Customer Reviews:
 Hilarious, but drab; the party overstayed its welcome. September 3, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
How can a book be hilarious and drab at the same time? Well, imagine this situation: you've arrived at a huge party with your friends. You're really pumped, you're telling jokes, and everyone is laughing, and your friends are enjoying your company, and everyone is having a good time. But then, a few hours later, your adrenaline runs out, and you've already told your best jokes. Now, you have to force yourself to have fun -- you're talking much louder than you should, trying to affect a witty tone for some laboured one-liners. Nobody wants to leave the party, because they came to have a good time, but everyone is already kind of tired and mildly irritated. At the end, you feel like you shouldn't have bothered.
That's exactly this book. The fun part of the party is over in the first few pages, when Thompson and his attorney embark on a road trip to Vegas in a car full of drugs. That introduction conveys a sense of excitement, the guys seem to be looking forward to a good time. The rest of the book is the irritated, laboured stage of the party. The guys keep pushing themselves to be manic and devil-may-care, apparently for no reason. Often, their insults and one-liners are grotesquely funny. But they are also hostile and snarling. There's no sense of friendship between them whatsoever.
Frequently, the protagonist tells long, complicated lies (well, more like "yarns," I guess) to various people. This is exactly the part of the party where you're trying to be funny and you keep talking and talking in the hope that, if you're not actually saying anything funny, maybe sheer volume will work. Sometimes it does, and one reads in disbelief, wondering how far Thompson can go.
The book occasionally recalls Kerouac with the road trips and the drugs, but they're taken to extremes, with none of Kerouac's literary name-dropping or his muddled thoughts on enlightenment. Thompson is more honest than Kerouac, in the sense that Thompson's characters casually say and do horrific things (like the scene with the underage artist girl, or the one where Thompson's attorney pulls a knife on the diner owner in North Vegas), without trying to cover up their nastiness with insincere booze-soaked lamentations about the sorrow of life. But that doesn't make Thompson's characters any more appealing, just honestly nasty.
Then again, Thompson's recurring references to the "American Dream" are kind of similar to Kerouac's Buddhism, putting a half-baked intellectual veneer on a trip that had no aim other than doing lots of drugs from the outset. This inspires the most unfunny and laboured part of the party, the dialogue allegedly transcribed directly from a tape recording. Thompson tells some people that he wants to find the American Dream and asks them where it is. A very laborious conversation ensues, it feels that Thompson is trying very hard to be outlandish and unpredictable.
Drugs are the one subject that the main characters are interested in, and possibly the only thing they have in common. They talk about drugs a lot, and Thompson's descriptions also expound in great detail upon the finer points. For instance, when they sneak into a national police conference about drugs: "I suspect we could have done the whole thing on acid...except for some of the people; there were faces...who would have been absolutely unendurable on acid. The sight of...[the faces]...was just barely tolerable on mescaline--which is mainly a sensual/surface drug that exaggerates reality, instead of altering it--but with a head full of acid, the sight...would not be emotionally acceptable." (143) The pedantry is great, he just has to carefully explain that distinction there. Or this one: "Acid is a relatively complex drug, in its effects, while mescaline is pretty simple and straightforward--but in a scene like this, the difference was academic." (144) That whole episode is hilariously pedantic, like the use of the word "academic" to describe drugs. It really is academic!
Thompson goes around ridiculing the clueless cops, because they were "telling each other that 'we must come to terms with the drug culture,' but they had no idea where to start. They couldn't even find the...thing." (144) He repeats this many times, but after all, he doesn't say much about the "drug culture," either. There are a few times when he appears ready to explain the essence of the "drug culture," but he never finishes his thought. It's kind of frustrating -- since he's so pedantic about drugs, and so contemptuous of the clueless cops, you'd figure he might as well go ahead and explain this "culture" for the benefit of the audience. But all that really comes out is his heartfelt regret (possibly the only emotion expressed in the entire book) for the passing of the sixties. It seems that he regrets it so much, that he decides to purposefully dedicate his life to acting out what he believes to be the spirit of that time. It's less clear why he feels that way.
