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Summary: -
Review: Another hit by Thompson. If you don't get enough from the name or the assurances of fellow fans, you probably should start on other Thompson, not here.
Rating:
Summary: -
Review: Another hit by Thompson. If you don't get enough from the name or the assurances of fellow fans, you probably should start on other Thompson, not here.
Rating: 
Summary: "ALOHA! ICE CUBES, MAHALO"
Review: Considering that I have spent a great part of my life in Kona, it is intresting to read a book about it. I know everywhere he is and what it looks like. This is a hilarious book and is for anyone of intrest to Thompson. I think I would like to purchase a war club as well...
Rating: 
Summary: A must-read for HST fans
Review: Excellent transition novel for Thompson, prior to his total retreat into drug psychosis or whatever it is that stopped the presses. Excellent historical references to Hawaii, far fewer drug anecdotes than some would like and heavily stylized. I love the book and have dog-eared my copy. New writers/journalists take note of the amount of research that HST relies upon, even when he is walking way out on the limb of fantasy. This is a quick read.
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Summary: Thompson-Steadman harmony at its best
Review: From the blue-armed freak, to the demonic fire-glowing night in The Land of Po, this is essential HST. Throw in the Honolulu Marathon, and the good doctor serves up a characteristic glimpse of his own weird Americana that calls for all other social critics to throw down their pens in reverence and futility. This book is Thompson-Steadman harmony unparalleled. Steadman's illustrations are hallucinogenic masterpieces that complement the fury of Thompson's writing. If you call yourself a devotee, don't leave a hole in your library where this book belongs. It is pure visceral madness. The final scene stakes its claim with any of his best works and is nothing short of what those of us who care have come to know as life-blood joy and the frenzied understanding of more than a few generations of enlightenment. Read it. Now
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Summary: Hawaii Will Never Be the Same
Review: Hunter is the creator and king of gonzo journalism. Here is a quote from Thompson about what Gonzo journalism is:"My idea was to buy a fat notebook and record the whole thing as it happened, then send in the notebook for publication-- without editing. That way, I felt the eye and mind of the journalist would be functioning as a camera. The writing would be selective and necessarily interpretive - but once the image was written, the words would be final; in the same way that a Cartier-Bresson photograph is always (he says) the full-frame negative. No alterations in the darkroom, no cutting or cropping, no spotting . . . no editing. This is a good book, full of funny moments and hard to believe stories. There is no slow build up or filler in the middle. The book grabs you from the beginning with the author's stories and keeps you laughing until the end. This might not be a good first book to start with. Hunter's style and actions may be hard for some to read without getting offended. Sometimes Hunter will wander into side tangents before getting back on track with what is currently going on; this may annoy some people. I recommend starting with "Hells Angels" or "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" before paying the extra bucks for this out of print book.
Rating:
Summary: Hawaii Will Never Be the Same
Review: Hunter is the creator and king of gonzo journalism. Here is a quote from Thompson about what Gonzo journalism is:"My idea was to buy a fat notebook and record the whole thing as it happened, then send in the notebook for publication-- without editing. That way, I felt the eye and mind of the journalist would be functioning as a camera. The writing would be selective and necessarily interpretive - but once the image was written, the words would be final; in the same way that a Cartier-Bresson photograph is always (he says) the full-frame negative. No alterations in the darkroom, no cutting or cropping, no spotting . . . no editing. This is a good book, full of funny moments and hard to believe stories. There is no slow build up or filler in the middle. The book grabs you from the beginning with the author's stories and keeps you laughing until the end. This might not be a good first book to start with. Hunter's style and actions may be hard for some to read without getting offended. Sometimes Hunter will wander into side tangents before getting back on track with what is currently going on; this may annoy some people. I recommend starting with "Hells Angels" or "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" before paying the extra bucks for this out of print book.
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Summary: Why is this great Hunter S. Thompson book gone out of print?
