Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson

Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson

Mourning the Loss of the Last Great Hippie

I received this book as a B-Day present, and took my time reading it. As it does deserve careful attention. In the last few years, I have been doing some searching to find evidence of the great American Experience in an existentialist way. This book more than satisfied the questions that call into question whether we as Americans are living the lives of delusion, that all of this...the economics, status as international monster, the excess and addictions really make us out to be anything other than a poor caricature of the nation we are meant to be. So here is our anti-hero, our protagonist. What made the man stir? Was there a core to this being at all? I read the first review here, a re-publishing of the Anita Thompson note to Jann Wenner. It was a convincing enough gesture...who but his last partner could really assess the significance of the man, and does this book in fact do justice to the man. I thought, that this book must then be another idolotrous homage to a person who amused more than changed the world in which he lived. It was a difficult bias to overcome, and admittedly, it made me cynical as well. Over the course of the reading however, I realized that Jann Wenner did Hunter a great service and give him a great credibility by exposing his limitations as a person, and that the choice of format for the book as a running documentary through chronological time, chronicled by dozens of admirers, friends, acquintances et al. This approch in fact, brought greater perspective to the character of Hunter S. Thompson. whom I now believe was one of the last hippes to actually impart something meaningful. Let's consder the subtext here of the book. We see the evolution of Hunter in all its awkward unravelings starting from his youth. In many ways, Hunter was like the Holden Caufield of his day, only he knew how to have fun. What was that worth anyway, you may ask. When you have grown accustomed to the antics that made up his stage persona, you realize that it has taken dozens of people, hundreds of pages just to talk about this guy. Whatever your thoughts or impressions, that in itself is an achievement. But in terms of significance, we again realize that Hunter revived and gave noteriety to the fact that writing itself can be an artform. More important than the facts themselves, (as typically the measure of a journalist), Hunter managed to weave a fictional, hyperbolic and comical interpretation of reality in order to lift and polish the essential, more intuitive meaning of the matter at hand, whatever that happened to be. So what if this man stopped growing at the age of 17. For every decade that he lived, he aged one-year. And perhaps as the anti-hero of the story he wrote through a variety of books, essay's and columns, he struggled to keep his sense of adolescent entitlements. He started off as a narcissitic teenager, graduated on to being the motley renegade, serious student of local politics, party-crashing celebrity and icon, and then, as he had to graduate and face the world where he could no longer run amuck....took his own life upon realizing that the game was up. In an epic warrior story, he send himself away when he can no longer carry on the great fight. Most artists do little but dimension a problem. Some drawn to the absurdity, others enjoy the ranting that gives them release. Hunter, sought to impart of philosophy for the underdog. "Don't take any guff from these swine." For him, I gather it was about the righteous struggle and he didn't mind enjoying himself along the way. We see then, that Hunter did in fact carry forth the great works of authors that inspired him including Hemingway, Conrad, Fitzgerald, Wolfe and others. His method, albeit grotesque and shocking were humanistic pieces in that, at the heart of it all was coping with the fear and loathing. Hunter understood that journalism had exposed the hypocrisy of Nixon and the corruption in the establishment. He never forgave the people who inherited the torch of the idealistic tradition that is American by origin. This infidelity caused him great concern and he was patriotic to the end. The book does a phenomenal job of sharing Hunter from those who loved and tolerated him. It shows us that in fact our country had spawned great talent in the way of the early 20th century authors, some American had further developed the art of writing, a powerful force for implementing change at the fundamental level. That Hunter was an American, complex by nature as a teenager in denial of the responsibilities ahead, had in spirit at least inspired others to recognize that it isn't necessarily what your doing as much as it is about how you go about doing it. I thoroughly enjoyed the book and think that the contributers did a great service of bringing out the Hunter that meant something to them, rather than limit the mans significance to that of a pimple on the a$$ of the American Dream.

The Reality of Hunter S. Thompson for all to read

Hunter Thompson (HST) was born and raised hell in Louisville, Kentucky. His incorrigible ways led him to the military via a criminal judge's orders. Many of his childhood and college friends made a living by the written word and, after fulfilling his enlistment agreement, Thompson joined them. Only, his way was different. It seems that Thompson looked at the world through a kaleidoscope, stopping occasionally to pull his eye away and see a reality he didn't know how to change. The need for change he put into words in a way only he knew. Drugs were a part of his life from an early age-and whether he did them because life was crazy, or he made life crazy by taking them-is open to opinion. Either way, drug use influenced, and impeded, his writing. Friends, editors, movie stars, a small-town sheriff, wives, a son, assistants and cocktail waitresses all had stories to tell. Some make you thankful you didn't have to deal with the troubled and troublesome man. Others illuminate his intelligence and sense of humor. The writer, who could be both fearless and fearsome, was vocal when greed and politics stood in the way of world order as he saw it. The list of celebrities he encountered and befriended is long and varied: Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson, Jimmy Buffet, Sean Penn, Ed Bradley, and George McGovern, just to name a few, and all have stories of HST. While the drugs may have fueled his stream-of-consciousness writing, it also interfered with his relationships. A fair-minded man at heart, Thompson could be abusive and a serious irritation when his mood of the hour didn't match the task of the day. Contributors to the book have many impressions of the writer. So many opinions that it is evident Thompson was a complex man who influenced, affected and stimulated all who encountered him. Gonzo, The Life of Hunter S. Thompson reads like a published wake, recorded so no one forgets the bigger-than-life, flying-by-the-seat-of-his-pants outrageous man. The story is definitely worth the price of the ticket. Armchair Interviews agrees.

GONZO

I haven't finished the book yet but it is very capitvating.I think that Hunter was a very interesting man.I look forward to reading everything there is about him & everything he wrote.thanks mjb

A must read for Thompson fans

If you're a fan of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson, then this is a must read. Although it unveils some sides of the journalist that aren't pretty, this book gives the reader a great sense of Thompson's personal life and a chance to find out how real all of his stories were.

A Profile of Extremity

This biography of the journalist/writer Hunter S. Thompson clearly shows a man who was by turns sociopathic, assaultive, hilarious, obnoxious, incoherent, and brilliant--and this was to his friends! What amazes me is that he had so many friends, ones who stuck with him and still harbored affection for him, long after break-ups, divorces, and betrayals large and small. Somehow, there was enough in this creator of a new brand of journalism--with the author as necessary and intentional part of the events as they unfolded--to engender loyalty and forgiveness among a wide range of people. That he was multiply addicted to drugs (alcohol notable among them) was central to his lifestyle. In itself, this is hardly unique, but I can't recall another personality who indulged on an everyday basis to the extent that he did...and still be able to function. Unsurprisingly, over time, he wasn't--and his real genius imploded in a caricature of himself. At this point, his many friends seem more enablers in his suicidal extremes than anything else. The book is structured as reminscences by people who knew Thompson at various stages of his life. This provides an interesting and quasi-objective view of the man, as enough different perceptions and experiences are brought in, that no one image or "take" predominates over the others. That said, there is remarkable agreement among the various voices recorded in the book, especially with regard to Thompson's brilliance and his self-destructiveness. This book strikes me as an honest and clear accounting of Hunter S. Thompson's life. At many points through the reading of this book, I laughed out loud; whatever else he was, Thompson had unparalleled chutzpah--who else would have gone to a fancy restaurant with an ultra-rich person he'd never met, and bring along his own "dinner"...in the form of a maggot-ridden piece of liver?

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