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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (平装)
by Hunter S. Thompson
| Category:
Fiction |
| Market price: ¥ 148.00
MSL price:
¥ 138.00
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| Stock:
Pre-order item, lead time 3-7 weeks upon payment [ COD term does not apply to pre-order items ] |
MSL rating:
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| MSL Pointer Review:
A book about a weekend in Las Vegas full of drug-induced debauchery, Fear and Loathing is brilliantly written and consistenly entertaining. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 12 items |
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Tom Wolfe (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
A scorching epochal sensation! |
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The New York Times Book Review (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
The best book on the dope decade. |
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Larry Flint (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Hunter S. Thompson's famed novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas creates a vivid portrayal of a drug-afflicted life for a non-using reader. Written during the era of drug use, Thompson's novel leads one to believe that if you were alive during this period, you surely would not have remembered it. The true depths of Thompson's mind are displayed through the various hallucinations and psychedelic images envisioned by the main characters Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo. If maniac, crazed drug trips are not your style, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas would not be a number one choice on your literary register.
As early as the first chapter, the reader realizes the magnitude of the drug affiliation in the story when Duke states, "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..." Thompson uses Duke as a character in which he is really portraying himself. This technique, known as "Gonzo," places the journalist into the story and allows the writer to show action with himself being involved. This style is used in various works of Thompson and is very prevalent in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
Due to Thompson's journalistic background, another device that is frequently used in his work is the process of analyzing everything around him. Thompson, being portrayed as Raoul Duke, presents the entire story as an observation and with an analysis. Despite his inapt sense of judgment due to the drugs, the main character still leads the reader through a plot of a great journey into the heart of Las Vegas. Duke suspends the reader in a world of fantasies that occur while visiting the great city while still leaving behind the dark images of drug abuse.
The true evil side of a drug addiction comes to mind in thrilling scenes such as Dr. Gonzo's trip in the bath tub. He considers suicide by electrocution while listening to the song "White Rabbit." Duke's lunatic encounter with the monsters in the lobby of the hotel takes the reader down a spiraling staircase in the depths of true insanity. All of these psychotic experiences make Fear and Loathing an intriguing and stimulating read. Although some consider the novel an immature, drug pushing, anarchic story; it is truly a witty masterpiece.
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Kara (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Hunter S. Thompson, in my opinion, is one of the most phenominal journalists to ever live. He is responsable for the term "Gonzo", which refers to off-the-wall journalism. His work is a depiction of his own life, which consisted heavily of hard booze and all the drugs he could get his hands on. Although he did not live his life as what society would these days consider "normal" he had a unique style in his writing which will forever be remembered and loved. |
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Dan Stephenson (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
This book has been read, discussed, priased, and trashed to death. I just wanted to put my two cents in and say that I loved it. Yes, it is totally over the top and absurd, and there isn't really any plot, or rich characterizations, but the crazy thing still works. Not only does it work, but it rocks. Hunter wrote this thing with pure energy, and you can feel it in every word. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
It is amazing that it took George W. Bush and he new wave far right politics to completely crush The American Dream, a topic that this book is entirely based on, as Thompson takes off across the Nevada desert with his lawyer and a trunk full of drugs to cover a dirt bike race across the desert, but to instead do all the drugs, reporting on nothing, and ending up in various hotels across America waiting for that next shot of thorazine to bring them down. Within all the madness there is an American waiting to get out, an American who sees his America going down the swanny, the vietnam war, the 60s, how can these two worlds exist together?... only in Thompson's drug fueled world can he reasonably deal with that.
If you do not know, Hunter S. Thompson shot himself in Feb. 2005.
The godfather of gonzo believes America has suffered a "nationwide nervous breakdown" since 9/11, and as a result is compromising civil liberties for what he calls "the illusion of security." The compromise, he says, is "a disaster of unthinkable proportions" and "part of the downward spiral of dumbness" he believes is plaguing the country.
Thompson has long been an outspoken and vigorous champion of civil liberties, at least since a well-publicized 1990 case in which he was charged with sexual and physical assault and possession of illegal drugs - charges that were ultimately dropped due to an illegal search and seizure (Thompson constantly used lawyers and only lawyers to remain free - hint, get a good lawyer).
If you have been following his work then you can see that he has had enough of the way America is going. He is a 60s child gifted with the pen, living out his remaining days in a world that has changed so much it is not the America he grew up in.
The Far Right can be blamed for this loss, period. It is shame that the mentality of 'not having fags in the army because the soldiers don’t want a homo watching them shooting up a village full of kids' dominates the scene at the moment. What a shame. What a great loss. |
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Anton (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
The 60s dream of Freedom was not in any way a departure from the "American Dream". It was its very essence. In this book, two intelligent drug abusers go to Vegas and abuse drugs deliberately as an act of joyous protest against the "grim realities of this foul year of Our Lord, 1971". What they don't realize (I'm talking about the characters, not the author) is that although politics have become more conservative on the surface, there is nothing new about these "grim realities".
In 1971, one could believe that the hippie movement had triumphed. Drug use had become socially accepted. The Vietnam War was being brought to a close. The downside was the dissipation of the psychic energy of the young: not a new phenomenon in social revolutions by any means. For example, after the Russian Revolution in 1917, a powerful body of youth rose who did not simply support the Communist cause, but rather lived the Communist cause. Their energy lasted for one or two decades before fading. These same youth went on to become the graybeards of the fossilized Communist party under Brezhnev. So there is also nothing new in the revolutionaries of one age becoming the conservatives of the next. What all this history cannot change is the sadness of the occurence.