Review: I wonder why "The Curse of Lono" has gone out-of-print. This book is laugh-out-loud funny and is good journalism. No, it is great journalism. So says the experts too: the author's work has been elevated to the classics with one of his books being printed in an Everyman's Library hard-cover edition. So Hunter S. Thompson joins Oscar Wilde and other great writers. "The Curse of Lono" made me laugh so hard that tears filled my eyes. Hunter S. Thompson was paid to cover a marathon race by Rolling Stone or some other magazine. While the race is the usual bore, the antics of the journalist are not. Having drunk gallons of beer and liquor and consumed various illegal drugs, Thompson and his traveling companion sit at the edge of the race and jeer on the racers. "He fatso. What's wrong? That hill is too steep for you?" Flying on a jumbo jet to the race in Hawaii Thompson gets his arm stuck in a chemical toilet. He put his hand down there because his marijuana, cocaïne, or whatever falls into the toilet bowl. When he comes out of the head his arm and his shirt and stained bright blue. The airliner's crew know at once what has happened. The funniest part of the book to me is what happens when Thompson goes fishing. The captain of the boat drinks a quart of vodka and then takes some mescaline or some other hallucinogenic drug. A the boat bobs precariously close to the cliffs along the island the captain lets go of the anchor line and it falls overboard. The captain then dons scuba gear in his tripping, hallucinating state and dives overboard to retrieve it. As Hunter S. Thompson puts it, "No self-respecting captain would return to port without his anchor" for fear of being laughed at. All of this talk of drugs and drink might be pathetic or sad if it was not handled properly. But Thompson is the founder-and maybe only participant in-the style of writing and journalism that he calls "gonzo journalism". His style is truly unique. I became convinced of his genius after reading "Fear and Lothing in Las Vegas", another drunken, stoned adventure tale and a memoir that he wrote in "The New Yorker" magazine. His New Yorker article deviating from his usual tone-perhaps owing to it's presence in that hallowed forum--was a well-written and very interesting look at his days living in Puerto Rico as a journalist. I think his books on presidential politics are less interesting than these two books. I haven't yet read "Hells Angels" but plan to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Why is this great Hunter S. Thompson book gone out of print?
Review: I wonder why "The Curse of Lono" has gone out-of-print. This book is laugh-out-loud funny and is good journalism. No, it is great journalism. So says the experts too: the author's work has been elevated to the classics with one of his books being printed in an Everyman's Library hard-cover edition. So Hunter S. Thompson joins Oscar Wilde and other great writers. "The Curse of Lono" made me laugh so hard that tears filled my eyes. Hunter S. Thompson was paid to cover a marathon race by Rolling Stone or some other magazine. While the race is the usual bore, the antics of the journalist are not. Having drunk gallons of beer and liquor and consumed various illegal drugs, Thompson and his traveling companion sit at the edge of the race and jeer on the racers. "He fatso. What's wrong? That hill is too steep for you?" Flying on a jumbo jet to the race in Hawaii Thompson gets his arm stuck in a chemical toilet. He put his hand down there because his marijuana, cocaïne, or whatever falls into the toilet bowl. When he comes out of the head his arm and his shirt and stained bright blue. The airliner's crew know at once what has happened. The funniest part of the book to me is what happens when Thompson goes fishing. The captain of the boat drinks a quart of vodka and then takes some mescaline or some other hallucinogenic drug. A the boat bobs precariously close to the cliffs along the island the captain lets go of the anchor line and it falls overboard. The captain then dons scuba gear in his tripping, hallucinating state and dives overboard to retrieve it. As Hunter S. Thompson puts it, "No self-respecting captain would return to port without his anchor" for fear of being laughed at. All of this talk of drugs and drink might be pathetic or sad if it was not handled properly. But Thompson is the founder-and maybe only participant in-the style of writing and journalism that he calls "gonzo journalism". His style is truly unique. I became convinced of his genius after reading "Fear and Lothing in Las Vegas", another drunken, stoned adventure tale and a memoir that he wrote in "The New Yorker" magazine. His New Yorker article deviating from his usual tone-perhaps owing to it's presence in that hallowed forum--was a well-written and very interesting look at his days living in Puerto Rico as a journalist. I think his books on presidential politics are less interesting than these two books. I haven't yet read "Hells Angels" but plan to do so.
Rating:
Summary: Best description of marathon madness I have ever read.
Review: Prior to reading this book, I had dismissed the author as someone who just got loaded and made up a bunch of stuff. However, the first few chapters of Lono represent the best description of marathon madness of those times that I have ever read (I finished 6th place at the 1983 Honolulu Marathon). His insightfulness into carbo-loading parties and the running divorce lead me to believe that he first did his research sober and then crawled off to finish the book.It has given me a lot of new respect for Gonzo Journalism.And Steadman's manic drawings of a perfect match.
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