"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
In fact, Thompson was only 22 when he wrote The Rum Diary, but his fear of winding up like Moberg was well founded. What saved him was the fantastic conflagration of the 1960s, a fiery wind on which the reptilian wings of his prose style could catch and soar to the cackling heights of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Puerto Rico in 1959 doesn't have bad craziness enough to offer Thompson--just a routine drunken-reporter stomping by local cops and a riot over Kemp's friend's temptress girlfriend, a scantily imagined Smith College alumna who likes to strip nude on beaches and in nightclubs to taunt men.
Thompson's prose style only intermittently takes tentative flight--compare the stomping scenes in this book with his breakthrough, Hell's Angels--but it's interesting to see him so nakedly reveal his sensitive innards, before the celebrated clownish carapace grew in. It's also interesting to see how he improved this full version of the novel from the more raw (and racist) excerpts found in the 1990 collection Songs of the Doomed (available on audiocassette, partly narrated by Thompson). --Tim Appelo
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Shipping:
US$ 2.64
Within U.S.A.
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 2394735-n
Book Description paperback. Condition: New. Language: ENG. Seller Inventory # 9780747574576
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Brand New Copy. Seller Inventory # BBB_new074757457X
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 224. Seller Inventory # 7121984
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Brand New. 224 pages. In Stock. Seller Inventory # __074757457X
Book Description Condition: Brand New. New. US edition. Expediting shipping for all USA and Europe orders excluding PO Box. Excellent Customer Service. Seller Inventory # ABEOCT23-92035
Book Description Softcover. Condition: New. UK open market ed. Paul Kemp has moved from New York to the steamy heat of Puerto Rico to work at the Daily News. He starts hanging out at Al's Backyard, a local den selling booze and hamburgers to vagrant journalists who are mostly crazy drunks on the verge of quitting. Then he meets Yeamon, whose delectable girlfriend has Kemp stewing in his own lust. But the idle tension that builds up in places where men sweat twenty-four hours a day is reaching a violent breaking point. Seller Inventory # DADAX074757457X
Book Description Paperback / softback. Condition: New. New copy - Usually dispatched within 4 working days. The sultry classic of a journalist's sordid life in Puerto Rico. Seller Inventory # B9780747574576
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon074757457X
Book Description Condition: New. 2004. UK open market ed. Paperback. The sultry classic of a journalist's sordid life in Puerto Rico Series: Bloomsbury Classic Reads. Num Pages: 224 pages, maps. BIC Classification: FA. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 179 x 112 x 18. Weight in Grams: 126. Series: Bloomsbury Classic Reads. 224 pages, maps. The sultry classic of a journalist's sordid life in Puerto Rico. Cateogry: (G) General (US: Trade). BIC Classification: FA. Dimension: 177 x 112 x 16. Weight: 126. . . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780747574576