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.

I read this first in college, and then again recently. It's still just as funny and wonderful as ever.

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).

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.

Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of the most powerful most inspired and most read books off all time. I bought this book after seeing the movie starring Johnny Depp. After reading it I as quite please the the movie version of this novel was pretty well adapted to screen.

If you guys like a book/movie about psychedelics drugs, and a head full of acid this is the book for you.

From a reviewers note, it might be hard reading the whole book in one setting, I spaced mine out. And got more satisfaction with my buck.

Enjoy Hunter S. Thompson fans. This is one book that you if a fan or just a reader don't want to miss.

I'm about half way through this story and I don't give a darn how it will end. All I know is that it is one long, twisted, story where everything you expect to happen, doesnt.
The characters are well written and the situations they get into are hillarious.
I can't wait to see where their Great Red Shark will take them next.

"Kill the head and the body will follow."


Thanks

I suppose there are basically two ways to summarize this book:(1) Wow! Thompson is this really cool guy who gets wasted all the time and sticks it to the Man whenever he can, or (2) Thompson is a delusional icon of the counterculture, wasting his enormous talent trapped in a self destructive lifestyle. I happen to agree with the latter. Being a child of the Sixties myself, I and many others soon realized that the idealism of "peace, love, and rock and roll", while very nice in theory, didn't work very well in actuality. (Especially while trying to raise a family and earn a living.) Thompson acknowledges this himself in one of his passages, stating that the "High water mark for the hippie movement" had already occurred several years before his current escapades in Las Vegas. However, Thompson seems trapped in the Sixties motif, unable to escape the stereotype of the counterculture hero which he has become. On his ill-fated adventure through Las Vegas, he (and his lawyer) continuously commit acts of antisocial behavior against any and all types of citizenry they come into contact with. Thompson appears to realize that his avant-garde life style is no better, and probably worse, than the bourgeoisie that he is rebelling against. Sadly, he seems powerless to break out of his paranoiac state of drug abuse, even though he knows it's a dead end. Overall, I really enjoyed Thompson's writing style, although I certainly can't condone his behavior. I was hoping that there would be more to the book, but then I realized there couldn't be- the "trip" was over. I would also recommend watching the movie. I found that it complemented the book well.

First things, first...the late Mr. Thompson's earlier published book about the Hell's Angels was highly entertaining and informative. Well worth reading. As for "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", well, that's a different story. There are a few funny moments, but for the most part the author and his attorney sidekick just come across as self-absorbed, drug-addled A-holes. The book is kind of like driving by a horrible car accident that you just can't seem to tear your eyes away from looking at the carnage. A potentially useful book if you want to discourage someone from taking drugs. The reader is exposed to a boatload of cruel and irresponsible absurdity. There's nothing remotely romantic or positive about the adventures in this book. Maybe that was the point.

This book shatters any illusion of what a hippie book should be. Not a drop of peace and love to be found here. Behind the partying and humor, this is a book of profound dissillusionment and cynicism. But Thompson does a good job at not turning it into a bitter rant: he approaches chaos with a wry grin. But if you want Flower Power hippie slogans, forget it. These are gun toting, con artist hippies. And even the drugs don't seem much fun. Poking a hole through stupidity and hypocrisy is the only way these guys still know how to get high.

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream" by Hunter S. Thompson

Hunter Thompson practiced total immersion journalism. This form of reporting is called gonzo journalism.

Hunter Thompson drove to Las Vegas to report on a motorcycle race and ended up writing a story about himself writing a story about a motorcycle race. If he would have written a conventional report on motorcycle racing it would have been interesting to motorcycle enthusiasts for a few days. Since he wrote a gonzo story he had a very wide canvas and he used it well to create a classic.

The reader might be turned off by the obstreperous behavior, extreme self indulgence and offensive inconsiderate language. If you can look past this offensive conduct and you will see that Hunter Thompson gave us an insight into the American character of the 1970's.

See also: Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga (Modern Library)

I completely enjoyed this book and recommend it to others.

