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Title: The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson, Campbell Scott ISBN: 0671582771 Publisher: Pocket Books Pub. Date: November, 1998 Format: Audio Cassette Volumes: 4 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.13
Rating: 3
Summary: respectable first novel
Comment: To be honest, this book isn't nearly as entertaining as HST's other works. The first chapter starts off good with a humorous account of the main character's run in with a fellow airline passenger. Right away I knew that this was going to be classic Hunter S. Thompson. Sadly, that was the first and last time I chuckled while reading this book. True, he was only twenty-two when he wrote this, but it seems that he was either too drunk or too afraid to take any chances with the story. The characters are two-dimensional at best. Paul Kemp, the man whose eyes we peer through for the duration of the novel, is the least developed character. The novel flows at a languid pace and often appears to be monotonous in tone. Nonetheless it is an engaging read that should appeal to a larger audience than his other books. To me the ironic thing is, had he not been consumed by alcohol and narcotics, he could have gone on to be one of the greats. As it stands he is a legendary counter-culture journalist who is more famous for his addictions than his writings. Kids my age--in their early to mid twenties--read HST because of the drug laden content; because it's "cool". Which is all the wrong reasons to read. I fell in love with HST's works when I was a teenager--and when I subscribed to the lifestlye that he describes--and although I appreciate his work now, his prose is absolutely remarkable, I can't help to wonder what could have been. As I said it's a respectable first novel, one that could entertain his fans as well as fans of Hemingway or Kerouac, but it's no masterpiece. I would recommend this novel so one could further understand how a talented writer ends up where he is. Or if you're just looking for a solid read that isn't knee deep in artistic integrity or bourgeois sentamentality, then pick this up today.
Rating: 4
Summary: Beginning a life of quiet dissipation
Comment: Hunter Thompson arrives in San Juan Puerto Rico as a thirty-something journalist on an english-language newspaper rapidly heading for the skids.
For fans of Thompson, this is a pre-drug dive into the nascent miasma of gonzo. A must-add to the collection. For anyone who wants to get the feel of a neo-colonial society on the brink of waterfront hotels and land barons, this book hits the spot.
From the moment he staggers out of a New York City bar and takes the cab to the airport, Paul Kemp fuels his post-adolescent lusts with cheap rum, disdainful detachment and occasional guilt. Taking cast-off apartments, cast-off assignments, and finally a cast-off beauty, Kemp reels from pillar to post. Moonlighting writing promotional materials for a piggish land developer, Kemp experiences more guilt than as moonlit lover of the abused Chenault. Watching the raging paper owner's paranoid descent into bankruptcy, shady mafia financing and death is but a sidelight. As he goes down, Lotterman's ravings about his "drunks, bums perverts thieves and wineheads" presages Thompson's classic socially scabrous syllogisms. Moberg the reporter coming in drunk and pissing on the teletype machine might be the only lighthearted moment.
The real action takes place in the musty tropical poured-concrete bunkers forming the hidey-holes for the lost souls of fellow expat writers. Feel the humidity drip from the slump-block as the hung-over stare follows a centipede's progress. The book echoes the grey early-morning sadness at the end of "Fear and Loathing", where the liquor's all gone, the final abuse committed, and the piper waits for payment at the door.
Rating: 4
Summary: I thoroughly enjoyed and read quickly
Comment: I enjoyed "The Rum Diary" though it was my first HS Thompson book. The first point in my rating is Thompson's unique ability to describe landscapes, be they the crowded silling infested streets of St. Thomas to the beautiful landscape of the surreal Vieques (sp?). The imagery was painting beautifully through prose in The Rum Diary. The second point is character development.... This book could have been a bit better if the characters/professions were discussed a little more in depth. As a non-journalist, I felt I didn't know enough on journalism in the late 50's to know any hardships of that career choice, but as the story goes, it seems it (as anything else) has it's political hurdles/hardships. Some of the characters are more impressionable and better developed than others. Sala gives the reader feelings of responsibility/truth/sarcasm; Yeamon gives a feeling of irresponsibility/intimidation/carpe diem; Chenault emotes classic femme fatale feelings; Moberg represents the "the lowest of low"/nothing to lose which by the way is already lost; Lotterman as the classic example of bureaucrat; Sanderson as a star of hope waiting to be embraced! Enjoy, it is a good read.
Also recommended if you enjoy this or have read the following:
On The Road (Kerouac)
Green Hills of Africa (Hemmingway)
To Have and Have Not (Hemmingway)
Huckleberry Finn (Twain)
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Title: Screwjack : A Short Story by Hunter Thompson ISBN: 0684873214 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: November, 2000 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century by Hunter Thompson ISBN: 0684873230 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 07 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Hell's Angels: A Strange and Terrible Saga by Hunter S. Thompson ISBN: 0345410084 Publisher: Ballantine Books (Trd Pap) Pub. Date: September, 1996 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame and Degradation in the 80's (Thompson, Hunter S. Gonzo Papers, V. 2.) by Hunter S. Thompson ISBN: 0679722378 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: July, 1989 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Fear And Loathing In America : The Brutal Odyssey of an Outlaw Journalist by Hunter Thompson ISBN: 068487315X Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: November, 2000 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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