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Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas And Other American Stories
First published in Rolling Stone magazine in 1971, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is Hunter S. Thompson's savagely comic account of what happened to this country in the 1960s. It is told through the writer's account of an assignment he undertook with his attorney to visit Las Vegas and "check it out." The book stands as the final word on the highs and lows of that decade, one of the defining works of our time, and a stylistic and
journalistic tour de force. As Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote in The New York Times, it has "a kind of mad, corrosive prose poetry that picks up where Norman Mailer's An American Dream left off and explores what Tom Wolfe left out."
This twenty-fifth-anniversary Modern Library edition features Ralph Steadman's original drawings and three companion pieces selected by Dr. "Jacket Copy for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan," and "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved."
The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun-dation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hard-bound editions of important works of liter-ature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inau-gurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.
journalistic tour de force. As Christopher Lehmann-Haupt wrote in The New York Times, it has "a kind of mad, corrosive prose poetry that picks up where Norman Mailer's An American Dream left off and explores what Tom Wolfe left out."
This twenty-fifth-anniversary Modern Library edition features Ralph Steadman's original drawings and three companion pieces selected by Dr. "Jacket Copy for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," "Strange Rumblings in Aztlan," and "The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved."
The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foun-dation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with affordable hard-bound editions of important works of liter-ature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring as its emblem the running torchbearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inau-gurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices.
283 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1971
63 people are currently reading
2201 people want to read
About the author
Hunter S. Thompson
110 books10.9k followersHunter Stockton Thompson (1937-2005) was an American journalist and author, famous for his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. He is credited as the creator of Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting where reporters involve themselves in the action to such a degree that they become the central figures of their stories. He is also known for his promotion and use of psychedelics and other mind-altering substances (and to a lesser extent, alcohol and firearms), his libertarian views, and his iconoclastic contempt for authority. He committed suicide in 2005.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews
May 4, 2016
“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.”
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.
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.
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."
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.
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.
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.
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."
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.
September 4, 2007
One of the few books out there that literally made me laugh out loud. As your lawyer, I advise you to read it.
June 27, 2019
I think this book is a classic, read it twice... BUT it did perhaps lead a generation of wannabe's into a vicious cycle of self-destruction as cheap Hunter S. knock-offs.
October 11, 2021
A drug induced journey as dated as the word “groovy”. Beyond redemption and a favorite of those critics who appreciate raw language as somehow a sign of genius. To show you how entertaining it was, I slogged through 137 pages of a 204 page book and concluded it was more worthwhile to stop reading than to continue.
June 7, 2015
Thompson’s first book, Hell’s Angels, closes with a mesmerizing description of what it’s like to push a motorcycle to a speed where the rider can feel the machine begin to shake and unhinge as the tires spin so fast they can no longer grip the road. Thompson’s time with the Angels pushed him to the brink and the book’s conclusion left the reader to wonder whether he would ever make it back. Fear and Loathing provides the answer – nahhhh….not even close.
In Fear and Loathing, Thompson uses Las Vegas as the setting where he will examine whether its possibly important that he’s never returned from that brink. The stated thesis of the book is that it’s a “savage journey to the heart of the American Dream” but Thompson writes as a bitter, but wise 1970’s California hippy acutely aware that “the dream is over.” However, with Thompson, the “dream” was only ever an excuse and he poignantly laments that the moment “The Movement” ended was The Beatles odd alignment with The Maharishi. To Thompson, it was this decision that reminded everyone that The Movement, if it were ever a real thing, actually had to move somewhere and that that destination could only disappoint. This sentiment that the journey, a captured moment in time, is always more important than its destination is an poignant post-mortem of the 1960’s. It also somehow serves as the best and worst part of Thompson’s Fear and Loathing.
Like all crazy weekends, Fear and Loathing can only sustain so much momentum. In the first half, Thompson expertly draws out the distorted version of the American dream posed by a city like Vegas – a city built upon the allure and constant unfillment of every tourists’ dreams. Thompson makes frequent reference to Horatio Alger to make clear the overarching analogy but he’s too deft a writer to allow it to get ham fisted. Instead, he uses the city as a playground where a hyper-speed American dream can be pursued and lost in minutes. The insanity of tourists treating the city as such is of course contrasted by Thompson and his attorney – always on the brink of some sort of hallucinatory psychosis – as always being just a touch more sane and reasonable than their surroundings. This shtick is tried and true but Thompson pulls it off.
Unfortunately, the second half of the book is the hangover. It has moments of clarity and occasionally catches its second wind, but mostly its just filled with descriptions of Thompson and his attorney behaving reprehensibly as they freak out tourists and act like dirt bags towards a local Las Vegas waitress. Thompson’s ever-engaging prose saves some parts of the book’s latter half, but others make you wonder about your own moral character as you try to remain engaged in the depravity that you’re reading.
These more depraved parts – where Thompson pushes it too far – have likely limited the book’s legacy to dorm room posters for 20 year-old stoners who feel they can adopt Thompson’s charisma by proxy. In that sense, the book is underrated and has become a victim of its reputation. Like Nirvana, it gets remembered for all the wrong things and everyone forgets that Thompson can just flat out write. In the end though, even when the book isn’t great – it’s still pretty great.