This book changed my view of literature and journalism and reminded me how important individuality is. Hunter S. Thompson, is amongst the best literary minds of his genration. He is able to draw a reader in with detail and inventive use of the english language.

Had some issues with delivery (of no fault to Amazons) which were dealt with wonderfully.

A 60's style drug trip in the 70's. Only a decade a part in time, but an age apart in form. Lawlessness vs. law-and-order, by a true life breather. A final cry from the peace and love generation; a time when Americans weren't afraid. Don't be fooled by the movie adaptation: you're looking at one of the finest pieces of literature of our time.

I read this book years ago. Like everything else from the 60's that seemed hip and inspirational back then....it now seems dated and ridiculous. Reading it is kinda like watching a black and white movie that is suppose to be a classic but just seems old.

That so many people have tried to justify, make sense of and interpret Thompson's pseudo-fiction in literal terms only indicates how many asinine, clueless people have read this magnificently absurd book. All that's required when reading HST's drug-addled interpretation of his misadventures with Acosta is to simply ingest, and to set your inhibitive sense of reality aside while doing so.

In his correspondence, literature and journalism, HST ably explains how he rode the crest, slope and break of the most exciting, disheveled period in the history of American culture. His written discourse is invaluable for obtaining a clear understanding of a muddled and dynamic era, where dysfunction of many varieties constituted the norm and both the freedom afforded by a permissive society and its' technological advances were exploited for enormous personal gain. In a time when America is descending into a sanitized quagmire of mediocrity and sedation, we could only hope for so much.

So this book is just a 200 page hallucinogenic drug fueled anecdote about going to Vegas to write about the Mint 400. Big deal. There's nothing more to it. If you are vaguely curious about what goes on in the mind of a hallucinogenic drug user, this is for you. It's NOT funny nor is it deeply introspective. It's just two old hippie burnouts getting "freaked out" all over Vegas, irritating everyone around them, the reader included. It got old really fast.

A fine introduction to the life and times of Hunter S. Thompson. In addition to the obvious theme of drug abuse, Hunter S. Thompson also channels the counterculture in its search for the 'authentic', complete with the typical anti-authoritarian outlook. With unexpected poise, he pushed the boundaries of deviance and dissent to the point that one might think this guy was a hero for cruising the highway whilst intoxicated on a myriad of substances.

Hunter S. Thompson and Gonzo Journalism are synonymous, and this read illustrates that fact flawlessly. Maniacal. Out of control. Nuts. Living so close to the edge that "psychotic" would downplay his condition. Written in 1971, Thompson's FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS relays a pungent, caustic look at the drug-crazed, alcoholic, ribald late 60's as seen through the eyes of reporter Raoul Duke (who is Hunter Thompson). Traveling with his equally impious Samoan attorney Dr. Gonzo, Duke sets out for a story about the 4th Annual Mint 400, and drops-in on a convention of Anti-drug Law Enforcement Officials for an alternate story. The frenetic scenes staged by Duke, roiling with contempt for authority and government institutions, are outrageous and hilarious. Cleverly staged in Las Vegas, a town riddled with lost dreams and realities that only exist in the imagination, Thompson makes a skillful argument for break-all-the-rules-live-for-today hedonism. Deeply philosophical within its rabid, demented pages.

Ralph Steadman's lunatic illustrations throughout the text - mostly of bizarre hallucinations and splashes of ink across the pages - serve to intensify the emotion and strengthen the demonic, frenzied mash that Mr. Thompson throws at our feet.

I read this book while traveling in a small third world country. When you are surrounded by normal people struggeling to get by every day you can see what a self absorbed jackass Hunter Thompson was. This explains why he is so popular with old clapped out hippies.

In the book he is constantly stoned and hassels everybody from maids to hotel clerks. Anybody struggeling to get by is his target. His character never goes after anybody who can do something about it ,only the powerless. Apparently his fans think this is high humor. It takes a low IQ and a lot of self loathing to really appreciate this author.

