Fear and Loathing is overrated

Hunter S. Thompson is one of the most orginal writers ever. all of his stories are so discriptive and and a very unique flow to them. "Angels" is one of my favorite books and so is "The Rum Diary". "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is in no way underated. its a super sweet book.

 

True True. The book wasn't so much about the massive drug use. To me what makes Hunter S. great is the way he take the situation that he is in and then breaks it down until there is some grain of truth or generality applicable to the world at that time.

 

I think that those who have had their own Gonzo Summer can better appreciate the book.

 

I read the book for the first time while hitchhiking across the country to Las Vegas and back, and this is one of my FAVORITE books ever written So much better than the movie!

 

fear and loathing in las vegas is not at all overrated. It deserves all the praise it gets, in my opinion. that book made me laugh out loud so many times. i can read it over and over again, and it never wears off. there is hardley a page that loses my attention.it's so bizzare and twisted. packed with crazy lines and ideas. some of my favourite quotes come straight from that book. sure it's a classic and almost everybody has read it, but it did become a classic for a reason...

 

I think it's a fantastic book, maybe not his best. It's perhaps his most notable, but i don't think anything Hunter did was Underrated. In my opinion The Rum Diary is not necessarily his "best", but it's my favorite. It's tough to look at one piece by Thompson without examining his entire life of compositions. Because he played a central role in all his books, each book is like a chapter to a MUCH greater masterpiece, his life.


It never got wierd enough for me

 

hunter s. thompson does nothing for me whatsoever.

 

i'm sorry, what have you read of his?

 

It's a diatribe of the sickening state of American culture at that point in time. If you missed the theme of it all you haven't the capability for abstract thought and symbolism in writing. Almost everything in F+L symbolized something some things were just thrown in for the amusement of Hunter. Sure they were high out of their minds Nixon had just got reelected. I got high out of my mind when Bush got reelected. I'm not sure if the story could be The book was meant to expose so many things for what they were. The marginalization of progressive thought mainly. He was the right man at the right place at the right time. Does it deserve the overabundance of praise it gets within the counterculture? Absolutely. It's like the Diary of Anne Frank for the counterculture. He survived to tell the tale, escaping Middle America destined for the 'Freak Kingdom'. The book was a candid portrait of what America was at that time. Not the smiling happy family portrait we are coerced into believing.

 

this thread... won't... die...

personally, i was really psyched for both the book and movie because all my friends told me they ruled. i was very dissapointed.

 

i read 'fear and loathing in las vegas'. it seemed rather pointless to me. i had no desire to read anything else by him after that.

 

you don't have to 'miss the theme' to feel the book was not an enjoyable or worthwhile read. glad you enjoyed it, but i wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

 

:bigcry:i cant even formulate a response for that one

 

Sorry you didn't enjoy it, but I would recommend it to anyone. I guess no one can force you to like anything. an opinion can be neither right nor wrong.

 

very true.

 

It's entertaining. But I do ultimately believe the metaphors and euphemisms it postulates are bad. Which makes me put it in the realm of just 'mainstream entertainment' and not true art.

 

Well, I don't think the point of the book is just to say "hey look at us, we're fucked up!"

Any, great novel.

 

how can it be unbelievable it's a true story. Have you read it? because its not just about people doing drugs...

 

I was just a kid cleaning offices with my mother, and someone had thrown this book in the trash... paperback. On the back I read the infamous rant of all the drugs trhat HT had in the car.. and a was it a 30 pack of bud? the fucking book was so vivid to my teen imagination. The person had highlighted phrases in the book.. this also brought me to the conclusion that people in big office buildings do drugs.. I mean really what a find on a garbage run. I had the book under my bed forever and I read it all till I was done then I read It again... wtf .. I didnt read shit at that age... here I am reading the book twice... I still have it somewhere...

I also thought that Robert Hunter" dead lyricist" and Hunter S Thompson were the same people.. we didnt have internet back then. So all this book did for me was send me on a counter culture investigation spree at 13/14 years old... so to the original OP
FUCK YOU ASSHOLE..

 

I can't agree with you completely, though I see your point. Fear and Loathing is probably a little overrated but it deserves some merit. The book isn't completely lacking in themes though the few that are there are kind of vague.

What counts as substance in writing?

Hunter was not a great storyteller. If you read the rum diary or other books by Hunter you'll have a hard time finding a clear plot or theme (as you mentioned). But you must at least give Hunter credit as a wordsmith - few can describe the drug experience in such a brutally beautiful way as he. Fear and Loathing was also one of the very few books that made me laugh - not just once or twice but throughout the whole read. Usually its hard to laugh about marks on a page but Hunter makes it easy.

Hunter S. Thompson is certainly an asshole. One must wonder how many people died following his example. But at the same time, SOMEONE had to write about this shit, and I think he did a pretty damn good job.