16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, May 5, 2008
"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.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fear & Loathing In The Book Store, June 26, 1996
By A Customer
There I was, wandering the various warehouse-like isles of
my neighborhood bookstore hopelessly staring at the shelves
of books I read in the past. Stumbling across the Hunter S.
Thompson books was probably the best thing that happened to
me all week. As everyone else does from time to time, I took
a gamble and bought "Fear & Loathing: In Las Vegas" having
heard nothing about the book, or Hunter S. Thompson prior to
my purchase.
The description on the back of the book entranced me, with
visions of drug-drunken anarchy. A description that upon
reading, sounded so crazy and out of control that I figured
the book was probably trash. The description, as great as
it was, however, didn't even do justice to the book.
Have you ever dreamed about going on the road and doing just
about every drug imaginable over a period of a week or two,
and raising absolute hell in the city of Las Vegas? Driving
around in a large red convertable, picking up hitch-hikers
and scaring them worse than they scared you? And don't forget
the fact that during this dream ("The American Dream" as
Hunter S. Thompson describes it) you have an equally Drugged,
spontaneous, crazy and armed attourney to smooth things out
for you and keep you out of trouble?
This book has more action than you are prepared for, and there
is never a slow or dull moment from start to finish, And will
leave you back in the isles of the book store, or in this
case back in front of the monitor shopping for more of Hunter
S. Thompson's books. This was the first one I purchased, and
ended up buying the rest of his books.
(Warning: This book contains Sex, Drugs, Rock'N'Roll, Adult
situations, Explicit Language and just about anything else
you could imagine on an interstate drug frenzy)
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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Rah Rah, November 20, 2003
The previous reviewer is what one may call a "gotard."
He feels that fear and loathing is only about drugs. He is simple minded, and can't see what is really occuring in one of the finest American novels of the later half of the 20th century. Fear and loathing in las vegas is about the search for the long lost American Dream. It is story about two men set out to find the American Dream, and they use drugs and excess as means for getting there.
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