Thompson's magnus opus is a manic, drug-fueled, drug-infested, drug-induced vision of Vegas and America in 1971. Its content, coupled with its vivid vocabulary and an almost discomforting honesty, makes this novel one of the most compelling of its era. If you've ever wondered what became of the hippie ethos after the 60s- or why we're still fighting a "war on drugs"- "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" provides the answers with large doses of mescaline and humour.

The good doctor may have reached the peak of his literary prowess with this book, at least in the sense that here he was willing to be his most funny and fun. There's actually a streak of sadness and depression that runs through this work, as was surely the case in Hunter's actual life, but for the most part it's a heck of a lot of fun and wackiness. The protagonist is trying to find the American dream and never quite tracks it down, but he does manage to get his hands on a whole lotta illegal substances, as well as a few legal ones, and some 1960s-like drugged out madness ensues! One of the more memorable scenes takes place between the California highway patrolman and the doctor near the middle of nowhere. It's also amusing when they attend the drug conference. If these events really had taken place exactly as written, it would've made for an interesting magazine article to say the least! Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.

THIS IS THE FIFTH COPY I'VE PURCHASED OF THIS BOOK. I'VE GIVEN TO FRIENDS
I RESPECT. THAT WOULD APPREICATE THE SELF ABSORBED HUNTER S. THOMPSON.
AS HE TRULY WAS OFF THE WALL AND SOME WHAT OUT TO LUNCH.

BUT HE WAS A GENUINE MAN AND A HEAD OF HIS TIMES. HE WILL BE TRULY MISSED

LINDA LUTTON
Mc GREGOR, TX.

I read Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas many times during my college years. A friend recommended it to me, and then I started recommending it to friends.

In spite of the fact the movie sticks very carefully to the book, the movie did not work for me. Johnny Depp was too short to play Hunter S. Thompson. You really must read the book to get the full effect of this classic work.

Hunter and his attorney travel to a convention in Las Vegas, and take massive amounts of drugs, and spend the entire weekend blitzed out of their minds. What you see is a twisted reality altered by chemical substances. The book is actually based on the event which Hunter recorded using a tape player and notes.

The narrator often takes the reader aside to explain the events taking place. When they pick up a hitchhiker they pick up, Hunter thinks, "Poor Fool. Wait until he sees the bats." He assumes the hallucinatory bats are real, and eventually the hitchhiker will see them.

There is a good deal of paranoia as they attend at a Drug Enforcement convention.

Each seems to feel the other, has over indulged in alcohol and drugs, and the solution to any problems is to ingest more chemicals. The spirit of the book is similar to the Movie Animal House. John Belushi was once even considered for the movie role, along with his sidekick, Dan Aykroyd, but Belushi's death ruined those plans.

I could find absolutely nothing of "redemptive value" to this story. I thought there might be a some kind of "lesson" to be learned at the end, but that wasn't the case. No consequence for illegal, immoral choices and actions. A tale of debachery, disrepect, drug use promotion, vandalism and total hedonism. I'm not a right-wing, Bible-thumping, ultra-conservative, but I could not, would not recommend this book to anyone!

I know, it's THE Hunter S. Thompson book. It would be like having the gall to write a review for the Grapes of Wrath or Slaughterhouse Five and think you'd be doing anything other than blabbing just to see your own words on a computer screen.

That said, read this book this instant. Whatever good anyone's ever said about this book, it's twenty times better. I read it in two sittings and only stopped myself from reading it again because it was a library book and had to be returned.

The late HST's gift for gonzo, that strange mix of fiction and nonfiction, is ultimately realized in this book. Reality is seamlessly mixed with a bizarre fantasy world of sentient reptiles and split personality through the medium of hard drugs that serve to clarify (and sometimes amplify) a violent and twisted town in a strange time.

This book will have you laughing hysterically at parts, so don't read it around other people unless you're okay with passing it to them. This book will have you cringing at the brutality of human nature at points, so have your wits about you.

I really can't say anything else, other than that this book must be purchased and read this very instant if you haven't already done so.

