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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
fast-paced
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I got this book through a giveaway here on goodreads! I loved it. It was filled interesting turns and I couldn't put it down. I liked making the connection between reality and fiction. I definitely recommend
dark
emotional
funny
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Reading about people doing a lot of cocaine is less interesting than actual people doing a lot of cocaine, which is not very interesting to begin with. Nothing too original here. The feminist themes and retrospective take on 90s politics are half baked.
Self indulgent and perfect for fans of Chuck Palahniuk or Tim Robbins. None of the characters are decent human beings, their behavior towards each other is deplorable, and the drug use quickly gets redundant. The main character's naïveté, which results in an 11th hour epiphany, is the only reason to keep reading.
Read the full review on http://www.talesbetweenthepages.comEven though I only know Hunter S. Thompson by reputation and not by his work, Gonzo Girl spoke to me. Alley, the fictionalized version of the author, struggles with some of the things that I struggle with: relevance, parents who sometimes struggle to understand what, exactly, you do, and needing to carve out a specific place for yourself in the world despite not knowing where to put your knife first.
Fictional Hunter S. Thompson
Like Thompson, his fictional counterpart, Walker Reade, is ... all over the place. Despite his fame, his notoriety, and his success, he struggles with relevance just like Alley does. People like Walker are a dying breed. It's the 90s and there just aren't as many drugged-out hippies trying to change the world. Time is leaving Walker behind. And yet, the sad part is that society has certain expectations for Walker, forcing him to perform a certain way all the time.
Claudia thinks sobriety would kill Walker. My guess: Walker thinks it would render him moot. Actors and musicians, they clean up, the world applauds. But nobody would applaud if Walker Reade cleaned up. His work, his persona, everything he represents, is inextricably tied to his substance abuse --- his "fuck you" to the system. But if this kind of defiance was romantic twenty-five years ago, it sure as hell ain't romantic now.
No wonder the guy stayed pent up at his ranch most of the time. The guy couldn't even go to dinner without some of the smarter dude-bros swarming him and telling him how much his work changed their lives. Of course, Walker sees through the crap. He knows that Alley's generation is less than enthusiastic about politics or world news.
"That's what they're all counting on. That you simply won't care enough to be outraged. You want know what that this is really about?"
"Sure."
"It's about seeing how much they can get away with not telling you. This is just a test. Thieves start out by taking candy bars, just to see if they can. Then, when they realize how easy it is, they move to cars and jewels and banks. This is a mere trifle compared with what's coming your way. And the bitch of it is, your generation won't ever see it coming. You'll just sit there with your video games and your Mac Classics or whatever while the bastards rob the store blind.
Walker's paranoia doesn't seem so unfounded to me in this passage. His experience has only given him a keen eye for the crap that Alley's generation turns a blind-eye to. Ostensibly, he "gets it" despite the drunken, drugged-out, acid-tripping stupors that should threaten his ability to "get it."
The One Who's Bumping into All the Boundaries Just to See What's There
Like I said earlier, Alley speaks to me on a number of levels. She leaves her unpaid internship and her shitty bartending job in New York to take a position helping a madman write a book. She promises herself a lot of things: that she won't get addicted to drugs, that she won't become some famous person's plaything, and that she's only doing the job to make contacts in the publishing world.
Walker is equal parts demanding, suicidal, brilliant, and infuriating ... and Alley is the only one who can keep up with his stride. They're attracted to each other, but never feel or act on more than just friendly intimacy. He relies on her. She takes care of him. She forces pages out of him. In the meantime, they troll Don Henley's house, play epic pranks on Don Johnson, and take more drugs than I thought were humanly possible.
She leaves unsure if she's addicted to the drugs Walker demands she takes, and she briefly became a famous actor's plaything. But she leaves with contacts in publishing, and her manuscript line edited by Walker himself. She leaves, having bumped into all the boundaries, having been "too close to something hot and bright and capable of burning [her] at will."
Conclusions
Gonzo Girl mimics the gonzo journalist style that Thompson is known for. It's compulsively readable --- addictive even. Even when the narrative lulled (this is a sticking point for most readers), I still read on the edge of my seat, knowing the next acid trip was just around the corner. Even though Gonzo Girl is fiction, I feel like I know Hunter S. Thompson intimately. This review was originally posted on Tales Between the Pages
Fictional Hunter S. Thompson
Like Thompson, his fictional counterpart, Walker Reade, is ... all over the place. Despite his fame, his notoriety, and his success, he struggles with relevance just like Alley does. People like Walker are a dying breed. It's the 90s and there just aren't as many drugged-out hippies trying to change the world. Time is leaving Walker behind. And yet, the sad part is that society has certain expectations for Walker, forcing him to perform a certain way all the time.
Claudia thinks sobriety would kill Walker. My guess: Walker thinks it would render him moot. Actors and musicians, they clean up, the world applauds. But nobody would applaud if Walker Reade cleaned up. His work, his persona, everything he represents, is inextricably tied to his substance abuse --- his "fuck you" to the system. But if this kind of defiance was romantic twenty-five years ago, it sure as hell ain't romantic now.
No wonder the guy stayed pent up at his ranch most of the time. The guy couldn't even go to dinner without some of the smarter dude-bros swarming him and telling him how much his work changed their lives. Of course, Walker sees through the crap. He knows that Alley's generation is less than enthusiastic about politics or world news.
"That's what they're all counting on. That you simply won't care enough to be outraged. You want know what that this is really about?"
"Sure."
"It's about seeing how much they can get away with not telling you. This is just a test. Thieves start out by taking candy bars, just to see if they can. Then, when they realize how easy it is, they move to cars and jewels and banks. This is a mere trifle compared with what's coming your way. And the bitch of it is, your generation won't ever see it coming. You'll just sit there with your video games and your Mac Classics or whatever while the bastards rob the store blind.
Walker's paranoia doesn't seem so unfounded to me in this passage. His experience has only given him a keen eye for the crap that Alley's generation turns a blind-eye to. Ostensibly, he "gets it" despite the drunken, drugged-out, acid-tripping stupors that should threaten his ability to "get it."
The One Who's Bumping into All the Boundaries Just to See What's There
Like I said earlier, Alley speaks to me on a number of levels. She leaves her unpaid internship and her shitty bartending job in New York to take a position helping a madman write a book. She promises herself a lot of things: that she won't get addicted to drugs, that she won't become some famous person's plaything, and that she's only doing the job to make contacts in the publishing world.
Walker is equal parts demanding, suicidal, brilliant, and infuriating ... and Alley is the only one who can keep up with his stride. They're attracted to each other, but never feel or act on more than just friendly intimacy. He relies on her. She takes care of him. She forces pages out of him. In the meantime, they troll Don Henley's house, play epic pranks on Don Johnson, and take more drugs than I thought were humanly possible.
She leaves unsure if she's addicted to the drugs Walker demands she takes, and she briefly became a famous actor's plaything. But she leaves with contacts in publishing, and her manuscript line edited by Walker himself. She leaves, having bumped into all the boundaries, having been "too close to something hot and bright and capable of burning [her] at will."
Conclusions
Gonzo Girl mimics the gonzo journalist style that Thompson is known for. It's compulsively readable --- addictive even. Even when the narrative lulled (this is a sticking point for most readers), I still read on the edge of my seat, knowing the next acid trip was just around the corner. Even though Gonzo Girl is fiction, I feel like I know Hunter S. Thompson intimately. This review was originally posted on Tales Between the Pages