The two protagonists of Fear and Loathing suffer viscerally from a continuous realization that the great wide country road to hippie utopia had dissolved into the myriad byways of the suburbs and downtowns. The people who had gotten together for several years to party, make music, and experiment were now separating from each other again, keeping perhaps only a memory, a fading protest sign, a favorite set of songs, as memento. The more private moments in the book reveal men who, while tremendously aggressive and angry, are actually being driven to these feelings by inner pain: a pain related to their understanding that America is still corporate, lying, Puritan - and they will have to live their lives without having seen real change.
Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo certainly take it out on the town. But they also search fervently for the American Dream. The great irony of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is that, while searching for it, they are actually living it. The American Dream is not something that can be found, like a pot of gold, a big house, or fame - it is something that is done. Racing around Vegas drunk and happy, blowing on drugs and cars the money of the companies that have hired them, and subverting the social systems they see around them, Duke and Gonzo are continuing the American Revolution. The Colonists of the 1770s threw off the chains of England because of raised tax levels and oppressive bureaucracies that wouldn't raise an eyebrow today. Though only 200 years old, the truth is - America has gotten old and boring.
But although Duke and Gonzo don't know it, there is hope: hope, because the 60s consciousness was not an abberant form of American culture that grew once, and then withered away, but rather one of the high points of the entire American experiment. And what grew once will grow again, though in a different form (we have already seen punk... hip-hop... growing more embittered and, actually, weaker as the decades pass). It will keep growing until something changes, because that is America.
As for the more bookish details... suffice it to say that the real protagonist of Fear and Loathing isn't Duke or Gonzo, but rather Hunter Thompson's writing style, which reached a height here that has rarely been challenged, and combines ferocity with precision, speed with subtlety, sadness with humor.
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Merritt (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Nearly every aggressive adjective in the English language has been used to describe the works of Hunter S. Thompson; savage, anarchic, crazed, lunatic, maniacal, insane. They all apply, but they don't convey. Ignore them and focus on two verbs; buy, read. I've seen the reviews that claim that Thompson's brand of social criticism has lost its bite because the sociocultural reality in which he excessed no longer exists. I've also seen the reviews that claim his excesses may have been largely imagined. These people are missing the point; they're the same folks who dismiss "Dazed and Confused" because that's not what going through high school is like any longer. Ignore them and take the ride. You're not likely to forget it. If Thompson were alive, he'd be unlikely to remember it. |
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Jonathan Sotsky (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
Fear and Loathing offers a fascinating glimpse of America's drug culture in the early 70s. Using the pseudonym Raoul Duke, Thompson and his attorney Doctor Gonzo embark upon a weekend of drug-induced mad- ness. Their episodes culminate in the all-too-ironic attendance of a District Attorney conference. These guys are the friends you know you'll have a good time with as long as they're not hanging out at your house.
You get the feeling Hunter S. Thompson worldview was forever altered when he crossed paths with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters while he was covering the Hell's Angels. Tom Wolfe's book about Kesey, The Electric Kool Aid Acid Test, attempts to penetrate the inner psyche of a drug user in the midst of a psychedelic experience. Alternatively, Thompson offers a more ephemeral glance of the shenanigans that often coincide with drug abuse. You can take everything Thompson writes at face value.
Reading the book gives you a great appreciation for how cool Hunter S. Thompson was. His remarks are consistently hilarious and he could be just as funny talking about sports, politics, or dairy farming (not sure he actually covered this) as he was when talking about his psychedelic episodes. Unlike an author like Charles Bukowski who feigns nonchalance but desperately wants you to like him, Thompson effortlessly transmits his ethos to the reader. The result is pure gold.
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-05 00:00>
The novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson is an excellent story about two men's quest for the American dream. Their American dream involves a lot of narcotics and driving around the Las Vegas, Las Angeles area. Raul Duke, a journalist, and his attorney Dr. Gonzo meet many off people along the way and run into a few problems also. If you liked Thompson's novel The Rum Diaries, you will love this one too. As hard as it is for me to say, but if you, yourself are a fan of the use of narcotics you will cherish every page. Even if you hate drugs, the crazy things they go through will grab your attention and keep you entertained from start to finish.
Thompson references many things about war. He often mentions the Vietnam War, which was going on during the 60's. He combines the idea of drugs and the war, troops using drugs and some dying from the use of drugs. Thompson sometimes describes scenes with war protestors. All of these ideas help to show that he has a great knowledge of the 60's. This makes the story much more interesting.
Thompson creates some crazy imagery and hallucinations. He describes the floors and walls melting in the hotel lobby. Duke imagined all the people in the hotel lounge turning into lizards and eating each other. While driving, Duke also imagines bats flying above his convertible while driving with his attorney in the beginning of the story. These odd, but descriptive pictures really help a non drug user to fully understand what it may be like to be on such drugs. Thompson does a very good job of describing scenes just as he sees them.
The best part of this book is Thompson's idea of the American dream. His idea of the American dream is being completely twisted on drugs and doing everything in that manor, living life on drugs. Thompson is constantly making references to the American dream. When most people think of the American dream, they think of a house in the suburbs and starting a family. Thompson changed this idea to better fit his ideal lifestyle, not caring about anything or what anyone thinks.
I completely adore Thompson's novel. It was a wonderful mix of drugs and strange characters. I, myself do not use drugs and I was still fully able to comprehend everything in this story. This shows how well it was written. I enjoyed viewing different types of people though his eyes. Thompson shows everything exactly how he sees it. All the characters in this book have their own little quirks. This must have been one of the best books I've read.
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1 2 | Total 2 pages 12 items |
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