Gonzo

This book is simply a must-have for fans of the Good Doctor. The pictures provide something of an intimacy between the reader/viewer and the truly extraordinary life of Hunter S. Thompson. (N.B.: What's truly rewarding is reading his anthologized letters--"The Proud Highway," etc.--while checking out all these photos.)The book begins with a stark black spread with Thompson's should-be famous quote & question: "So we shall let the reader answer this question for himself: Who is the happier man, he who has braved the storm of life and lived, or he who has stayed securely on shore and merely existed?" After the customary inclusion of the brilliant Thompson-composed news release relating his discharge from the Air Force, we're faced with a rather warm B&W spread featuring a young Hunter asleep with his head on his wristwatch'd arm, surrounded by paper cups, Schlitz cans and onlooking Press/Radio representatives, who at the time could never have known the abilities and future of the tired young man sleeping next to them One can only assume he was resting up ahead of time for all the great work he'd soon be doing. It really is a great way to kick off the game.The pictures, which are all presented in a very nice and interesting way (from full-page and in color or B&W to tiny reproduced scans of a streaming set), are here and there headed by a few words from the Man Himself. And of course, we get at moments a glimpse of his writing, some of it early, unedited, profane and all of it gorgeously HST, just what we like. The detail of the photos is mesmerizing. The quality, I mean. And furthermore, this tremendous collection goes to show that Thompson had a great eye for photography. You won't find such a beautiful collection anywhere else. Simply, the man could take pictures just as well as he could talk football, bash Bush and deflate Nixon.Get a load of the "Rum Diary Days" and "Big Sur" chapters. These are poignant illustrations to all of Thompson's cackling work, from his hysterically entertaining letters to his long-lost-&-then-finally-published first novel. I would say my favorite page consists of Thompson's self-portrait where he's on the road to Tijuana, in his car, a serious look on his face and wearing black crossbar shades. (It's the same as the photo on the cover of the book, except in B&W.) Is this not the epitome of Cool?Anyway, you get the point. A great collection of photos of an exemplary life all the way from early fear and loathing to his larger-than-anything funeral, where we're once again reminded that it never got "weird enough" for the Good Doctor, and added to this an intro from his close friend Johnny Depp (that name might sound familiar), GONZO is a must-have for every HST fan and really, for any fan of photography. This is one badass mofo of a book and it rocks.

It's a struggle to write this review, as I'm not sure whether I'm reviewing the book or the man's life. I liked the book, but not sure I like the man. Gonzo isn't as much a biography as it is a tribute to Hunter S. Thompson from those who knew him. However after reading the way he abused those who knew him best and cared for him most, I can't imagine why most of them would be inclined to participate in a tribute.Gonzo isn't a chronology, but topical anecdotes more or less ordered in the progression of his life, which made it more interesting- more "Hunter-esque". It was amazing to see how he crossed paths with so many different kinds of important people and knowing him through their eyes.Some of Hunter S. Thompson's qualities I admire. He was authentic and he was a maverick in the way he lived his life. He was a great writer, perhaps in the category of near-genius. But he was also a self-absorbed ass of a man, who cheated on his wives, beat them and often treated them (and so many others who cared about him) very, very poorly. It was interesting to note that he never visited his wrath on Johnny Depp, Jack Nicholson or his other Hollywood friends. He seemed to have more respect for them than he did just 'regular' people.Even up to the very end, I wanted to like him. I really did. But even his last act was selfish. He took his own life while his family, including his little grandson, sat in the other room- apparently not thinking or caring about the life-long, mental toll it would take on them to be the ones to find his bloody corpse and mangled gray matter blown all over the room. Just sad.I always try to find a moral to the story, and with this one, it was difficult. What can I take away from this- what can I learn from this person's life- to be a better person myself? The only thing I can come up with and it's a very important thing: No matter how great your talent, your bank accountMr. Wenner did an excellent of capturing the essence of who Hunter S. Thompson was, and for that I give him credit. I give him more credit, however for pulling the greatness out of such a disturbed individual. Perhaps of the two, it's Mr. Wenner who was/is the real genius after all.

Hunter Thompson's books changed my life. He is probably my favorite writer. I've been reading him since 1975. I've read virtually everything he's published, more than once. I've read most of the previously published biographies about him. This book is quite simply the best biography I've read since Wired, Bob Woodward's biography of John Belushi. I disagree with the reviewers who want to write this work off as more humping on the leg of Thompson's literary corpse. (Wanna see somebody humping the corpse? Read Anita Thompson's lame Gonzo Way farce.) The voices in this book were of Thompson's closest friends and family. These are the people he wrote to and about. It took guts for the people interviewed to lay it all out, the good with the bad, for the rest of us to see. Hunter Thompson wrote about the truth, and this book is probably as clear a glimpse of Hunter's truth as any of us are ever likely to see. Until something else written by Hunter himself is published, this book completes his canon for me.

If you're interested in HST, you'll learn more than you might have wanted to hear. The gossipy tone give you a lot of authentic stories told by the people (famous and not) who sat with him in his kitchen, traveled with him etc. It's heavy on the gossip and I must say that as HUGE fan of his writing, i was sad to find out some of the stuff of his personal life that makes me recoil. Clearly the people who contributed to this love him and were a bit frightened by him and many of them enabled him into becoming the icon that he became.Next time I will want to read something that focuses more on his writing and less on his 'colorful' personality. (I know a bit more about it now, thanks to this book, than I might have wanted to know.

Amongst all the HST tat they are selling nowadays this is actually worh a look. You get a collection of photographs, letters and memorabilia that is certainly interesting. Wheter is has staying power I'm not sure. Great if you need to explain who HST is when visitors question your 7ft Fear & Loathing Poster!One word of warning. I have seen several "special" versions of this going for about 200+ They look exactly the same to me so be aware.

A well written story of HST by people who were the close to him through different periods of life. I got to know Hunter through his books - this genius writer who developed his own unique voice. Now I know Hunter as a person.

This guy was interesting, didn't read the book but I plan on reading it

Bought this as a gift for my son, who is really into Thompson. He thought it was the best he had read on the man. Unlike the normal biographers view, this account is made up of anecdotes and memories of his friends and those who worked with him. Those who really knew him.

this is a must! also, apart from the books by H.S.T., there's 'the kitchen readings'. and you won't need anything else!