Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

by Hunter S. Thompson

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12235 ratings, 4.17 average rating, 972 reviews (more data...)

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published

July 12th 1993 (first published 1971) by Flamingo

binding

Paperback, 224 pages

isbn

0586081321 (isbn13: 9780586081327)

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Nathan rated it:

(review of isbn 0679785892)

09/17/07

bookshelves: biography, fiction, history, history-crime

Read in September, 1998

recommends it for: People who want to read this lame, personal review.

I recently went to Las Vegas for the first, and probably only, time in my life. I hadn't read this book in years, and previously, it hadn't even been my favorite Hunter S. Thompson work. Thompson is dearly missed by many people, and on a personal level, I miss him deeply. He spoke to a true astonishment at the complete, unrelenting fuckedupedness of America and her politics, and he did it with a bite that was deserved and unmatched. He probably could have been a very rich super-novelist of popul...more I recently went to Las Vegas for the first, and probably only, time in my life. I hadn't read this book in years, and previously, it hadn't even been my favorite Hunter S. Thompson work. Thompson is dearly missed by many people, and on a personal level, I miss him deeply. He spoke to a true astonishment at the complete, unrelenting fuckedupedness of America and her politics, and he did it with a bite that was deserved and unmatched. He probably could have been a very rich super-novelist of popular, uninspired filth. He probably could have been a brilliant novelist of any kind. But he chose to do what he did, and he did it better than any of his generation. Like Mark Twain, he chronicled American stupidity in the tongue of his generation, and he captured it perfectly, from the insanity of the drug experience to the depravity of American politics. For years, no work of his stood out to me as much as Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72 or the Gonzo letters. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, to me, wasn't his best work. Then I went to Vegas. Suddenly, all the subtle differences between this and his other work made sense, and I realized that he had captured the true tackiness of the truest tacky city on the entire planet (though Dubai with their fucking Island fantasies are likely to take over soon). Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas IS Las Vegas. It's a nightmare, a joke, a blunder of comical, cosmically-fucked proportions. It's not Sin City. It's where Sin goes to die when it's embarrassed for itself. It's where families go on vacations with ten-year-olds, children who get handed fliers for prostitutes. It's the living, pulsing, filthing embodiment of the Holy Dollar. It's sensory overload on a scale drugs can't equal, a place where you almost have to take a brimful of Valium and a pint of ether to feel normal and not feel utterly ashamed at the state of the human condition. It would make you want to blow your brains out if it weren't so goddamned fun, even if you're gay, you hate gambling and hookers make your brain itch. Yet you never, ever feel like it is evil or subversive or curious in any way. It's just about a buck, and every other blink reminds you of it. This is a place where Hunter S. Thompson could easily mingle with a law enforcement convention and not get noticed. This is a place where a lawyer could leave you with a hotel bill. This is a place where no questions get asked because no answers would make sense, and the only thing profound about any of it is that you know, on a gut level, that all the oil used to produce all the plastic used to build that city no doubt funded an island shaped like Australia that was built off the coast of the UAE over the weekend. This novel will never cease to be important, and one day, as a cultural artifact of a forgotten culture from a forgotten nation, it will be one of the most important anthropological pieces in existence.

I wish he'd survived the Bush administration. We need this man.

NC...less

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Martin rated it:

(review of isbn 0679785892)

01/02/08

Read in September, 1999

recommends it for: Those who buy the ticket and take the ride

A co-worker, whom happened to be completely insane, sized me up once and told me I was ready. He handed to me a VHS tape bearing the title, "Where the Buffalo Roam". At the time I was living a lifestyle of depraved decadence and over consumption of massive amounts of drugs and booze. While this particular journey had many peeks and valleys the next step in my literary evolution took place under a haze of pot smoke, a quart of rum and a pack and a half a day tobacco habit. After wat...more A co-worker, whom happened to be completely insane, sized me up once and told me I was ready. He handed to me a VHS tape bearing the title, "Where the Buffalo Roam". At the time I was living a lifestyle of depraved decadence and over consumption of massive amounts of drugs and booze. While this particular journey had many peeks and valleys the next step in my literary evolution took place under a haze of pot smoke, a quart of rum and a pack and a half a day tobacco habit. After watching the movie with a roommate he stumbed off to his room but instead of retunring with a bong he handed me a copy of this book.

I will not kid you and say that being twisted on drugs won't help you understand this book more; it will. Not a necessity but once you dig deeper into the mind and works of one Hunter S. Thompson you will crave whiskey, beer and "...everyone narcotic known to mankind..." Enough of my story, this is after all a book review.

A virtually unkown writer was given a line of credit, a hotel room in Las Vegas, NV and an assingment to write a story that he never did. Instead after days of binging, purging and binging some more the man emerged with a cobbling of notes and tape recordings that he lashed together and handed to Rolling Stone magazine. While several other books were written prior to this tome, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas vaulted Hunter S. Thompson into the limelight. For better and worse "Gonzo Journalism" was born. The style is by the seat of your pants, insert yourself into the middle of your story and hope you come up with a comrprehsnible and most imporantly publisher worthy book in the end. Thompson invented it so I am not afraid to tell you he does it the best.

With his attorney at his side, Hunter searches for the American Dream, ponders the death of the free wheeling 60's and generally blows his own mind along with yours before the story ends.

If you are looking to dive into the world of Hunter S. Thompson this probably isn't the best way to start, but this is his Mona Lisa, his swan song, his coup de gras and the story that made him larger than life. My attorney has advised me to write as many reviews of his works as I can and I assure you this is only the first of many. Mahalo....less

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