In Fear and Loathing, Thompson uses Las Vegas as the setting where he will examine whether its possibly important that he’s never returned from that brink. The stated thesis of the book is that it’s a “savage journey to the heart of the American Dream” but Thompson writes as a bitter, but wise 1970’s California hippy acutely aware that “the dream is over.” However, with Thompson, the “dream” was only ever an excuse and he poignantly laments that the moment “The Movement” ended was The Beatles odd alignment with The Maharishi. To Thompson, it was this decision that reminded everyone that The Movement, if it were ever a real thing, actually had to move somewhere and that that destination could only disappoint. This sentiment that the journey, a captured moment in time, is always more important than its destination is an poignant post-mortem of the 1960’s. It also somehow serves as the best and worst part of Thompson’s Fear and Loathing.
Like all crazy weekends, Fear and Loathing can only sustain so much momentum. In the first half, Thompson expertly draws out the distorted version of the American dream posed by a city like Vegas – a city built upon the allure and constant unfillment of every tourists’ dreams. Thompson makes frequent reference to Horatio Alger to make clear the overarching analogy but he’s too deft a writer to allow it to get ham fisted. Instead, he uses the city as a playground where a hyper-speed American dream can be pursued and lost in minutes. The insanity of tourists treating the city as such is of course contrasted by Thompson and his attorney – always on the brink of some sort of hallucinatory psychosis – as always being just a touch more sane and reasonable than their surroundings. This shtick is tried and true but Thompson pulls it off.
Unfortunately, the second half of the book is the hangover. It has moments of clarity and occasionally catches its second wind, but mostly its just filled with descriptions of Thompson and his attorney behaving reprehensibly as they freak out tourists and act like dirt bags towards a local Las Vegas waitress. Thompson’s ever-engaging prose saves some parts of the book’s latter half, but others make you wonder about your own moral character as you try to remain engaged in the depravity that you’re reading.
These more depraved parts – where Thompson pushes it too far – have likely limited the book’s legacy to dorm room posters for 20 year-old stoners who feel they can adopt Thompson’s charisma by proxy. In that sense, the book is underrated and has become a victim of its reputation. Like Nirvana, it gets remembered for all the wrong things and everyone forgets that Thompson can just flat out write. In the end though, even when the book isn’t great – it’s still pretty great.
June 12, 2015
Wow. This book is bloody brilliant. It goes along at one hell of a pace. The book starts off hilariously funny, some of the things they get up to and how they stay under some kind of control makes for an awesome read.
It's not all fun and games though, the fear and the loathing soon start to creep into them, there is so much paranoia its hard to keep up. How they don't end up dead, especially with how violent the attorney is, amazed me.
The favourite part of the book for me though was the illustrations, I loved examining them and they really add to the experience of the read.
Hunter S. Thompson is one of my favourite authors.
It's not all fun and games though, the fear and the loathing soon start to creep into them, there is so much paranoia its hard to keep up. How they don't end up dead, especially with how violent the attorney is, amazed me.
The favourite part of the book for me though was the illustrations, I loved examining them and they really add to the experience of the read.
Hunter S. Thompson is one of my favourite authors.
June 9, 2024
4.5⭐ I had a hunch I'd enjoy this novel, and I was right. The book almost perfectly mirrors the movie, delivering a wild, surreal, and drug-fueled ride from start to finish. Every page is a vivid portrayal of the 1960s U.S., capturing the era's chaotic spirit with remarkable fidelity. Beneath its bizarre narrative lies a subtle yet profound allegory of the American Dream, expertly woven into the story. The juxtaposition of the novel's outlandish events with its deeper themes creates a thought-provoking experience that lingers on after the final page.
January 6, 2011
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is the telling of Hunter S. Thompson's wild and hysterical drug filled romp in Vegas. It does a great job of depicting the hilarious insanity and paranoia of a drug binge. Vegas is the perfect place for all of these off the wall situations and responses. I read this over a Vegas weekend bachelor party - my trip wasn't quite this crazy. This novel has one of the better opening lines, 'We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.'
For more info, check out:
Hunter S. Thompson on wikipedia
Ralph Steadman
The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved story
5/8 - f&L in LV - 8
a wild and hysterical drug-adled?filled romp in LV
hilarious insanity and paranoia of a drug binge depicted clearly
hysterically outrageous and bizarre
off the wall situations and responses - pure lunacy, but of the fun variety
my trip to vegas wasn't quite this crazy.
awesome opening 'We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.' p. 3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/archiv...
http://www.ralphsteadman.com/
jacket - 5/9 - 5 - somewhat interesting gonzo journalism - journalism vs fiction. true? but changed some so couldn't be arrested? some political diatribe as well
rumblings in aztlan - 5/10 - 7 - interesting and depressing article about 'chicano' rights. hard to believe written by same author; nice day in the life of with no real conclusions
derby - 5/11 - 7 - nice preview of f&L, not quite as crazy
http://www.derbypost.com/hunter.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kent...