The book is very fast-paced and easy to read, often funny. While you're reading, you'll probably want to finish the whole thing, and you'll laugh at Thompson's creative insults and yarns. But, after I read the book, I have to say, I don't really feel like ever meeting the main characters.
 A classic August 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this first in college, and then again recently. It's still just as funny and wonderful as ever.
Great book, unfortunatell i've seen the movie August 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Just to be short, this book is great. Unfortunately for me, i've seen the movie for 5 or 6 times before reading it, so the book just felt repetitive. Especially since all the movie is like a quote of the book. Which is great if i wouldn't have seen the movie.
So if you liked the movie, you'll definitely like this book. No surprises there, but some of the blurry situations in the movie are cleared out.
For those who haven't seen the movie, you should read the book first. it makes the movie so much rewarding, and of course, you don't want to miss Hunter S Thompson's great writing skills. He just writes everything the way he thinks and sees (hence the idea of Gonzo journalism).
Great Book August 3, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
My father had always liked hunter thompson but i had yet to read him. When my friend told me of this book I knew I had to check it out. What a trip. If you're looking for a straight forward book that explains everything with a nice plot and central characters who learn valuable life lessons...then this isn't the book for you. In many ways I say this book rings more true than most others. The character is really just an everyday druggie with a job and a hotel room in Vegas. The writing is superb and the illustrations were out of this world (literally). Even if you saw the movie and didn't like it, i would still read this book. It explains a lot more.
 Too misogynistic July 31, 2008
I've read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas a few times, starting first in high school, few years later in college, and then recently now. The first time I read it, I thought it was funny, zany, and wild. The second time, the enjoyment is half taken away. Now, it's a dreadful read. Certainly Hunter S. Thompson has style, but Tom Wolfe jots it more stylishly than Thompson does. Secondly, there is a certain feel that embodies Gonzo Journalism, so that makes him more or less a unique reporter. Yet the problem with his books, the readability of his books for seconds suffers greatly because of the boredom factor. Same thing goes as well for his '72: Fear and Loathing on Campaign Trail. The first hundred pages of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas gets me started off well and then it becomes a dogfight in the last, especially the final thirty, hundred pages in order to keep my eyes open from powerful need to sleep. As for the content of the book, some passages are sometimes incoherent, and Thompson is mind-numbingly insensitive to people around him, preferring to treat them, most notably the women, as objects. Several times, he speaks of gang-rape of one drug-induced young female probably fresh out of high school, and another time, he witnesses his friend who brutally terrorizes a waitress in some decrepit diner by flashing his large knife after being turned down for sex. There are bunch of drug references as Thompson, whether for glorification or adoration, abuses drugs to push his body to the limit. He has this thinking that he is above the people surrounding him and that entails him to do whatever he pleases. Oftentimes than not, he gets away with the crap he pulls along with his lawyer. That sounds like the attitude of a twelve year old spoiled rich brat who thinks that the world revolves around her. When I am reading this drivel, I can't help but think of a couple of things. One, I've got a cousin who started drugs during 80's in high school. He did a stint in state prison for a year for drug related charges. Today, he is in 40's and looks a lot more like a 70 years old man suffering from Hepatitis C. Every year that passes, his facial looks gain a decade. Another cousin I have, same path but he is in late 20's, has probably the mind of a mental **tarded person even though he was born of normal intelligence. I'm sure Dr. Amen can scan his brain and find more black holes on it than a month old rotten grapefruit. Also, his brother died of drug overdose at a young age. Their parents were normal, hardworking members of society. Another thing I am thinking of is the poor people who work at menial jobs, have no money to live above their sustenance, and struggle to make ends meet. You ask me, do I think that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is an enjoyable book no matter how degrading it is? Of course, some person will protest in defiance: "It's only a book." I guess so.r
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