Anita Thompson

To put it simply, there is something for everyone to like in this book.

Published in 2007 by Anita Thompson, the late wife of Gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, the book is at once a memoir, advice book (I purposely avoid that phrase 'self-help' here), mission statement, and, for Anita Thompson, a way to exorcise the demons she has been dealing with since Hunter S. Thompson committed suicide in 2005.

So first, the aspect of memoir. Even those who were suspicious of young Anita Thompson's 'intentions' with their beloved Hunter can find something scintillating in this small volume's voyeuristic viewpoint into the Thompson home at Owl Farm, for who left could really know it best? As if to answer this, Anita Thompson very tactfully lends her pages to the words of others as well, close friends, compatriots, and sometimes enemies of Hunter himself, to contribute their voices as well (these including Kurt Vonnegut, Bob Dylan, Benecio del Toro, Lyle Lovett and Bill Murray).

This however, is presented with a caveat, one that both Anita Thompson and Douglas Brinkley (who writes the foreword) make clear: This is not a book about sex, drugs and rock and roll. Though these may make appearances indirectly, Thompson's goal is to show Hunter as the man she knew him to be - someone caught up in politics, human connections, and changing the world, one word and act at a time.

The insights into the way Hunter's mind works are fascinating - he seemed a man of boundless energy, throwing himself whole-heartedly into causes which he then would try to rally the world behind. His monomania was fed through rivulets of deeper meaning, and Thompson manages to depict this skillfully with select anecdotes that are at once charming, nostalgic, and sometimes all too amusing.

As for advice, Anita passes a lot of it on, hers being a volume that she says is meant to teach readers what Hunter taught her, simplified into seven illuminating lessons. This verges on the almost too simplistic aphorisms that have blanketed the self-help market today (e.g., "It's Wrong When It Stops Being Fun"), but is seemingly refreshed by the legend behind the man who said it, and to the people he is often saying it to. Hunter S. Thompson, presented in full technicolor and with not a little bit of awe, is a figure enraptured by these life lessons, and it doesn't take much convincing to see that they worked for him (and Anita Thompson as well it seems) in their own sometimes unexpected ways.

It is, however, with Anita Thompson's own writing that interestingly enough does justice to the writer that passed before her. Hers is simple and unadorned speech, straightforward (Lesson 5's title is "Truth is Easier") and never apologetic (lesson 7!).

More notably, hers is the often heartbreaking, sometimes even too honest, voice of a woman who has lost her best friend, and the reader is invited to mourn along with her, but then also to move on, and to see that the world Hunter S. Thompson has left behind is one that is still worth living, and worth living well.

"Everyone fumbles. What matters is the recovery." - An oft-quoted phrase, said by Hunter S. Thompson. The Gonzo Way is a book that is Anita Thompson's attempt at recovery, and she manages to pull it off with courage, fun and pure honesty.… (mer)

In Ancient gonzo wisdom. Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson, Anita Thompson has collected all interviews given by Hunter S. Thompson. Anita Thompson started working for Hunter S. Thompson as his assistant in 1999, and a four years later they got married. Hunter S. Thompson commited suicide in 2005.

Ancient gonzo wisdom. Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson collects a lot of material. Is encompasses all written and published interviews from magazines, such as Playboy, The Paris Review, and Esquire and the transcripts all all radio interviews. Some of the interviews are long, but there are also many short, or even very short interviews of just one or two pages. The book is a quite cumbersome read, and contains a lot of repetition. Some interviews are almost identical, as interviewers would come up with more of less the same questions, and Thompson provides more or less the same answers.

Hunter S. Thompson expresses several times that he never expected to live to such a high age. When he commited suicide, he was 67 years old. His lifestyle was characterised by recklessness, insanity and the use of drugs, alcohol and violence. Thomson's most famous book, Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs is a fictionalized description of the Hell's Angels. To gather material for this book, Thompson lived and rode with the Angels for a year. Obviously, not just any person would fit into the subculture of the Hell's Angels. The post-humously published, short novel, The Rum Diary describes Thompson's struggling early years as a writer, in a somewhat seedy expat environment. Thompson's life early on was "on the wild side". Still, while classified as belonging to 1960s counter-culture, his work is not affiliated to the Beat Generation.

In 1966, the year Hell's Angels was published, the genre of the non-fiction novel was brand new. The genre came into existence during the preceding decade, while Truman Capote's novel In Cold Blood, published in 1965, is its most well-known example. With Hell's Angels Hunter S. Thompson is identified as having initiated the genre of Gonzo journalism, i.e. the style of news reporting that allows for fictional elements, without the attempt of objectivity.

1965/66 was not the time the Hells Angels emerged, but it was a moment the club achieved notoriety. In fact, at that time, the Hells Angels were not the only organized band, that was characterized by a sub-culture and cult of violence. However, the Hells Angels, through their high degree of organization, and the luck of having been led by a number of smart people, and their ability to tie in with contemporary Beat-culture, outlasted most of the other gangs and clubs.

Ancient gonzo wisdom. Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson makes very clear that Thompson's year with the Hell's Angels was not an under-cover operation. The Angels knew he was a journalist, and they knew he was there to collect materials to write a book about them. Many of the interviews ask about this period in his life and the way the book about the Hell's Angels was written.

In many of the interviews, Hunter S. Thompson's eccentricity is exemplified. Many interviews have a weird opening, at which the interviewers are weird questions, or Thompson ignores the interviewer, does not answer of gives strange answers. From the early 70s, Thompson is addressed as Dr. Thompson; this was after he attained a doctorate from a university. Obviously, later interviews mention or talk about the later books, such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
and Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72, but most interviews return to asking about the book Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs and the origins of Gonzo journalism.

Ancient gonzo wisdom. Interviews with Hunter S. Thompson is interesting as a primary source, to get a lively impression of the madness of Hunter S. Thompson.… (mer)