For more info, check out:
Hunter S. Thompson on wikipedia
Ralph Steadman
The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved story
5/8 - f&L in LV - 8
a wild and hysterical drug-adled?filled romp in LV
hilarious insanity and paranoia of a drug binge depicted clearly
hysterically outrageous and bizarre
off the wall situations and responses - pure lunacy, but of the fun variety
my trip to vegas wasn't quite this crazy.
awesome opening 'We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.' p. 3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hunter_S...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/archiv...
http://www.ralphsteadman.com/
jacket - 5/9 - 5 - somewhat interesting gonzo journalism - journalism vs fiction. true? but changed some so couldn't be arrested? some political diatribe as well
rumblings in aztlan - 5/10 - 7 - interesting and depressing article about 'chicano' rights. hard to believe written by same author; nice day in the life of with no real conclusions
derby - 5/11 - 7 - nice preview of f&L, not quite as crazy
http://www.derbypost.com/hunter.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kent...
January 25, 2022
This book is great due to its anarchy and honesty. It feels like Thompson is just firing from the hip, but you can tell he’s not. It’s a very fun and wild book that makes you wanna speed down the road with a joint in your mouth, passing bumps of coke back and forth between you and a buddy while you disregard the future and live inside every second. Definitely recommend for those adventurous devils who wish they lived in the 60s or barely lived through them.
October 13, 2016
This stands in a rather stark contrast to the last book that I read. Overall, it was a lighthearted, often postponed, long overdue foray into the writings of HST. His writing is enjoyable at some points, nearly nonsensical at others, but he captures the time period well. I'm interested to read his other works.
August 3, 2020
Jag tänker nog när jag läser och ser ”romantiseringar” av droganvändande och dess efterföljder att det ser ganska festligt ut. Men när jag tänker på hur det måste lukta? Och om jag föreställer mig det illamående som jag själv allra högst troligt skulle känna i vilken given situation i boken som helst så… Huvvaligen, som man säger. Fear and loathing är en dråplig berättelse om drogpåverkade galenskaper.Av en journalist som är mer en deltagande i galenskaperna och en nyhetsmakare i sig själv, än en observatör och reporter, och det är också hela poängen. Och jag kan uppskatta the overthetop-madness som inte har några gränser, mestadels. Dock kan jag inte lägga bort min egenskap av att vara kvinna när de scenerna kommer in – det framställs ju som ”all in good fun” men reads to me more like: actual abuse. Lucy, städerskan, servitrisen. Det kanske ser festligt ut, haha vilka svin de är, men? Nä, det går liksom inte. Jag tänker på det där ibland. Att det liksom inte går att ta av sig vissa roller. Att jag alldeles för lätt kan tänka mig in i hur det skulle vara att vara den kvinna som är i den utsatta änden. Och då? Ja då slutar det ju vara roligt.
Filmen följer boken ganska tätt, bara några mindre förenklingar, men the jest of it är detsamma, berättarstilen, fantasin, galenskaperna. Dock gjorde det en stor skillnad att läsa de efterföljande berättelserna, där den första är en slags introduktion till Fear and loathing, där Thompson berättar om dess uppkomst, att han ”gjorde det reportaget” som en paus i ett tyngre jobb om en mexikan-amerikansk journalist som mördats av polisen, och han berättar om idén bakom ”gonzo journalism”, som triggar mig fast på mitt eget sätt förstås. Men hela ”leva och skriva om det”-approachen. Därefter kom det reportaget, som gav en mycket mer seriös framtoning, och politisk inte minst, och dagsaktuell inte minst – eftersom det handlar om polisbrutalitet. Och sist, ett till exempel på gonzojournalistik, som alltså i hans tappning mest verkar betyda ”befinna sig på platsen för ett stort event, bli påtänd och full och skriva om den upplevelsen ur en personlig vinkel”. Det knäppa är att det funkar. Eftersom han skriver underhållande.
Men som sagt, det är tur att det inte följer med några lukter när man läser…
Filmen följer boken ganska tätt, bara några mindre förenklingar, men the jest of it är detsamma, berättarstilen, fantasin, galenskaperna. Dock gjorde det en stor skillnad att läsa de efterföljande berättelserna, där den första är en slags introduktion till Fear and loathing, där Thompson berättar om dess uppkomst, att han ”gjorde det reportaget” som en paus i ett tyngre jobb om en mexikan-amerikansk journalist som mördats av polisen, och han berättar om idén bakom ”gonzo journalism”, som triggar mig fast på mitt eget sätt förstås. Men hela ”leva och skriva om det”-approachen. Därefter kom det reportaget, som gav en mycket mer seriös framtoning, och politisk inte minst, och dagsaktuell inte minst – eftersom det handlar om polisbrutalitet. Och sist, ett till exempel på gonzojournalistik, som alltså i hans tappning mest verkar betyda ”befinna sig på platsen för ett stort event, bli påtänd och full och skriva om den upplevelsen ur en personlig vinkel”. Det knäppa är att det funkar. Eftersom han skriver underhållande.
Men som sagt, det är tur att det inte följer med några lukter när man läser…
December 12, 2023
A really strange book that blends fact and drugged-out fiction together to leave you utterly confused. Also, I highly recommend everyone read the two smaller essays at the end, Thompson was really a phenomenal journalist and his gonzo voice in Fear and Loathing isn't his only one.
