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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Take this in small doses, August 2, 2005
What we have here are over 100 op-ed pieces (about 2 1/2 book pages each) that ran in the San Francisco Examiner over a three-year period, December 1985 thru November 1988 and are now compiled in Gonzo Papers Volume 2 (Volume 1 was The Great Shark Hunt). These were originally meant to be read at the rate of one a week, but of course you can increase your speed on this compilation. However, I read them in a handful of sittings and suffered from severe overload. First of all, at this fast rate you get a good deal of duplication that waters down the overall affect Thompson was trying to create in his weekly column. Thompson reminds me of the famous Groucho Marx line: "Whatever it is, he's against it!" Just picked at random: "Any baboon with a healthy heart and good diction... could do Neil Frank's job (director of the National Hurricane Center). President Reagan: "...seems to be dumber than three mules." Frank Sinatra: "...is said to be smart, but he was fired and cut off from every casino in New Jersey when he tried to play blackjack by rules he learned in Nevada...They chased him out like a wino. It was an ugly thing to see." And these quotes all come from just one article. Pick a name or event from the headlines of these three years and you'll find a bombastic opinion from Thompson aimed directly at it. It is a fun and funny read. You'll find yourself thinking and speaking in the Thompson style. It's addictive. But, too much at one time can put you over the top. For more reasons than one, this would make for good bathroom reading material.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The more things change, the more they stay the same, May 9, 2006
This is another in a series of collections of Hunter's columns. The other compilations are:
The Great Shark Hunt (Gonzo Papers Vol. 1) about the 70's, mostly post Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail,
Better than Sex (Volumen 3) about the 90's, and his final release before his untimely death,
Hey Rube (about the early 00's).
I should mention here that I'm only in my 20's, and the first administration I ever really paid attention to was the second Clinton term.
Reading this book and the other Gonzo Papers books, along with Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, gives you a perspective on the past 30 years that is hard to find elsewhere in this context. Since these columns were written as critiques on current events, you get a feel for what was going on in the 70's, late 80's and early 90's. You find that for everything that has changed over the past 30 years, that politics is quite static. Corrupt presidents, sex-scandal plagued politicians, and more.
There's not too much to dislike about this book, assuming you enjoy Hunter's writing style. And it is valuable to those who can't get enough of Hunter's style.
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
savagely funny, November 16, 2002
This review is from: Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the '80's (Gonzo Papers, Vol. 2) (Paperback)
I read this book when it first came out and thoroughly enjoyed it. Of course, it helps if you are a political junkie. The surprising thing, though, is how I think it holds up, even though so many of the anecdotes and columns are topical of the era in which it was written. I picked this up the other day at the book store, on a whim, and sat down to revisit it. I was laughing so uncontrollably, and for such a period of time, that a lady sitting nearby asked me what I was reading, went and got a copy for herself, started perusing it and ended up buying it. Nobody...NOBODY is as perfectly vicious and insanely funny at the same time. He is like an impressionist political commentator. His portraits of George Bush Sr here aren't quite accurate...but something about the way he exagerates the man's traits captures his essence more clearly than any attempt at objectivity could hope for. If only he were still covering politics...
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