Soaked

The Rum Diary
Hunter S. Thompson ©1999
Fiction; 224 pages

My friend, Skip, was the impetus for reading this book. Prior to reading The Rum Diary, I was largely uneducated in the canon of Thompson. All of my prior experiences with him were articles courtesy of Rolling Stone in high school and college. Honestly, I had never really felt compelled to read him like I have in the past for other writers.

The Rum Diary is largely based on Thompson's own experiences in San Juan, Puerto Rico as a journalist. Penned when he was 22, The Rum Diary seems to have been written by a much older, world weary man (ironically, it wasn't released until he was an old man). Fast paced and highly entertaining, there is a sense of disquietude and dissatisfaction throughout. Though each character seems to have goals and aspirations for their life, they are largely inept at figuring them out. Instead, because they are incapable of ascertaining anything concrete, they are obsessed with running, getting away...leaving the island for something, somewhere better.

It is, however, the stifling nature of the island that propels them (and the novel) forward. Each day was mechanical, lived because of a glaring lack of alternatives. They seemed to sate themselves and their inadequacies in booze, vainly hoping that sooner or later something had to give. In the absence of answers, life was lived (quite wildly at times) as they waited, like we all have, for a sense of direction to take hold of their youthful indecision.

READ IT