May 13, 2024
What a trip! Thompson’s drug-ridden novel is a surreal joy into finding out what the heck the American dream even is. His essays toward the end were good too, but “Fear and Loathing” is a story I cannot forget. A total reread.
January 11, 2019
“He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man”
-Dr. Johnson
Last week, while I was in Sin City, I read Hunter S. Thompson’s landmark novel ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream’. It was one of the best and most exciting reading experiences I’ve ever had.
‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ is the magnum opus of Hunter S. Thompson, an American journalist and author who became one of the most prominent literary figures of his time, capturing the ethos of a cultural era that was corrupted and disturbed in his heavily stylized and manic writing style. Thompson rose to fame with his 1967 book ‘Hell’s Angels’, a first-hand account of the infamous motorcycle gang which he wrote over the course of a year of living and riding with them across the country. In 1970 he wrote an article entitled ‘The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved’, covering the annual horse race in Louisville in a highly unconventional manner. Rather than focusing on the event itself, Thompson analyzed the race as a microcosm of American society at the time, painting a shocking portrait of a lewd and drunken celebration of debauchery and excess. This article marked not only the beginning of Thompson’s lifelong collaboration with British illustrator Ralph Steadman, but heralded the arrival of Gonzo journalism, a movement that Thompson himself would become the torchbearer for.
In Thompson’s own words, Gonzo journalism is “… a style of “reporting” based on William Faulkner’s idea that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism – and the best journalists have always known this”. Rather than attempting to be purely neutral and objective, Gonzo embraces the inescapably subjective nature of writing, positing that the only way to honestly approach a subject is to write from your own individual point of view. Thus, rather than remaining an impartial entity reporting on a story, Thompson chose to include himself as a part of the story, writing in an energetic, highly satirical first-person narrative style wherein he is not only a participant in the events but also serves as the protagonist and primary viewpoint character for the reader.
Pursuing his quest to use Gonzo journalism to tackle important stories, in 1971 Hunter Thompson found himself in LA working on a “very volatile & very complex” investigation into the murder of Mexican-American Los Angeles Times reporter Ruben Salazar by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Thompson’s main contact on the article, entitled ‘Strange Rumblings in Aztlan’, was his friend and colleague Oscar Zeta Acosta, a Mexican-American attorney, novelist, politician and activist who “was under bad pressure at the time, from his super-militant constituents, for even talking to a gringo/gabacho journalist”. In such a tense environment, Thompson found it difficult to talk with Oscar alone, and the two decided to take the work elsewhere. It was around this time that Sports Illustrated had offered to send Thompson to Vegas for a weekend at their expense in order to write photograph captions for the Mint 400 motorcycle race. Hunter seized on the job as “a good excuse to get out of LA for a few days, and if I took Oscar along it would also give us time to talk and sort out the evil realities of the Salazar/Murder story”.
And so, Acosta and Thompson set out in a flashy red convertible for Las Vegas, and what began as a weekend in America’s playground and a 250-word photo caption assignment turned into a 200-page beast about a drug-fueled road trip that would go on to become the preeminent Gonzo journalist’s most celebrated work.
‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ began as Thompson’s attempt to record the entire trip in his notebook as it happened, and his initial intent when all had been said and done was to send the manuscript off for publication without any editing. However, this didn’t pan out, as Sports Illustrated “aggressively rejected” the initial draft, Thompson was compelled to edit his creation and the project became, as Thompson described it, a “failed experiment in Gonzo journalism”. But Thompson did not give up on the book and, after making a return trip to Las Vegas to report on the National District Attorneys Associations’ Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (and doing so while high out of his mind on a number of hallucinogens), he gathered more material and completed his novel. In 1971, the final result was released in Rolling Stone in two parts accompanied by frenzied illustrations from Ralph Steadman and, the following year, it was properly published in a hardcover edition.
Thompson’s writing style is so distinctive and engaging, and Ralph Steadman’s frightening and absurd illustrations perfectly capture the off-the-wall energy of Thompson’s prose. The words and images work together to give the reader a kind of out of body feeling that’s like nothing they’ve ever experienced before. There are few books which really can get you inside the head of someone the way this one does. While the main character of the novel is named Raoul Duke, it is crystal clear that you are really reading from the hazy point of view of Thompson himself, who continually blurs the lines between reality and surreal fiction throughout the entirety of the book. The characters are so vibrant, so completely dirty and real, and the entire time the reader feels as if they are watching a car wreck; it is terrifying, but you can’t look away because you want to see more.
What makes Thompson’s writing really connect with the reader, though, is its moments of earthbound contemplation, where the book comes down off its high and crashes into a state of melancholic and thoughtful meditation. This is best exemplified in perhaps the most famous passage of the novel, which also happens to be one of the best things Thompson ever wrote- the famous wave speech:
“Strange memories on this nervous night in Las Vegas. Five years later? Six? It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era—the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something.
Maybe not, in the long run… but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.…
There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda.… You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.…
And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.…
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.”
Wow. I get chills every time I read that.
‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ is one hell of a ride. The whole thing is just frenetic and insane, and it never lets up, and I felt simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated at the end of it all. This is one of the best and most original pieces of writing I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. It is hilarious, horrifying, intense, shocking, violent, thought-provoking, deranged, captivating and thoroughly disgusting all-at-once. It’s something everyone should read at some point in their life. And, if you get the chance to, you should read it while you’re in Las Vegas. It will mess you up good.
-Dr. Johnson
Last week, while I was in Sin City, I read Hunter S. Thompson’s landmark novel ‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream’. It was one of the best and most exciting reading experiences I’ve ever had.
‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ is the magnum opus of Hunter S. Thompson, an American journalist and author who became one of the most prominent literary figures of his time, capturing the ethos of a cultural era that was corrupted and disturbed in his heavily stylized and manic writing style. Thompson rose to fame with his 1967 book ‘Hell’s Angels’, a first-hand account of the infamous motorcycle gang which he wrote over the course of a year of living and riding with them across the country. In 1970 he wrote an article entitled ‘The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved’, covering the annual horse race in Louisville in a highly unconventional manner. Rather than focusing on the event itself, Thompson analyzed the race as a microcosm of American society at the time, painting a shocking portrait of a lewd and drunken celebration of debauchery and excess. This article marked not only the beginning of Thompson’s lifelong collaboration with British illustrator Ralph Steadman, but heralded the arrival of Gonzo journalism, a movement that Thompson himself would become the torchbearer for.
In Thompson’s own words, Gonzo journalism is “… a style of “reporting” based on William Faulkner’s idea that the best fiction is far more true than any kind of journalism – and the best journalists have always known this”. Rather than attempting to be purely neutral and objective, Gonzo embraces the inescapably subjective nature of writing, positing that the only way to honestly approach a subject is to write from your own individual point of view. Thus, rather than remaining an impartial entity reporting on a story, Thompson chose to include himself as a part of the story, writing in an energetic, highly satirical first-person narrative style wherein he is not only a participant in the events but also serves as the protagonist and primary viewpoint character for the reader.
Pursuing his quest to use Gonzo journalism to tackle important stories, in 1971 Hunter Thompson found himself in LA working on a “very volatile & very complex” investigation into the murder of Mexican-American Los Angeles Times reporter Ruben Salazar by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Thompson’s main contact on the article, entitled ‘Strange Rumblings in Aztlan’, was his friend and colleague Oscar Zeta Acosta, a Mexican-American attorney, novelist, politician and activist who “was under bad pressure at the time, from his super-militant constituents, for even talking to a gringo/gabacho journalist”. In such a tense environment, Thompson found it difficult to talk with Oscar alone, and the two decided to take the work elsewhere. It was around this time that Sports Illustrated had offered to send Thompson to Vegas for a weekend at their expense in order to write photograph captions for the Mint 400 motorcycle race. Hunter seized on the job as “a good excuse to get out of LA for a few days, and if I took Oscar along it would also give us time to talk and sort out the evil realities of the Salazar/Murder story”.
And so, Acosta and Thompson set out in a flashy red convertible for Las Vegas, and what began as a weekend in America’s playground and a 250-word photo caption assignment turned into a 200-page beast about a drug-fueled road trip that would go on to become the preeminent Gonzo journalist’s most celebrated work.
‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ began as Thompson’s attempt to record the entire trip in his notebook as it happened, and his initial intent when all had been said and done was to send the manuscript off for publication without any editing. However, this didn’t pan out, as Sports Illustrated “aggressively rejected” the initial draft, Thompson was compelled to edit his creation and the project became, as Thompson described it, a “failed experiment in Gonzo journalism”. But Thompson did not give up on the book and, after making a return trip to Las Vegas to report on the National District Attorneys Associations’ Conference on Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (and doing so while high out of his mind on a number of hallucinogens), he gathered more material and completed his novel. In 1971, the final result was released in Rolling Stone in two parts accompanied by frenzied illustrations from Ralph Steadman and, the following year, it was properly published in a hardcover edition.
Thompson’s writing style is so distinctive and engaging, and Ralph Steadman’s frightening and absurd illustrations perfectly capture the off-the-wall energy of Thompson’s prose. The words and images work together to give the reader a kind of out of body feeling that’s like nothing they’ve ever experienced before. There are few books which really can get you inside the head of someone the way this one does. While the main character of the novel is named Raoul Duke, it is crystal clear that you are really reading from the hazy point of view of Thompson himself, who continually blurs the lines between reality and surreal fiction throughout the entirety of the book. The characters are so vibrant, so completely dirty and real, and the entire time the reader feels as if they are watching a car wreck; it is terrifying, but you can’t look away because you want to see more.
What makes Thompson’s writing really connect with the reader, though, is its moments of earthbound contemplation, where the book comes down off its high and crashes into a state of melancholic and thoughtful meditation. This is best exemplified in perhaps the most famous passage of the novel, which also happens to be one of the best things Thompson ever wrote- the famous wave speech:
“Strange memories on this nervous night in Las Vegas. Five years later? Six? It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era—the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something.