Thompson's book helps create a vivid picture of the drug fueled 60's and early 70's a way no one else has before.

¨Fear and Loathing¨ is a great ride for sure. A drug-addled, hilarious, disturbing romp through Las Vegas in search of the American Dream. Thompson is definitely a skilled writer and an outlaw and this stuff comes through in this book. I don't want to shrug this work off by any means, but I definately prefer his other work, such as ¨The Great Shark Hunt,¨ because it truly brings out Thompson's outlook on the world, his hatred of wealth, power and greed, etc. This book is fun, but Thompson is definitely capable of more depth and thought. While this work might be what gave him his big break, he definitely went on to better things.

A bizzare journey to the heart of the American Dream, funny, witty and full of memorable episodes. The illustrations by Ralph Steadman are also superb. Raul Duke says it clearly : "buy the ticket...take the ride"

The lost highway of the American Dream.

I wasn't old enough to remember much from the late 60's early 70's let alone the political aspects of Nixon's presidency or the drug culture of the time, so this review won't have any profound social or political commentary, except that comparisons can well be made to the drug culture of today, and it is glaringly apparent that not much has changed.

Considering the climate of the time: Nixon's presidency, the war in Vietnam, and the country's young men succumbing to the draft, it was no wonder that an entire generation wanted something more, for this was not the American Dream they had been sold. And for some, the only way to drown out the hypocrisy gnawing at your brain is to give your brain an escape. Expand your mind, as that might be the only part of you that is truly free. Whatever it takes to get you directly out of your head -- the higher the better. This story chronicles a journey utterly devoid of restraint and reason as these two men, Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo, and their trunk full of felonies set themselves loose upon Las Vegas -- the last vestige of the American Dream. However, their idea of the American Dream is not how most of us would understand it, but somehow, through the fog of hallucinatory metaphor, we can actually see and feel what the main characters are searching for so desperately.

All that aside, even if the 60's culture is beyond your age group, Thompson's writing is worth the read -- Brilliant, sarcastic, and frighteningly funny: Bars seething with has-been lounge lizards, tearing the patrons to shreds, blood soaked tacky hotel rooms, police car chases, kidnapping, gambling, excess, and debauchery ... not to mention the Narcotics Convention. The dialog is brilliant. Harrowing experiences abound; it is amazing that the two main characters make it out of Vegas alive.

Definitely a wild ride for all.

I found parts of it mildly amusing. I suppose it was a big deal once. I didn't read it back then, but gave it a try out of curiosity. Alas, it didn't age well.

Next time I want to read a book out of curiosity, I'll go get a library card.

If Jack Kerouac spoke to the "Beat" generation through "On The Road", then Hunter S. Thompson has spoken to the post-hippy Boomers with Fear and Loathing. This book had me laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. The best thing is that my 21 year old son found it as good as I did. One of the best road trip books ever written.

A wonderful in depth study on the customs of self-destruction. Hilarious and riveting. I not only recommend the book but also the audio version, which is a pleasure to listen to in bumper into bumper traffic.

I bought this book for my husband & he loved it. I think it's the fastest I've ever seen him read a book.

This little book is mostly self-indulgent tripe, with childish illustrations thrown in. Thompson writes a lot about drugs, drink, sodomy, Nixon, and what a WILD AND CRAZY GUY HE IS! That Hunter S. Thompson..."Dr. Gonzo"...what a CHARACTER! Read it so you've read it, but don't think you're getting anything the caliber of Tom Wolfe...good Lord, no.

A reporter and his attorney hit Las Vegas loaded up with every drug known to man (and some unknown), and proceed to trash the City.
This book had me in stitches, it was so funny.
Be warned there are serious drug references and crude humour in this book.

Read this book in two days. I've been on a biography binge about people with strange and twisted lives. This book fits right in. From the first page you can tell your going to be in for a wild ride. Thompson tells his story in a way that enables you to understand what life is like on a major drug and alcohol bender. It's probably not for everyone but if you like stories about living life on the edge this one's for you. I laughed all the way through and at the end thought... how sad. Anyway it's a fun and easy read. Can't wait to get the rest of his books.

