Customer Reviews (4)

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
"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.

Rah Rah
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.

Drug trips
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was veru interesting. THe drug trips scared me but allowed me to see what goes on in the real world. I felt that the literary merit was slim to none. The book is fun of description but does not really have a plot line other than just getting high and all thatjazz. The author certainly has some problems and can teach what happens when you get too strung out on drugs.

Fear & Loathing In The Book Store
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) ... Read more

Product Description
A biography of the journalist who was the inspiration for Doonesbury's Uncle Duke features material culled from interviews with family, friends, ex-lovers, and such figures as Tom McGuane, George McGovern, Gay Talese, and others. 60,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Insanely Funny!!!
I read this book well before the internet came my way, and thus without the benefit of all these negative reviews.Wow, was that lucky!I LOVED this book!It is written in a bizarrely humorous fashion.It essentially mimics (if not mocks) Hunter's writing style,as well as Hunter's paradegenerate personality.It is almost completely fictional (as I recall), and yet it captures all kinds of fundamental truths about HST.

I read this as I was recovering from a surgery, and I would laugh so hard that I thought for sure I was going to rip stitches and spill guts.I later loaned the book out and never saw it again.Only today was I able to identify it again--I recognized the cover.I am totally dumbfounded by all the negative reviews; just goes to show there is no accounting for taste.

I guess if you go into a book expecting one thing and it turns out to be another, disappointment can emerge.So, go into this realizing it is a satire/parody of HST and it makes good-natured fun of him.HST is not a God, for goodness sakes, and the humor here captures the man's well recognized devious personality.

This is out of print, but if you can ever grab a copy, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU DO SO. This is indeed gonzo reading. I've read a high percentage of stuff by HST and about HST and this is one of the best!

Waste of Time and Money
If you really feel the need to buy this, do so. But send it to me with a pair of scissors before you read it. I will send back an abridged edition, far superior to the original. This way you can avoid the disappointment I felt....... I will even return the scissors.

Good for a laugh.
I have to take issue with the other reviewer who called Carroll's attempt at a bio on the un-dooable 'trite'... bollocks.
Yes she tries to emulate her mentor, no it's not as good as Hunter himself. But, the blow by blow accounts arent what one would call lies, as that's what Hunter does best, politics aside. This is a fantastic little book of insights, many of the stories already exist in one form or another, and it's nice to have them in one little compendium. The real stories of his adventures far outweigh the stories told about him, anyway.

Gah!
If you have the misfortune of reading this book do yourself a favor and skip the fictional chapters, they are total rubbish. If E Jean Carroll is "the female answer to Hunter Thompson" than I'm the Queen of England.Her awful attempt at copying Thompsons style comes across as sophmoric and trite.I too recomend Paul Perrys book over this one.

Why is this gem out of print?
My goodness what is this world coming too. This book simply is the greatest. After watching Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, I simply had to devour all information I could find on this amazing man, Hunter S. Thompson.

I am so pleased to have found this informative work of art on such a legendary American figure.

Thank you E. Jean! Please never stop authoring books, you are wonderful.

I just hope this book is re-released so others can enjoy it as much as I have. ... Read more

Product Description
The further adventures of "Dr. Gonzo" as he defends the "cucarachas" -- the Chicanos of East Los Angeles.

Before his mysterious disappearance and probable death in 1971, Oscar Zeta Acosta was famous as a Robin Hood Chicano lawyer and notorious as the real-life model for Hunter S. Thompson's "Dr. Gonzo" a fat, pugnacious attorney with a gargantuan appetite for food, drugs, and life on the edge.

In this exhilarating sequel to The Autobiography of a Brown Buffalo, Acosta takes us behind the front lines of the militant Chicano movement of the late sixties and early seventies, a movement he served both in the courtroom and on the barricades. Here are the brazen games of "chicken" Acosta played against the Anglo legal establishment; battles fought with bombs as well as writs; and a reluctant hero who faces danger not only from the police but from the vatos locos he champions. What emerges is at once an important political document of a genuine popular uprising and a revealing, hilarious, and moving personal saga.

"Acosta has entered counterculture folklore:"

-- Saturday Review of Literature ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Kansas
Re-Saturday Review of Literature
Oscar Acosta disappeared in Mexico in 1974, not 1971 (the year of his trip to Las Vegas with Dr. Thompson).

Correction
Re-Saturday Review of Literature
Oscar Acosta disappeared in Mexico in 1974, not 1971 (the year of his trip to Las Vegas with Dr. Thompson).

First Impressions
This is the most realistic book I have ever seen about Mexican American hippies in Aztlan, the Chicanos of the 1960's neo-freedom movements. It will surely become a collector's item worth saving in this era of gung-ho Americanism which does not know the kind of objectivity Acosta displays with regard to how we think and why we believe as we do. Hunter S. Thompson described the author better than I can in his introduction to the book, highlighting his uniqueness while lamenting his untimely passing. I will write more after I give the book a more thorough second reading.

Sex, Drugs, and Politics
I read this book after finding out that Oscar Zeta Acosta was the fat Samoan lawyer from "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas."Acosta's style is similar, with a lot of drugs and sex with minors.The differencesare that Acosta isn't tripping the whole time and he has time to incitepolitical rallies.I love when they protest the Catholic church, or whenhe pleasures himself with some nubile young high schoolers under a blanketduring a sit-in.... For those interested in the turbulent times that wasthe 60s, this is a must-read.

An awareness that should be taught to todays young Chicanos
After reading this book, and actually livingthrough those turbulent times of the 60's and 70' s , it was refreshing to read and feel the burning frustration and love that this man was experiencing and the way he expressed his anger against the machine. This type of awareness has beenlost , due to us the forefathers of the Chicano Movement, to teach our ownand other's children of how important those actions were, so that we mayemphasize education, political power and family values. We have implementeda course in Chicano Studies in schools, we now have politicalrepresentation in our governments, and many more success stories that aredue to the work of such people as Cesar Chavez, Ruben Salazar and CorkyGonzales. Oscar Zeta was a man amongst his own that was afraid of nothingand no one.My thanks to him for fighting the powers that be and forcreating an example for all of us, regardless of race. You have to stand upfor what you believe and Acosta is atrue testament to that. ... Read more