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the_scrivener_named_bartleby 's review for:

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson
5.0
adventurous dark funny reflective tense fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

This book is like an explosion in your hands. Honestly, it's like finding a water stain in the shape of Jesus's face; it's art, but not one that was carefully crafted or that even has an artist commanding it. Through Thompson, an eye-searing account of the failing American Dream and the darkness present in every human soul is given flesh through words, and this deserves as close a reading as any classic--if this book is not considered already by enough people to be a classic.

If you came here from the movie, I will say that this is a much less sympathetic view on thompson, who's been mythologized by the Depp portrayal and countless parodies and becoming a pop-culture icon. However, it just makes the book more unflinchingly honest.

The foreword has no influence on the score, but I need to acknowledge it because of that: It was written by a troglodyte with no understanding of the content they were prefacing. Just some desperate caterwauling for relevance that wasted the world's collective time.

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