This was the first book by Thompson that I ever read, some 8 years ago, and it truly opened my eyes to an entirely new literary world of action and well, savagery. This is as odd, brutal, funny, strange, and well, savage, as other reviewers have pointed out. Mr Thompson has a brilliant way of writing that truly lets the reader feel the bad craziness that's going on in the story, or at least feel the adrenaline pumping. His descriptions and metaphors as indeed his language are spot on and incredibly well conceived (he did indeed have a vivid imagination). He always proclaimed later, that there was only one man who could've written "Fear and Lothing in Las Vegas", and I believe he is right.

I recommend reading the book in one go, take an afternoon with a good whiskey near by (only don't get so drunk you don't know the world around you) and read the book cover to cover. It's really a gratifying experience. You can leave out the drink, but the cover to cover in one go is a must. This way of reading really lets you feel the intensity of the story. And my oh my is it ever intense!

Highest possible recommendation. Get it now!

Instructions for gonzo reading (according to Hunter Thompson)

*Half pint, 10-inch hypo-needle (the kind used for spinal taps & inoculating bulls)

*Fill this full of rum, tequila, or wild turkey & shoot the entire contents straight into the stomach, thru the navel. This will induce a fantastic rush - much like a 3/4 hour amyl high -plenty of time to read the whole saga.

*Read straight thru, at high speed, from start to finish, in a large room full of speakers, amplifiers & other appropriate sound equipment. There should also be a large fire in the room, preferably in an open fireplace & raging almost out of control.


It is this kind of thinking to which you will be subjected if you choose to read this book. I highly recommend it, if you've got the stomach for that sort of thing.

I have reviewed Dr. Hunter Thompson's more political works (Fear and Loathing in the 1972 Campaign, Songs of the Doomed, etc.) elsewhere in this space. This book is, however, the most famous of his works. It is an attempt, a failed attempt according to Thompson himself, at what he later called `gonzo' journalism. That was an attempt to twist so-called objective journalism on its head by having the formerly objective reporter become a participant in whatever action he or she was covering. Fear and Loathing is the closest approximation to that ideal. While the story line of a madcap, drug-addled journalist and his crazed lawyer (the mythical Brown Buffalo) in search of the true meaning of America in Las Vegas is a little dated some of the observations about the nature of the beast, America (whether under the influence of drugs, or otherwise) still hit the mark. While this is not Thompson's attempt to write the great American novel he sure as hell could write. For close to forty years he made us smile or want to call for his head on a platter. We will not see his like again.

Forget looking for deep meaning, plot, character development and all of the other stuff you might find in most novels. In true Hunter S Thompson style this is the wacky, mad diary of a road trip to Vegas. That the book was so popular tells you something about the era, when drugs were funny.

Don't expect the feel and breadth of Wolfe's The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, this is a more like someone placed a cranial bug in the demented brain of Thompson. What comes out on the page is just as it happens.

None of this is bad. Its over the top tale is funny, outrageous and worthy of the quick read. Just remember the author's final exit plan.

Forget looking for deep meaning, plot, character development and all of the other stuff you might find in most novels. In true Hunter S Thompson style this is the wacky, mad diary of a road trip to Vegas bb.

Don't expect the feel and breadth of The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, this is a more like someone placed a cranial bug in the demented brain of Thompson. What comes out on the page is just as it happens.

None of this is bad. Its over the top tale is funny, outrageous and worthy of the quick read. Just remember the author's final exit plan.

If you made it through the seventies, you'll love this flashback. "Hunter did not die, he is alive and chillin' with Timothy Leary ".

I don't quite understand the people who read this and then were shocked like Claude Raines when it turned out to involve wacked out drugs tails. Hunter was the original Gonzo Journalist, get it? And for those who want greater meaning and depth go read a sociological study of the 60's & 70's. But for those who want to laugh until tears roll down their face and relive some of their antics well I don't have to tell you to read it, you already have. One point is valid though, it doesn't cross the generations well. I have passed this onto a number of youngsters and many don't get it and not a few don't believe a time like Thompson describes could exist. All I can say is it's a good thing it doesn't anymore but I'm glad I was there for the ride.