Maybe not, in the long run… but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.…
There was madness in any direction, at any hour. If not across the Bay, then up the Golden Gate or down 101 to Los Altos or La Honda.… You could strike sparks anywhere. There was a fantastic universal sense that whatever we were doing was right, that we were winning.…
And that, I think, was the handle—that sense of inevitable victory over the forces of Old and Evil. Not in any mean or military sense; we didn't need that. Our energy would simply prevail. There was no point in fighting—on our side or theirs. We had all the momentum; we were riding the crest of a high and beautiful wave.…
So now, less than five years later, you can go up on a steep hill in Las Vegas and look West, and with the right kind of eyes you can almost see the high-water mark—that place where the wave finally broke and rolled back.”
Wow. I get chills every time I read that.
‘Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas’ is one hell of a ride. The whole thing is just frenetic and insane, and it never lets up, and I felt simultaneously exhausted and exhilarated at the end of it all. This is one of the best and most original pieces of writing I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. It is hilarious, horrifying, intense, shocking, violent, thought-provoking, deranged, captivating and thoroughly disgusting all-at-once. It’s something everyone should read at some point in their life. And, if you get the chance to, you should read it while you’re in Las Vegas. It will mess you up good.
May 21, 2014
This is an excellent guidebook to surviving the straight world as a drug connoisseur. A lot of people write this off as some sort of nonsense drug rant. Those are usually the same sort of people Thompson is describing in the book. Naive, sheltered, invested in the illusion of the "American Dream". I think part of the reason this book is underrated these days is because it's style has been poorly copied to death.
I saw the movie a long time ago as an adolescent. I was expecting something as difficult to follow as Naked Lunch. I was surprised to find that this is one of the easiest books I've read all year. Thompson calls this book an "epitaph to the 60's". It is appropriate as that. He gets into the failures of Ginsberg, Leary, and Kesey.
The paranoia was real. You're talking about a time when the president has declared war on drugs. What does that mean exactly? This is also a time when United States Army soldiers had massacred unarmed white American college students for saying "war is bad" on an American college campus. Suddenly you're surrounded by people who want you locked in a cage because you happen to possess a few molecules that are arranged in a way that is not to their liking.
The drugs are just part of the picture. Thompson paints an un-romanticized portrait of American society in a place where it goes to be its vilest.
I'm glad I picked up the edition with the extra stories in the back. One is a much more solemn piece on the batos locos movement of East L.A. and the murder of Ruben Salazar by the LA County Sheriff's Department. The other is in the same vain as Fear and Loathing, set at the Kentucky Derby.
I saw the movie a long time ago as an adolescent. I was expecting something as difficult to follow as Naked Lunch. I was surprised to find that this is one of the easiest books I've read all year. Thompson calls this book an "epitaph to the 60's". It is appropriate as that. He gets into the failures of Ginsberg, Leary, and Kesey.
The paranoia was real. You're talking about a time when the president has declared war on drugs. What does that mean exactly? This is also a time when United States Army soldiers had massacred unarmed white American college students for saying "war is bad" on an American college campus. Suddenly you're surrounded by people who want you locked in a cage because you happen to possess a few molecules that are arranged in a way that is not to their liking.
The drugs are just part of the picture. Thompson paints an un-romanticized portrait of American society in a place where it goes to be its vilest.
I'm glad I picked up the edition with the extra stories in the back. One is a much more solemn piece on the batos locos movement of East L.A. and the murder of Ruben Salazar by the LA County Sheriff's Department. The other is in the same vain as Fear and Loathing, set at the Kentucky Derby.
May 20, 2017
This book is a trip. Thompson describes the effects of a myriad of drugs in paradoxically lucid prose, and somehow the overall effect is hilarious. At least that's how the first half goes. The second half descends into a more contemplative mood, alternating between more absurd encounters between Raoul Duke and a variety of strange types, and cynical comments on the Nixon regime and its stark contrast of the disenchanted early 1970s and the promise and glory of the Sixties. This book was initially published as a two-part serial in Rolling Stone in 1971 -- Watergate had yet to happen, the Beatles had just disbanded, John Lennon was still alive, and the drug culture of the hippie era was moving away from psychedelic drugs. There are some references to contemporary people and events that must have seemed as close and relevant to the 1971 reader as the refugee crisis, Trump's election and the Paris agreement are to present day people. But reading Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas 46 years after its debut is quite a different experience to what it must have been when it came out in Rolling Stone. Now, it becomes an exercise in history, as well as an reminder of how history repeats itself in funny ways. Reading Duke's comments on Nixon and the disintegration of the Sixties and the ideals that era represented, highlighted with underlying tones of disgusted disillusionment, are highly reminiscent of the way many people feel now about the election of Trump, immediately after Barack Obama's two-terms as president.
