Read Online Gonzo: The Life Of Hunter S. Thompson Drafted By Jann S. Wenner Formatted As Audio Books

life, Hunter S. Thompson was a Tasmanian Devil always in motion, always dangerous, and always hungry, for booze, for drugs, for women, for attention, He was hell to live with a bully, a prankster, an abuser, Also, a walking contradiction who could kill you with kindness, He was sociable, and sociopathic, He lived large, and lived his way, and you either accepted that way or you were anathema, He was not a role model, but a rat bastard badboy childman that every man secretly imagines wanting to be,

He was a political progressive who loved the elites, mingled and partied with the rich and powerful a lefty who hated hippies and loved guns, A Louisville, Kentucky, boy who had a sense of Southern gentility and propriety that often surfaced in astonishing acts of selfless generosity, He championed the underdog and minorities but thought nothing of using casual racial slurs, He could be incredibly serious, disciplined and professional about his work, then miss deadlines, appointments and break promises, He would give you the lasthe had, then turn around and threaten to sue you, He could be sweet but seldom allowed himself to show sentiment and vulnerability, He believed in and practiced monogamy, but cheated like a maniac, He was a terrible father in youth, but a kindly father and grandfather at the end of his life, He was the life of the party and a buzzkill all in one, He wanted to be the Great American Writer like his hero, F, Scott Fitzgerald, but he also wanted to have fun like Fitzgerald's revelers and drink like his hero and all too often the fun got in the way of his art.


But it was that art that made all of his shit worth the endurance for those who knew and worked with him, Thompson was an American original with an original literary voice a voice that some called the voice of his generation, Hunter's hybrid style of fiction and fact gonzo was something new, and once it took hold far beyond the edge of the desert in Barstow it was imitated freely by countlesstruck wannabes.
But the imitators could never pass the fraud test a passage from an original Thompson could never be mistaken as coming from anyone else,

The best single observation in this book that pinpoints what's special and unique in Thompson's literary voice comes from Thompson's friend and journalist, Tim Crouse:
"Watching him, I began to realize that he was trying to bypass learned attitudes, received ideas, clichés of every kind, and tap into something that had more to do with his unconscious, his intuitive take on things.
He wanted to get the sentence out before any preconception could corrupt it, "

Similarly, we get this gem from friend and collaborator, Doug Brinkley:
"He was a criminal by nature who essentially cased every room he walked into and saw things that nobody else saw.
"

In piecing together this prismatic, chronologically linear biography, told in carefully selected testimonial chunks by an immense cast of people who knew Thompson up close and personal those who worked with him, drugged with him, fucked him Jann Wenner and colleagues at Rolling Stone have tried to case the room like Hunter, to try to figure out the truth of a man whose contradictions would seem to make him unknowable.
It's the Citizen Kane of biographies, with everyone adding puzzle pieces to unlock the mystery of his Rosebud,

Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S, Thompson will be a challenge for some readers who feel put off by its constant change of voices, and at first I felt that way, But as it proceeded I was persuaded by the value of the approach, By hearing the events of Thompson's life told from varying eyewitness perspectives, the

reader is free to actively participate in the construction of the biography, to consider the contradictions and the biases of the tellers.
Considering the logistical feat inherent in compiling this book, the results are highly commendable,

One of my favorite anecdotes in the book is by Michael Cleverly, a writer in Aspen, who was drinking with Thompson in a bar when two hippie fans, a boy and girl, approached the writer and offered him some cocaine as a friendly gesture.
"Hunter took the vial, unscrewed it, poured it out on the broad's boobs, and shoved his face in there and started snorting, " After sniffing nearly the entire vial, Thompson gave the rest to Cleverly, gave the vial back to the hippies and turned his back on them,

Thompson's tolerance for high doses of drugs was legendary, And it's easy to blame that addiction on his downfall, But another drug just as addicting took hold: celebrity, Sometime between the writing of Hell's Angels inand Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in, Hunter began to build a new persona, The guy who once was a crewcut military straightarrow began to morph into the shadeswearing, cigaretteholder sporting, slurring and mumbling caricature, He was a rebel with a fashion style and bearing to match his "givesnoshits" prose attitude, He became an icon that people came to worship, and like the conquering hero, he was all too willing to abide, Writing did not become something to do, but to put off,

It's probably no exaggeration to say that Thompson was the worst alcoholic and drug addict in the history of literature who managed to live as long as he did.
Indeed, Thompson himself predicted his death by age, but he made it to, by which time the disintegration of his body, the constant pain and helplessness and his total dependence on others affronted his sense of dignity and independence.
In his suicide note, he revealed: ", That isyears past.more than I needed or wanted, "

kevinrky

Noncorrection: AS I read the first sentence of this review, something struck me as not quite right, A few hours later I figured it out, I start off the review with the clause "In life" without later having a corresponding "In death" or "In his art," which is the expected corollary for the phrase to make any sense.
I've decided to leave it be because there's a certain elegance to beginning the review this way, Remove "In life" from the sentence and notice how drab it would look, I think Thompson would be with me on this,

amazing book! author's not too bad, either, I read /Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S, Thompson/, by Jenn Wenner and a cast of dozens, which is a book in print comprised of various people telling Gonzo's history and life story through their perspective:

sitelink nytimes. combo

The best part of the book was Hunter's standard rejection letter he copied it and sent it in response to writing submissions in thes sent to him care of Rolling Stone magazine:

"You worthless, acidsucking piece of illiterate shit! Dont ever send this kind of braindamaged swill in here again! If I had the time, Id come out there and drive a fucking wooden stake into your skull.
Why dont you get a job, wino Like maybe as a night watchman, or delivering the Shopping News, You insert name of city cocksuckers are all alikejust like those dopeaddled dingbats at Rolling Stone, I could kill those bedwetting bastards for sending me these tedious and embarrassing tissues of delusions and I wouldnt mind killing you, too, Stick this manuscript where it belongs: up your ass,

Cordially,
Yail Bloor
Minister of Manuscripts" Few American lives are stranger, more actionpacked, or wilder than that of Hunter S, Thompson. Born a rebel in Louisville, Kentucky, Thompson spent a lifetime channeling his energy and insight into such landmark works as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and his singular and provocative style challenged and revolutionized writing.

Now, for the first time ever, Jann Wenner and Corey Seymour have interviewed the Good Doctor's friends, family, acquaintances and colleagues and woven their memories into a brilliant oral biography.
From Hell's Angels leader Sonny Barger to Ralph Steadman to Jack Nicholson to Jimmy Buffett to Pat Buchanan to Marilyn Manson and Thompson's two wives, son, and longtime personal assistant, more thanmembers of Thompson's inner circle bring into vivid focus the life of a man who was even more complicated, tormented, and talented than any previous portrait has shown.
It's all here in its uncensored glory: the creative frenzies, the love affairs, the drugs and booze and guns and explosives and, ultimately, the tragic suicide, As Thompson was fond of saying, "Buy the ticket, take the ride, ".