Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Hunter S. Thompson (1972)

THE A5 BOOK REVIEW

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a genre-defining fictional novel that is closely associated with a copule of actual trips taken by Hunter S. Thomson and his attorney-friend taken to Las Vegas in 1971.  The book is considered “gonzo journalism”, a blend of truth and creative fiction told in the first person that brings in highly-charged emotion and exaggerated sensations.  In the book, the narrator Raoul Duke heads to Vegas to cover a motorcycle race, but the journey rapidly descends into a drug-induced swirl of 1960’s counterculture-style misadventure and mayhem.  LSD, cocaine, mescalin, and even ether; all contribute to a stream of hysteria and hallucinogenic experiences where the duo pontificate on the nature of the “American Dream”.  Thompson’s book is of course controversial, but many consider it an important part of American literature for the unique literary structure, the raw and vibrant prose, and the reflection on American life and culture at that time. 
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ABOUT HUNTER S. THOMPSON

Hunter S. Thompson (1937-2005) is an American journalist and author, known for gonzo-journalism and counter-culture, his love of psychedelic drugs and guns, and his disgust for authoritarianism.  He is best known by far for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas but also for a book on the Hell’s Angels, where he spent a year living and riding with them as research.  Thompson tragically committed suicide in 2005.  

GREAT QUOTES:

"We had two bags of grass, 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 a quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether, and two dozen amyls... But the only thing that worried me was the ether.  There is nothing in the world more helpless and irresponsible than a man in the depths of an ether binge..."
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

“Hallucinations are bad enough. But after awhile you learn to cope with things like seeing your dead grandmother crawling up your leg with a knife in her teeth. Most acid fanciers can handle this sort of thing. But nobody can handle that other trip-the possibility that any freak with $1.98 can walk into the Circus-Circus and suddenly appear in the sky over downtown Las Vegas twelve times the size of God, howling anything that comes into his head. No, this is not a good town for psychedelic drugs.” 
― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

"The best book on the dope decade."
- The New York Times Book Review

INTERESTING LINKS:

  • Those who like the story of those struggling with conservative mainstream American should also read On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
  • Or, for fun, read former Esquire editor in chief Terry McDonell's story on playing golf with Thompson while on acid.

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