In my life there have been 2 books that no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't finish them. For summer reading in high school, I had to read Wuthering Heights. I tried twice, getting stuck and crapping out at exactly page 51! The other book was Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
In 1998, Johnny Depp starred in a version of the film. I was a big Depp buff at the time and I really wanted to see it. But a friend recommended that I read the book first. So, I checked it out at the library- I never could get past the first chapter. Never really did see the picture either.
Then a few days ago, I came across the graphic novel adaptation of the book. Having completely said 'The heck with Bronte', I decided not to let 2 books hold me back and I checked it out.
A large majority of Thompson's own words are used in this book. Each page of Thompson's attempt to find the American dream in Las Vegas of all places, contains large excerpts of the original text which before being published as Fear and Loathing was a 2-part article that ran in Rolling Stone in 1971.
The premise of the book has Thompson, under the name of Raoul Duke and his attorney, a Dr. Gonzo, renting a red convertible behemoth and driving to Sin City. In their trunk is a literal pharmacy of legal, illegal, and unimaginable things to get them high. Duke is supposed to be heading to Las Vegas to cover an off-road race for a sports publication. He then is asked to stay longer to cover a naroctics officer's conference. All-the-while, Duke and Gonzo claim to be searching for the American Dream.
Honestly, I think the whole thing was an excuse to go gambling and get high as a freaking kite in the Seediest City in the World under someone else's dime. The first half of this book is literally unreadable. All Duke and Gonzo do are get high, become extremely paranoid and try to kill one another! However, this could all or partially be made up as Hunter S. Thompson's Gonzo Journalism style combined both fact and fiction; sometimes considering hallucination and anecdote as gospel truth.
The second half of this graphic novel adaptation was actually pretty good. Duke has to cover a convention of drug enforcement officers and he and his lawyer often prank the unwitting lawmen, acting as DEA agents from L.A., with horror tales of animal sacrifice and perversion overtaking the City of Angels' drug scene. I preferred this section's madcap to the latter part's madness.
This version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas adapted and illustrated by Angora Napkin's Troy Little is probably the closet I will ever come to reading (and completing) Thompson's actual tome. But that's okay- this was some intense reading regardless and I feel like I conquered the book. I did happen to enjoy the cartoonish art and unique editing styles of Troy Little's. It fit in nicely with the source material and it's possibility of not being 100% the truth.
Not as bad as I thought but I really can't see why it's such a landmark book of the American experience either.
Rating: 6 out of 10 stars.