May 1, 2017
Rating - 7.1
A read where you really have to have exposure to the time period/culture to appreciate the author's story; It is unfathomable all the drugs/felonies that Hunter/Oscar consumed/committed wo death/arrest
Learning about the Chicano tension in LA during the late 60's was interesting & very similar to the Race tension; The police arrogance & brutality is indicative of a 'white' society that needs an overhaul
A read where you really have to have exposure to the time period/culture to appreciate the author's story; It is unfathomable all the drugs/felonies that Hunter/Oscar consumed/committed wo death/arrest
Learning about the Chicano tension in LA during the late 60's was interesting & very similar to the Race tension; The police arrogance & brutality is indicative of a 'white' society that needs an overhaul
July 23, 2017
This book doesn't even deserve one star. This book was awful and it really felt like there was no point to this book. Just a couple of really stupid guys who have nothing better to do with their lives than get really messed up from drugs. This was definitely a book that I pushed through quickly just so that I could be done with it. Definitely not my typical cup of tea and I wouldn't recommend this to anyone!
December 3, 2008
Man, do I love reading books about people fucked out of their skull on drugs. Especially if the book is as funny as this one. Unfortunately, "out of one's mind on drugs" and "funny" do not always coincide in literature.
December 10, 2010
the movie follows the novel pretty damn closely, so i wish i had had the opportunity to read this before seeing the movie a million times. still mad and enjoyable! makes me want to take a crazy, drug-fueled adventure.
4 stars, but i already loved it before i read it so i am biased.
4 stars, but i already loved it before i read it so i am biased.
July 2, 2017
Hysterical
May 6, 2018
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a story of the drug-induced delusions of a reporter while on assignment in Las Vegas, Nevada. The author arrives in Las Vegas in a red convertible, riding along with his lawyer, to cover a three-day car race in the desert. You'll have to take my word that he's covering a car race, because he doesn't really talk much about it in the book, except to mention that he went to it a couple of times. After the car race, the adventures continue, as he gets another assignment; this time to cover a police drug enforcement conference. He trades in the 'Gread Red Shark' for a white Cadillac, the 'White Whale' and sets out to find the American Dream. What that has to do with the drug conference, I'm not sure. In fact, I'm not sure of a lot of things, like is the lawyer really even there?
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is followed by two short stories. The first is the story of the death of Ruben Salazar, which I believe may have been included simply to prove that Hunter S. Thompson was capable of sane, real journalism. That is followed by a story of a trip to the Kentucky Derby, which falls somewhere between Fear and Loathing, and Strange Rumblings in Aztlan. I did notice that the phrase 'fear and loathing' was slipped somewhere into each of the short stories. That makes me want to read more of Thompson's old magazine articles to see if he did that in all of them. The Kentucky is Decadent and Depraved leaves me wondering, also, if Ralph Steadman is a real person and was he actually with Thompson at the Derby, or was he another delusion similar to the Samoan lawyer in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?
Easy to read; impossible to follow. But that's Hunter S. Thompson, right?
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is followed by two short stories. The first is the story of the death of Ruben Salazar, which I believe may have been included simply to prove that Hunter S. Thompson was capable of sane, real journalism. That is followed by a story of a trip to the Kentucky Derby, which falls somewhere between Fear and Loathing, and Strange Rumblings in Aztlan. I did notice that the phrase 'fear and loathing' was slipped somewhere into each of the short stories. That makes me want to read more of Thompson's old magazine articles to see if he did that in all of them. The Kentucky is Decadent and Depraved leaves me wondering, also, if Ralph Steadman is a real person and was he actually with Thompson at the Derby, or was he another delusion similar to the Samoan lawyer in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?
Easy to read; impossible to follow. But that's Hunter S. Thompson, right?
June 28, 2020
This book is a great introduction to Hunter S. Thompson. I'm glad I got to read more than just "Fear and Loathing" for such an intro. "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is an interesting piece, and was more than I expected. It's not just a drug tale after all. It is actually quite the incisive period piece and it makes me see how much we are still living today in the shadow of the Nixon era and the counterculture movement of the 60's. The theme of chasing the American Dream but awakening to the ever-growing fork in the road of what it means to be "American" - or what "The Dream" is - was especially poignant. The divisiveness of today is nothing new - this shit has been going on for 50 years and here is the proof.
"Strange Rumblings in Aztlan" is the real gem of this collection. As with "Fear and Loathing," this story is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. It is prescient, really. Disgustingly, nothing seems to have changed a bit. Cops are still pigs and liars, they're still deliberately killing citizens, and they're still getting away with it. And as Thompson said in "Fear and Loathing," "One Hand Washes The Other." Ergo the District Attorney washes the blood off the cops' hands by never charging them with their crimes, and the "Law & Order" system self-fortifies. If you ever want to murder someone with total impunity, become a cop.
"The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved" is overrated. I mean, if you change the context from the Derby to, say, the Daytona 500, would anyone I know still care about this article? No. Thompson makes a few insightful observations, as always, but this one falls short of its potential. It had the makings of quite the caper, but lacking in details, this article really just withers on the vine.
"Strange Rumblings in Aztlan" is the real gem of this collection. As with "Fear and Loathing," this story is as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. It is prescient, really. Disgustingly, nothing seems to have changed a bit. Cops are still pigs and liars, they're still deliberately killing citizens, and they're still getting away with it. And as Thompson said in "Fear and Loathing," "One Hand Washes The Other." Ergo the District Attorney washes the blood off the cops' hands by never charging them with their crimes, and the "Law & Order" system self-fortifies. If you ever want to murder someone with total impunity, become a cop.