Most overated book in the history of literature! Nothing more than a drug-induced binge. No pyschology....no analysis....no intellectual thought of any kind. I expected a whole lot more....

There are a lot of people that read this entry into Thompson's bewildering collection of Fear And Loathing writings for Rolling Stone, and totally bog down their experience by looking for some kind of profound meaning to the entire drug addled tale. I will say it is an aquired taste. But the meaning of the story in itself is not so much something deep to be dug out of the ether-soaked meat of this story, as much as it's an all but invisible patina on the surface that requires you to almost put yourself in Raoul Duke's place to pick out. One of the most poignant and memorable parts of this book for me, is Thompson's oddly lucid lament on "The Great San Francisco Acid Wave" which seems to be going somewhere important; seems to be heading for that great profound message that most look for when reading this but seems to cut itself short before it gets there. And to me, that's the lesson. All the drugs in the world weren't going to get those people any closer to some profound truth, especially when it all wore off and reality sank back in. Reading that passage lets me experience the anti-climax that must have shattered the hope of those poor hippies...

Beyond all the imagined literary truth of this story is the blistering social commentary on Las Vegas and the United States in the early 70's, which makes the book worth reading by itself.

And beyond all that high-brow nonsense is a wild ride through the "Freak Kingdom" of Thompson's memories of that decade. Painfully hilarious in some places, and jumbled enough to make you FEEL like you're on drugs by the time it ends (far too quickly), Fear And Loathing reads like a person coming down off of that bewildering kit-bag of poison telling war stories from his days on the edge. If you are a fan of the movie, I highly recommend this ridiculously entertaining book.

Not recommended for kids, or any other person who lacks the common sense to realize that Thompson is showing you exactly why you shouldn't eat "seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers..."

Also not recommended for people trying to find a method to this genius' madness.

"Buy the ticket, take the ride."

We will see what ratings, or if I am lucky, comments that my title (and review) bring. Anyways, this (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream) is by any standard literary definition an amazing book. To be clear, I do not know any 'standard literary definition' (or even if one exists).
Whether or not you like the book, you will not understand the book. I want to make this point clear. In comparison with the sciences, understanding is not guaranteed with art. Whether understanding is guaranteed by science or whether this book is art, is most likely debatable. Nonetheless, this book is considered by many (I do not know how many) to be an extremely high quality work of contemporary art (not sure who considers it to be this).

I wanted to make this review as coherent as possible and I hope I have accomplished that goal. Let me Know.

Poor plot, unnecessary ramblings. Potentially interesting drug stories described by a man with a rich vocabulary and nothing else. It didn't keep me interested and I felt like I was dragging my feet everytime I turned a page. I found myself looking for perhaps something deeper and more profound in the book. Instead, I found more stories about mescaline and stupid drug-inpired ramblings.

Thompson's classic novel shows that quest literature (in this case the quest for the American Dream) is not at all dead. This is tale is wonderfully crafted and will entertain until the last page.


Author of
The Truth aboutt
Cafffeine

I have read this book about a dozen times, and I won't lie, the first few times were hard. I wasn't sure if I even understood this book, let alone liked it. My husband was a big fan, and convinced me to give the book another shot one day- and am I happy he did. I got it. It is funny, sad, crazy and weird. It's a journey that I am happy I took, and will take again. It is one of those book that each and every time you read it you will take away something new and fresh. Great read. Try it, you will like it.

Hunter S. Thompson is one of the great writers of the field of writing. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of his best ones. he is a mad man and the gonzo writing style is loved throughout the world and the writing world. i love the book because the the excitment that keeps you reading and learning. i only wish that he did not kill himself so maybe i could talk to him in person.



Kushner,M
A u t h o r
The Truth About Caffeine: How Companies That Promote It Deceive Us and What We Can Do about It