This is an Online Internet Book Club on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson. Discuss this book, share your thoughts, make comments, ask questions, offer responses...
Description
Heralded as the "best book on the dope decade" by the
New York Times Book Review, Hunter S. Thompson's documented drug orgy through Las Vegas would no doubt leave Nancy Reagan blushing and D.A.R.E. founders rethinking their motto. Under the pseudonym of Raoul Duke, Thompson travels with his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, in a souped-up convertible dubbed the "Great Red Shark." In its trunk, they stow "two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half-full of cocaine and a whole galaxy of multicolored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers.... A quart of tequila, a quart of rum, a case of Budweiser, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls," which they manage to consume during their short tour.
On assignment from a sports magazine to cover "the fabulous Mint 400"--a free-for-all biker's race in the heart of the Nevada desert--the drug-a-delic duo stumbles through Vegas in hallucinatory hopes of finding the American dream (two truck-stop waitresses tell them it's nearby, but can't remember if it's on the right or the left). They of course never get the story, but they do commit the only sins in Vegas: "burning the locals, abusing the tourists, terrifying the help." For Thompson to remember and pen his experiences with such clarity and wit is nothing short of a miracle; an impressive feat no matter how one feels about the subject matter. A first-rate sensibility twinger, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a pop-culture classic, an icon of an era past, and a nugget of pure comedic genius. --Rebekah Warren
Book Club Questions for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (Fiction)
Suggested Book Club Questions for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (Fiction)
The following book club questions provide a starting point for creating a reading group discussion on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:
- Did Hunter S. Thompson emphasize any specific themes throughout Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? What do you think Hunter S. Thompson is trying to explain with this theme?
- What was unique about the setting of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and how did it affect the storyline?
- Could you relate to any of the characters? If so, which ones and why?
- How do characters change or learn throughout Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? What events caused these changes? Have you or someone you know experienced the same thing?
- How does Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas reveal Hunter S. Thompson's own perspectives about people and the world? For a lively discussion, describe why you think Hunter S. Thompson is liberal or conservative.
- Did certain parts of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas affect you emotionally? Why did it evoke those emotions?
- Did Hunter S. Thompson's point of view on things lend new perspective to your own view of the world?
Book Club Questions for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (for Non-Fiction)
Suggested Book Club Questions for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream (Non-fiction)
The following book club questions provide a starting point for creating a reading group discussion on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas:
- Did Hunter S. Thompson make persuasive arguments in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Did Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas change or reinforce your opinion on the subject?
- What did you learn from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas?
- How does Hunter S. Thompson present the information and did you enjoy it?
- How is Hunter S. Thompson biased within Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas? Is there a political slant to what is being discussed and how does it impact the book?
- What, if anything, does Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas make you want to read next? Why?
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