"The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved" is overrated. I mean, if you change the context from the Derby to, say, the Daytona 500, would anyone I know still care about this article? No. Thompson makes a few insightful observations, as always, but this one falls short of its potential. It had the makings of quite the caper, but lacking in details, this article really just withers on the vine.
September 14, 2017
Fraud. Drug use. Violence. Sexual Assault. More drugs. All the ingredients necessary for a wild trip to Vegas, right? On the surface this work appears to be a string of anecdotes for two guys, gorked out of their minds on drugs in Sin City in the early seventies. I have seen several people who have trashed this work as being pointless. Understandable, but really, isn’t that the point? That there is no point. Thompson refers to ‘the American dream’ and the pursuit of it often in this book. They never find it. Does it even exist? Is there even a point to life? Perhaps not. Take it for what it is worth and in context also. The events and attitudes of the characters by today’s standards seem pretty tame. In 1971 they were shocking and outrageous. I found myself amused at some of the themes, and embarrassed at myself for being amused at such depravity.
The best part of this work if what Thompson does not tell us. For example he notes when returning the car that the dials and interior were ruined when he tried a water test at Lake Mead. Wait. What? There was no prior mention of that escapade. Yet the way it was presented, in an offhand manner, made we want to know more. Several other examples of further intrigue that is all left to the imagination.
The best part of this work if what Thompson does not tell us. For example he notes when returning the car that the dials and interior were ruined when he tried a water test at Lake Mead. Wait. What? There was no prior mention of that escapade. Yet the way it was presented, in an offhand manner, made we want to know more. Several other examples of further intrigue that is all left to the imagination.
March 1, 2024
obscenity, depravity, intensity, and the quest for the American dream. Written like a bizarre bbq story from your uncle about his schizophrenic friend, F & L is sporadic in its retelling. Set in an interesting time, in the transition between the 60’s and 70’s as the hippy movement began to fall apart. Hunters own prose and ramblings about this movement, its successes and short comings, and its relation to law and order.
I would put this at 3 to be honest, I only bumped it to 4 because I really liked the illustrations and I’m probably bias too because I saw the movie and loved it. At points the reading got a bit tedious I’d say, towards the second half. I liked the characters duke and the attorney. When I read other reviews, they talked about some grand critique about consumer culture. I didnt really pick up on any of that to be honest. I just thought it was a fun ride, the paranoia, absurdity. real groovy
I would put this at 3 to be honest, I only bumped it to 4 because I really liked the illustrations and I’m probably bias too because I saw the movie and loved it. At points the reading got a bit tedious I’d say, towards the second half. I liked the characters duke and the attorney. When I read other reviews, they talked about some grand critique about consumer culture. I didnt really pick up on any of that to be honest. I just thought it was a fun ride, the paranoia, absurdity. real groovy
April 29, 2021
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?”
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?”
May 5, 2025
Hunter Thompson both brilliantly and hilariously portrays 2 weeks of debauchery in the most debauched city in the world, Las Vegas. Every limit of immorality is pushed and yet our heroes come out unscathed because no one seems to notice them in this world of tragedy chasing the “American Dream.” Full of tragic characters, Thompson makes you laugh in spite of yourself at the absurdity of it all. This tale gets at the heart of what is destroying our culture, the pursuit of pleasure and wealth and what better setting than the place that represents everything that’s wrong about this pursuit, Las Vegas. The interplay between the two main characters is brilliant, in the tradition of Quixote and Panza and had me laughing out loud. A fun and cautionary read, if you already understand its message as I do, you are free to simply enjoy the ride.
February 23, 2025
The end of the '60s is something I've heard about in various forms of media. Typically the Altamont Free Concert is sited as the definitive end, and for good reason. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas does not document the death of the '60s, but rather the cadaveric spasms of that era.
Thompson does something in this unique blend of fact and fiction that just clicks. On its surface, this book seems to be about how far and out of hand a drug fueled rampage can get, but there's more to it. I found that Thompson's frequent mention of searching for the "American Dream" juxtaposed with Las Vegas highlighted precisely how depraved American culture can be (and has continued to become), and how the myth of the American Dream is typically just that.
Thompson does something in this unique blend of fact and fiction that just clicks. On its surface, this book seems to be about how far and out of hand a drug fueled rampage can get, but there's more to it. I found that Thompson's frequent mention of searching for the "American Dream" juxtaposed with Las Vegas highlighted precisely how depraved American culture can be (and has continued to become), and how the myth of the American Dream is typically just that.
November 14, 2025
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October 28, 2024
I found this book in the Local Interest section. No, this is Fantasy, this is Autobiographical, this is a Classic. Nobody but HST captures so accurately the fever dream that is Life. Spend a weekend, spend a year, spend a decade in Las Vegas & you’ll feel all the same. Drugs and hallucination aside, this is the American experience in poetry— its tangible & real & sickening.
Hunter S Thompson isn’t a novelist, he’s a guy you hang out with. Reality is stranger than fiction, and who better transcribes it?
Hunter S Thompson isn’t a novelist, he’s a guy you hang out with. Reality is stranger than fiction, and who better transcribes it?
Displaying 1 - 30 of 137 reviews