.

The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved was also impressive. In examining the attendees of the Derby, rather than the horse racing, the whole decadent tradition of the derby is effectively drawn out, through the stumbling attempts by Thompson and artist Ralph Steadman to cover the event.

I found this hard to read because it didn't make sense to me. I'm not interested in the ramblings of a drug and alcohol expedition in Vegas.

The classic of gonzo journalism. Hunter S. Thompson and his attorney go on a bender of monumental proportions in Vegas, the only town with the proper scale to truly be able to handle and/or inspire such a debauch. I remember reading this for the first time with my roommate in Paris and having to just sit in the hallway between our rooms and read giant chunks of it to each other, as we collapsed in hysterics. There is a brilliant one-liner on approximately every page, though if I was playing favorites, I'd have to pick Circus Circus on ether as the scene that makes it all worthwhile. And I don't even like HST.

I saw the movie when I was in my early 20s. I had no idea who Hunter S. Thompson was. Between the actors mumbling their lines, the cultural and political references, I didn’t really get it. Recently I had a dream about this movie and decided to check out the book. I’m older and wiser now, but I still needed my trusty iPad to search some of the slang as well as cultural references, I don’t know how I ever survived without one.

This copy also contained an article he wrote about the killing of Ruben Salazar so I feel like I received some worthwhile history lessons from reading this strange novel.

I’ve also rewatched the movie and can at least understand the words they are speaking since most of it is almost word for word from the book. It’s still all very strange!

Favorite quotes: “I have never been able to properly explain myself in this climate.”

“What’s the story here?”

With an exceptionally individual style of writing, Hunter S. Thompson chronicles the American dream in a way no other would dare in this enthralling psychedelic nightmare piece. Loved it. Hah! Avast you bastards! This is bat country!

Strap yourself in for a ride you'll never forget. Experience the drug fueled rampage of one journalist and his attorney as they tear their way through Las Vegas on a mission to find the American Dream.

This has to be one of the worst books ive ever read. No idea how someone could enjoy this.

failed gonzo, whatever, whatever