Rating: 
Summary: Memoirs of a true outlaw
Review: Unlike many reviewers of this book, this was my first experience reading one of Hunter S. Thompson's books. Having seen the bizarre and hilarious film, Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas, however, I had some idea of what to expect (I look forward to reading that book). So the fact that some of this material may have been in previous books did not bother me. On the other hand, not being familiar with the well known episodes of Thompson's life made the erratic and disjointed style of the book -he jumps from one time period to another without warning-- harder to follow than if I'd had some background. You simply cannot read an author like Thompson expecting a conventional style, and I appreciated his unique, if often drug-induced perspective. With Thompson, all of the usual barriers are meaningless, such as those that separate fact from fantasy, the humorous from the serious and even past from present. There is simply a barrage of words, emotions, perceptions and anecdotes, revealed in a seemingly random order.Yet Kingdom Of Fear is not entirely without theme or structure. There is an underlying message, as the title suggests, that the nation is moving into a dark period that seriously jeopardizes our privacy and civil liberties. Thompson relates this post-Sept. 11, 2001 environment to episodes in his own life when authorities violated his rights. Unlike a book by the average political commentator or activist, however, Thompson makes his case with emotional verbal outbursts and poetic observations more than logical arguments. This is refreshing; Thompson's style is an anachronistic challenge to the overly regulated, homogenized and conforming culture that has been building, not only since 9/11, but over the last few decades.
Rating: 
Summary: long strange trip
Review: What a long strange trip it's been. Hunter's like a lighthouse on a rough cape. He's been slicing through the political smog for 4 decades and this book still hits the mark. No one else has the cohones to say what he says. No freaking body.Name another writer who's hanging in there. The late greats Joe Heller and Ken Kesey are gone. Vonnegut is quiet in old age. Hunter is left standing as a gonzo savant ready to take on all comers. Who challenges? The sage of bethesda, george will? All the little right wing dweebs pushing hate on the radio? Hunter will rip their lungs out and feed it to them with their caviar. It's an ugly business, but after all, he is a professional. Keep on Hunter. Keep on. FATO PROFUGAS
Rating:
Summary: I can't think of a title
Review: What I really like about "Kingdom of fear" is that Thompson talks about events that happened or are happening during my lifetime, he doesn't do that with his other books, I was born in 87 so Thompson had started writing way before I was born and his other books are great (at least the ones I've read, I have not read them all yet) but I can't directly relate which prevents me from fully grasping Thompson's other works but this one I could. Hilarious reading, if you have that Thompson type of humor, Dr. Thompson is alive and well and this is proof
Rating:
Summary: Fear and Freedom
Review: While I can't say that this is one of HST's better works in the past 30 years, it is a peek into what makes him tick. It takes us from his childhood to the near present day with stops in SF, Elko and Woody Creek in between.
He does not strike out from the craziness that his earlier works thrived on, but maybe that is the point. He has evolved as a writer to the point that satire, irony and drug-induced hazes are not part of the equation.
Hunter is who he is because that is who he is! He tells it like it is, and leaves us - his readers - to follow along at our own pace. Nevermind the tangents involving previous stories about the Angels, Vegas, his Aspen sherriff run and the Trial. Hunter seems to be saying that the fear in America is almost something ingrained within our freedoms. In essence, we as Americans are afraid of change because it is just that. CHANGE.
This work, more so than any of his earlier works, highlights this. It appears that what he wants the public to do is wake-up and realize that change may actually be a good thing. At worst, it is different from the "same-old, same-old."
Rating: 
Summary: The Doctor is in
Review: With "Kingdom of Fear" Dr. Hunter S. Thompson has once again focused his bloodshot eyes on the subjects of politics, sports, war, celebrity and his own legal battles over drugs and sexual assault charges. Some of these stories we've heard before - in some cases, a few times - but as a world class raconteur the good Doctor can still provoke a smile from those of us susceptible to his wily charms. Yet be warned, this so-called memoir is but a mixed blessing after a decade of leftovers served up by Thompson (40 year old unpublished novel "The Rum Diary", a trade edition of the privately printed & anorexic "Screwjack" and 2 massive volumes of his personal correspondences). In other words, even a mild dosage of the typical Thompson gonzo is better than going cold turkey. Consider this book a greatest hits collection with a few new pieces thrown in to legitimize the reissue. But one glaring omission is the almost complete lack of substance on the events of September 11th. Where's the fear? Where's the loathing? A couple of old ESPN "Hey Rube" reprints is a missed opportunity and a major disappointment. At it's best "Kingdom of Fear" is a disjointed but highly amusing scrapbook by one of the great bigger-than-life blowhards of the last half of the 20th Century.
|
