Fear and loathing in las vegas book free online

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5.0 out of 5 stars Legendary book - read before you watch the film

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 July 2019

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Whilst the film starring Jonny Depp is brilliant, I highly recommend that you read the book first. It is the leading light of the famous gonzo style of journalism and that emerged in the 60s/70s and Hunter S Thompson's unique content and thirst for chemical-induced experiences is a hell of a ride.

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1.0 out of 5 stars Hated it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 26 May 2019

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Very overrated, very boring
I do NOT loathe 'Hunter S', found ''The Rum Diary'' to be good, and am exploring his work - however as one who grew up listening about how great he was, this is a massive comedown
When you get to a certain age and watch the film again (as opposed to watching it in your youth) you realise that is also absolute rubbish

1.0 out of 5 stars Anodyne torture

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 July 2020

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Never seen the movie but it must be better than this, I begrudge giving it 1 star status.
I'm aware of Hunter S Thompson's style was a break through at the time but so was Jack Kerouac who actually delivered something readable.
No flow, no purpose and very little humour apart from 1 chapter towards the end, it's also factually incorrect, living of a citrus diet whilst consuming vast amounts of drugs does not recharge the soul, it pretty rapidly brings about vomiting.
I can easily read a book in 2 or 3 days, while this living hell took me months as I'm not easily defeated, I kept going back and forcing myself to the end.
This gets my award for the most anodyne piece of literature I have ever had the misfortune to encounter

4.0 out of 5 stars Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 17 May 2016

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Thompson, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fear and Loathing is basically a rant against the Establishment. It has its roots in journalism and is the prime example of what Thompson dubbed ‘Gonzo’ or cartoon journalism. Here one finds the truth of one man’s search for the American Dream, but the book is more an attempt to expose the corruption at the heart of American society. The author does this through huge black banner headlines from the daily press, Steadman’s grotesque caricatures of angry, fat, snarling human beasts and a writing style that is deliberately non-literary.

It is a book that will mainly appeal to the adolescent and the disaffected. Thompson and his ‘attorney’ are on the road to Las Vegas, the drug capital of a drug-infested United States, driving a super-charged rented Red Shark, crammed with Class A drugs. Both are stoned from the start and remain that way throughout. Vegas is a pleasure city, where everything goes bang, but especially girls and guns. It’s the mid-Sixties and the enemy are the police, who are everywhere, threatening, intimidating and brutal under a veneer of care - but infinitely bribable. The search for The Dream is never-ending and pointless.

Where Henry Miller explored not only Europe but philosophy and literature, Thompson remains on American soil, a cynical joker, celebrating not sex but crime at the heart of a society, from which he himself, benefits and in which he glories. ‘In a world of thieves’, he tells us, ‘the only final sin is stupidity.’

5.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the greatest book ever written

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 April 2019

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This is the twisted, surreal, hilarious, dark, and possibly even true account of a trip that Hunter S. Thompson may or may not have taken to Las Vegas while on a variety of illegal and ill-advised substances. I honestly enjoyed this book more than any other I can name at present. Buy it.