Adele's review
The Rum Diary: A Novel
by Hunter S. Thompson
Adele's review
The Rum Diary: A Novel by Hunter S. Thompson
Adele's review
rating:
I really, really wanted to like this book. I'm not sure why... Maybe because of the whole Hunter S clout/ all the cool kids love him thing. But I didn't. The book tells the story of a wandering journalist taking up a position at a small American-run paper in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and is closely based on Thompson's own experience. While the descriptions of Puerto Rico in the sixties are vivid and fun (all he does is talk about getting rum and his endless quest for ice) there is a strong undercurrent of misogyny that is impossible to ignore. Throughout the book, Thompson's alter ego, Paul Klein, is into a hot New York secretary he came down on the plane with, a tiny blonde twenty-something called Chenault. She takes up with a friend of Paul's from the paper, called Yeamon. Yeamon treats Chenault badly (smacking her across the face and knocking her down) in front of Paul who tolerates it-- this is the sort of book in which the woman is raped and eventually pretty much blamed for ...more
