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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
 
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) [Illustrated] (Paperback)

by Hunter S. Thompson (Author), Ralph Steadman (Illustrator)
4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
RRP: £7.99
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Product details

  • Paperback: 224 pages
  • Publisher: HarperPerennial; New edition edition (4 April 2005)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0007204493
  • ISBN-13: 978-0007204496
  • Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 1.6 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,388 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories:

    #1 in  Books > Fiction > Cult Authors > Thompson, Hunter S.
    #53 in  Books > Fiction > By Period > 20th Century

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Product Description

Review
'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a scorching epochal sensation. There are only two adjectives writers care about any more! "brilliant" and "outrageous"! and Hunter Thompson has a freehold on both of them.' Tom Wolfe 'What goes on in these pages makes Lenny Bruce seem angelic! the whole book boils down to a mad, corrosive prose poetry that picks up where Norman Mailer's An American Dream left off and explores what Tom Wolfe left out.' New York Times

Product Description
Stylish reissue of a classic first published in the 1970s: Hunter S Thompson's ether-fuelled, savage journey to the heart of the American Dream. 'We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold! And suddenly there was a terrible roar all around us and the sky was full of what looked like huge bats, all swooping and screeching and diving around the car, which was going about a hundred miles an hour with the top down to Las Vegas!' As knights of old buckled on armour of supernatural power, so Hunter S. Thompson enters Las Vegas armed with a veritable arsenal of 'heinous chemicals'. His perilous, drug-enhanced confrontations with casino operators, bartenders, police officers and assorted representatives of the Silent Majority have a hallucinatory humour and nightmare terror never before seen on the printed page.

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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)
87% buy the item featured on this page:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Harper Perennial Modern Classics) 4.6 out of 5 stars (21)
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The Rum Diary (Bloomsbury Classic Reads)
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The Rum Diary (Bloomsbury Classic Reads) 4.6 out of 5 stars (25)
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Flamingo modern classics)
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Flamingo modern classics) 4.8 out of 5 stars (15)
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Customer Reviews

21 Reviews
5 star:
 (14)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
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Average Customer Review
4.6 out of 5 stars (21 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A savage indictment of america - and the funniest book ever, 20 Jan 2006
By far the most intelligent and funny book I've ever read. But it's so much more than that, it captures the polarization of cultures in america at the end of the sixties and many of the observations still ring true today. A brilliant satire, the drawings by Ralph Steadman complement the text wonderfully well.

My favourite quote: 'at one point I tried to drive the Great Red Shark into the laundry room of the Landmark Hotel - but the door was too narrow, and the people inside seemed dangerously excited'.

Genius.

RIP Hunter.

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23 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE!, 8 May 2006
By D. Hale - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
...This is Hunter S Thompson's countercultural classic 1973 non-ficition novel. Originally serialised in Rolling Stone and often written under the influence of mind-altering chemicals or booze (which Thompson injected into his chest), "Fear And Loathing..." is a powerful, funny and forceful assault on American culture and values. Ostenibly taking the viewpoint of one Raoul Duke- a thinly disguised HST-, a journalist assigned to covering a a desert race in Las Vegas, the book gives us a brilliant insight into the American culture of 1970s. Many who review the book draw attention to the protagonist's drug abuse, however this really secondary to the book and quite harmless when you consider he uses mainly psychedelics rather than powerful, habit-forming substances like heroin.
Accompained by his obese Samoan attorney- HST's mate and missing Hispanic loon, Oscar Acosta- the book follows Duke's wild adventures in the joyless pleasuredomes of Las Vegas. Duke's real purpose is to search for the American Dream and find it in physical form, he hopes he will achieve this aim in Las Vegas. However, he knows that Las Vegas is a corrupt and filthy place and that the American Dream does not actually exist.
Thompson is a master of bringing absurd comedy out of a situation and his visceral exposures of the stupidity and idiocy of the Las Vegas people and workers are hilarious. He also brilliantly dissects and informs us about the failures of the Nixon administration and the shame and pity of living in the world after the glory of the 1960s.
The influence of Fear and Loathing echoes in the work of numerous journalists and writers- Will Self. Easton Ellis, the fella who wrote Fight Club- who are by comparison mere imitators.
It is easy to forget, in the fallout of his suicide and the confusion of the adaptation, the brilliance of Hunter S Thompson: his wit, power, brutality and acerbity. He escapes easy caterogorisation and labelling to create a voice and a sense of individuality unique in writing. He specified in his own notes for the book that we should read it drunk and to the accompaniment of loud, violent music. In this violent mix, we can still hear the author's voice raving on with candour and wit like a debauched and intoxicated uncle.
To read Fear and Loathing, and to observe the cartoons of Ralph Steadman, is truly to experience something entirely new and different, HST's voice is one you will recognise and agree with without being preached to and you will doubtless appreciate the sheer power of his work. People complain of his alcoholism, anger and failure to repeat his success, but, ultimately, when you hold this book in your hands, none of that really matters. He changed the way we view our leaders and our contrymen. And he did it all drunk. For that alone, he deserves applause.
A true testament to the importance of rebellion.
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19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A weekend of light-hearted mayhem, 18 May 2005
By A Customer
Having repeatedly forgotten to rent the movie, I decided to read the book before watching it. One thing to remember is that this is not a story with a beginning middle and end, it is gonzo journalism, a rambling stream of consciousness that reads in such a way that puts us inside the mind of Thompson's alter-ego Duke.

