Screwjack [Hardcover]

Hunter S. Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1991

One of 300 numbered copies signed by Thompson.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 38 pages
• Publisher: Neville Publishing; Limited edition (1991)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B000E6IEYY
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Hunter S. Thompson's books include Fear and Loathing in America, Screwjack, Hell's Angels, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Proud Highway, Better Than Sex, The Rum Diary, and Kingdom of Fear. He was contributor to various national and international publications, including a weekly sports column for ESPN Online. Thompson died February 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ...It's A Damn Fine Book, April 11, 2002

By 

Matthew P. Arsenault (SW Michigan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Screwjack: A Short Story (Hardcover)

Some reviewers were unjustifiably harsh in their comments in regards to Screwjack. While all are entitled to their own opinion, it would seem that those with a blast of negativity were searching for some pseudo-Fear and Loathing II. While HST did write extensively on over-indulgence, he shouldn't be labled only as the writer of an around-the-bend drug odyssey. Thompson is in fact a fine craftsman of language, which is prominatly displayed in Screwjack. Each story imbibes a surreal experience. More like twisted fairy tales than short stories. Screwjack itself is my personal favorite piece. It has a poetic flow and almost a sing-song rhythm. Reading Screwjack reminds me of strange dreams an blurry memories. Certainly something to check out.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick And Dirty Gonzo, February 5, 2006

By 

Poppy Z. Brite (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Screwjack: A Short Story (Hardcover)

I love this little book. People who measure their literature by the pound may complain about this one, but fans of Thompson will whip right through it. SCREWJACK was first published privately in 1991, and has been spawning rumors ever since. Only one of its essays, a 1969 account of Thompson's first mescaline trip written in real time, was previously published elsewhere. As well as being an incredible piece in that you can actually see him writing himself through the freakout and emerging on top, "Mescalito" perfectly crystallizes the life of a freelance writer (some of us, anyway): " ... [H]alf drunk full of pills and grass with deadlines past and people howling in New York ... the pressure piles up like a hang-fire lightning ball in the brain. Tired and wiggy from no sleep or at least not enough. Living on pills, phone calls unmade, people unseen, pages unwritten, money unmade, pressure piling up all around to make some kind of breakthrough and get moving again."

SCREWJACK also includes the tale of a psychotic friend who killed himself in front of the author after making a disastrous bet on a football game, and the title story, a demented love scene between Thompson's crazier alter-ego Raoul Duke and a huge black tomcat, reminiscent of some mad cross between Mikhail Bulgakov and Dennis Cooper.

(A version of this review was originally published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.)

47 of 64 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A rip-off for Thompson freaks only, December 7, 2000

By 

Howard Sauertieg "Howard Sauertieg" (Harrisburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Screwjack: A Short Story (Hardcover)

As one of the legion of Thompson fans who've waited (patiently) for Screwjack, I must express my disappointment in the contents and the insane price of the book. The book is 59 pages long, and these are small pages, for a hardcover, with relatively large type. The text begins on page 11 with an incoherent 2-page introduction from HST addressed to "Maurice," whoever he is. The first half of the book is an amusing journal-ese account of an untimely mescaline trip, which appeared in its entirety in "Songs of the Doomed" (1990). Two very short tales follow, "Death of a Poet" and the title piece, "Screwjack." These fictional accounts meld sex and violence, avoiding the moralizing tendencies of Thompson's journalism. I won't spoil anyone's pleasure by describing them in further detail; suffice to say they're amusing and trivial. For Thompson completists only - and they (you) will probably not mind paying $15 for it. The asking price is an outrage nonetheless. By all rights the book should be a freebie for purchasers of Fear and Loathing in America, released the same day and far more substantial (that's an understatement...).