Rating: 
Summary: Earliest work shows flashes of brilliance, not much else.
Review: HST's first work, only releasable now as a result of his industry clout, is an interesting look at the formation of a madman's psyche. The story of a young American journalist in Puerto Rico is a bit bare, but his emerging mastery of the language will still give you goosebumps and put you alongside the characters, be it in dive bars, along the beaches at dawn, or in a Puerto Rican jail cell. It's interesting to read, if only to see the glimpses of gonzo journalism that later spill out in "Hell's Angels" and "Fear and Loathing..." All in all, it's lacking in substance, but a quick and interesting read.
Rating: 
Summary: a feverishly composed scream through the carribean heat
Review: read it. that's all, just read it. it won't take more than a day and you'll want to become a drunken journalist. read it.
Rating: 
Summary: THE LONG LOST NOVEL THAT SHOULD HAVE STAYED LOST
Review: This dreary tale celebrates the lives of people who live to get drunk and stay drunk. Later I believe Thompson went on to glorify other controlled substances. The only female character of any consequence, ironically named Chenault, a name not evocative today, but surely in the late fifties when this dirge is alledged to have been written--General Chenault was a hero of WWII--is as vapid as the guys, as drunk, more abused.Completely aimless. A waste of trees.
Rating:
Summary: A witty bit of irony. . .Nicely done. . .
Review: If you have ever read one of Mr. Thompson's books, then you will definitely want to read this one. . .If you haven't then this is as good a one as any to get you started. . . An interesting irony. . .This book lacks the satirical brilliance of his later works. . . "Tame" is the word that leaps to mind. . .In comparison to the jaded monster we've grown to love, The Rum Diary evokes a remarkable sense of innocence. . .This innocence juxtaposed against the perceptions created by his later works, make the timing of the release of this work quite remarkable. . . Remarkable in that by releasing it as he has here in the Autumn of his career Mr. Thompson serves to remind us that he, too, sold something out a very long time ago. . .
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting story but I kept wondering what's the point.
Review: I found this an interesting story, but I kept wondering what the point of it all was.
Rating:
Summary: Quick-read, very enjoyable...
Review: Although it only took me 2 days to breeze through this one, it was a very enjoyable read. As a big fan of HST, I found it very interesting to read of his early years as a writer, before all the bad craziness to come in susequent years.
Rating:
Summary: A Violent Slug of Perspective
Review: The Rum diary by Hunter S. Thompson is about San Juan in the late 1950's. The protagonist/author/narrator, Paul Kemp, finds himself on this Caribbean Island eating time and working for a newspaper run by "an ex -communist called Lautermen." The novel contains much of the mad flamboyant drinking shenanigans that Thompson is famous for, yet unlike his more famous work, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, where the comedy is tied to the narrators beastliness, The Rum Diary hints at the associated tragedy and pain caused by the narrator's weakness for pleasure. The classic Thompson characters are present. In The Rum Diary, viscous cabbies, swine, intolerable scoundrels, mutterers, and rotten old bastards line the pages like glue. Yet here, Thompson has fabricated a classic novel. With compactness and dexterity, he has constructed every scene, every dialogue, to reveal the secrets of the novel's conclusion. With strange fits of madness and carefully recorded dialogue, Thompson reveals just enough about the innards of the cast to make the story work. The signature of this novel is in its tunnel vision. The characters encountered are not full, realistic people who evoke the empathy of the reader. Thompson concentrates on their cartoonish attributes, leaving the rest of their character to the broad sweep of generalization. The tiny and important details of each character appear in full, clear, detail while the rest of their personality gets blurred away in the surrounding corners of vision. This style of characterization allows the reader to experience the occurrences of the novel with the same, detached feeling of desperation that the author seems to have. Thompson never even attempts to explain his characters. The closest we come to an explanation is in his description of himself: " Like most of the others, I was a seeker, a mover, a malcontent, and at times a stupid hell-raiser." When someone gets drunk and starts raising hell with a local shopkeeper, we take it in stride. The reader is given a heightened sense of the strangeness of the world because he is never given enough information by the author to understand the motives behind the character's actions. Thus, seemingly every thing happens without reason, without motive, without explanation. The reader shares a feeling that the state of affairs is nothing more than absolute absurdity. Every action seems crazy because the actors are impossible to understand. "They served the rum in paper flagons, a chunk of ice and a violent slug of rum to each one." The Rum Diary is a brief chunk of consciousness. The rum turns violent, as short, crowded scenes and an impending loss of control build the tension of the climax. While some may criticize this book for what it is not, I think the novel should be read for it's watery, liquid prose and it's unique approach to conventional structure.
Rating:
Summary: It had to begin somewhere.
Review: If you distill (ha ha) HST down to his beginnings (see early essays in "Proud Highway") and before his liver-defying ingestion of drugs, you will find his core: clean, lyrical prose that is also a lot of fun. As a HST fan AND a feminist, this book is a guilty pleasure that reminds me why I love novels, the ignition key to the wild ride that came afterward.
Rating:
Summary: wow
Review: The Rum Diary is Thompson before the massive bingeges of acid and mescaline. His second written book is a window into the evolvement of Thompson's writing and life style. It is a great story with his charistically untouchable and unique style.
Rating:
Summary: Rum Diary required reading
Review: What a fascinating read. And easy to believe and identify with, because I lived most of it on an island off the west coast of Canada. It's not hard to see San Juan and the cast of bitter characters. I know them. I worked with them at the Daily News - same name, different establishment. I'd reccomend it as required reading for any of my former co-workers and every journalism student. How much of it is really HST? It's not hard to have an opinion, but I guess we'll never really know. It sure makes what comes next even more understandable. This book actually pushes The Doctor of Journalism right over the top, for me. And he was only 22 when he started it. Yes sir, this is a man who KNOWS.
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