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A review by kevin_shepherd
The Rum Diary by Hunter S. Thompson
4.0
"No matter how much I wanted all those things that I needed money to buy, there was some devilish current pushing me off in another direction - toward anarchy and poverty and craziness. That maddening delusion that a man can lead a decent life without hiring himself out as a Judas Goat."
Allegedly autobiographical, The Rum Diary is an accounting of newspaper journalist Paul Kemp's alcohol induced misadventures in Puerto Rico, circa 1959(ish). Aptly titled with a plethora of boozy contrivances and catastrophes, it is surprisingly coherent and readable. I kept thinking that this is what William S. Burroughs could have been if his drug of choice had been rum instead of hallucinogenic narcotics. Thompson, when in control of his faculties, was one hell of a writer.
A word of caution: if your trigger is implied sexual assault, consider taking a pass on this one. Thompson's narrative gets a little rapey at one point. It was not well defined, but it was enough to give me a nasty knot in my stomach by sheer insinuation.
Allegedly autobiographical, The Rum Diary is an accounting of newspaper journalist Paul Kemp's alcohol induced misadventures in Puerto Rico, circa 1959(ish). Aptly titled with a plethora of boozy contrivances and catastrophes, it is surprisingly coherent and readable. I kept thinking that this is what William S. Burroughs could have been if his drug of choice had been rum instead of hallucinogenic narcotics. Thompson, when in control of his faculties, was one hell of a writer.
A word of caution: if your trigger is implied sexual assault, consider taking a pass on this one. Thompson's narrative gets a little rapey at one point. It was not well defined, but it was enough to give me a nasty knot in my stomach by sheer insinuation.