Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - Thompson

[Kristel]

Read in 2015 (audio) for BOR challenge. Another 'drug' book. I really don't get it. I've read several now; Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Junkie by Burroughs; and there are more on the list. This one is set in 1971. The book is about Raoul Duke (journalist) and his attorney (Dr. Gonzo) as they take on Las Vegas chasing eh American Dream under the influence of every nameable drug even ether. Why is this on the list; it is a blend of fact and fiction known as gonzo journalism, it is a lurid description of illegal drug use. Gonzo journalism is a style that is written without claims of objectivity, often including the reporter as part of the story. The word and style was popularized by the author Hunter S. Thompson. It is an approach to accuracy through reporting personal experience and emotions. When I think about the book here is what I liked. Being a young adult in 1971 it was interesting to revisit some of what was going on. Hunter does a lot of this in his narrative. It also was a revisit to Vegas before they knocked down and rebuilt. I didn't like the drug stuff so much but otherwise it was somewhat okay thus the 3 stars. But really; its a lot of drugs, a lot of swearing and a lot of illegal behavior. So this was personal experience and was based on two trips that the author took with Chicano activist Oscar Zeta Acosta in March and April 1971. The author was writing about the Mexican American television Rubén Salazar, whom officers of Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and shot and killed with a tear gas grenade during the National Chicano Moratorium March against the Vietnam War in 1970. They actually made a trip (Sports Illustrated magazine) to cover the Mint 400 desert race in Las Vegas in March. This information all makes the book more interesting. The novel is one that is surreal in that you don't know what is real and drug induced paranoia. The preface quotes Samuel Johnson "He who bakes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man". The book actually is a negative look at drug use and American consumerism and excess and Las Vegas the symbol of ugliness in American culture. I listened to this book but there are illustrations that was not part of this experience so maybe the book is a better way to go. I also did not think the reader was great. There was a lot of breathing sounds though it may have been part of the pressure that the narrator was feeling in his drug induced state. I liked it more than On The Road and maybe equal or a little more than Junkie.