“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold”
This is the iconic opening line from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas(1971) by Hunter S. Thompson, an anarchic classic recounting a drug fuelled roadtrip through the wreckage of the “American Dream”.
What begins as a sports assignment for Sports Illustrated mutates into a hallucinatory odyssey through Las Vegas, drenched in drugs, satire and existential despair. Hunter S. Thompson, writing under his alter ego Raoul Duke and his unhinged companion Dr. Gonzo (based on real-life attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta) stumble through a blinding 400 mile dirt bike race, hotels, casinos, police conference,National District attorney's convention to fight narcotics, airport etc.
The prose is a whirlwind: part journalism, part fever dream and part rant against everything hollow in post-1960s ‘Summer of love’ America. Thompson’s invention of “gonzo journalism” (where the reporter becomes the story) is on full display here. The language is abrasive, the pacing erratic and the excess overwhelming, making it feel like being on the verge of a paranoid spiral with two unhinged people. The book’s chaotic structure mirrors its drug fuelled content, yet beneath the madness lies a surprisingly lucid message about disillusionment, greed and the failure of the 60s counterculture idealism.
Once dismissed as vulgar, I understand why now its considered as a literary landmark, finally recognized as a time capsule of 1970s America, embraced for its honesty,humour and fearless chaos. The 1998 Terry Gilliam film adaptation has further cemented its cult status, especially with Johnny Depp’s uncanny portrayal of Thompson, who even had his ashes fired from a cannon years later.
Pick it up if you want a book that hits like a bad trip and stays like a revelation.
8/10
by Zehreelakomdareturns