Despite the excessive drug use in the book, the tone is refreshing and presents a perspective alternate to the media's usual take on drugs. Thompson doesn't say 'drugs are bad', he dabbles in drugs in such a way that transforms them into his playthings; he is a 'Doctor of Journalism' exploring American culture in the 1970's.

Thompson's often paranoid view of 'American Dream' is communicated with humour in this book. Originally published as a two-part article in Rolling Stone magazine, my advice would be to approach it with an open mind, let Hunter carry you beyond conventional fiction and drop you off wherever he pleases.

If you already know about Hunter S. Thompson read this now, for everybody else this is a valuable experience in alternate storytelling.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not for me.
While I can understand this being described as a roller-coaster of a novel, I have awarded it 3 stars only for the excellence of the prose and detail, which are admittedly very... Read more
Published 7 days ago by Liam Ellis

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Haven't Read This, You Haven't Lived
There is very little to say to someone who hasn't experienced the twisted, depraved, bizarre and hallucinatory world of Hunter S Thompson, other than READ FEAR & LOATHING!! Read more
Published 1 month ago by Ms. Michele L. Baker

4.0 out of 5 stars gonzo pleasure
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Thompson's book. The paperback edition is well turned out, affordable & Steadman's illustrations are great.
Published 3 months ago by R. J. Popel

5.0 out of 5 stars Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Hunter S. Thompson is by far THE most entertaining writer in modern literature, it has to be said. His engrossing affilliation with substances that he swore he hadn't been taking... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Mr. J. C. Hull

5.0 out of 5 stars The first stage for many....
As with a lot of people in my generation, i have found that H.S.Thompson is a very entertaining author. Read more
Published 12 months ago by M. Bloxham

5.0 out of 5 stars Buy the ticket, take the ride
The greatest book about the illusion of the American dream ever written. One of my all time favourite books though some people will simply not get it, not understand it at all... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Myshkin

5.0 out of 5 stars As your attorney I advise you to read this book.
I have read this one six or seven times and it still makes me laugh. Virtually every page has something on it to make you laugh out loud. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Clorson Pannet

5.0 out of 5 stars fabulous!
i first read this after surfing round the internet and bought it on some recommendations from various online journals. Read more
Published 18 months ago by S. J. Withers

5.0 out of 5 stars the gonzoest of them all
The good doctor may have reached the peak of his literary prowess with this book, at least in the sense that here he was willing to be his most funny and fun. Read more
Published 19 months ago by Paul J. Fitzgerald

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr Fonzo?
The only way this book could be any cooler would be if the Fonz himself played a part in it. Sadly he doesn't. I hope I haven't spoiled it for you....
Published 19 months ago by J. Norrish

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