From Publishers Weekly
When the celebrated iconoclast was a feisty kid working for an English-language newspaper in San Juan 40 years ago, he wrote, and then put aside, a novel, which is here resurrected. It is very much a young man's book, clearly based on Thompson's own situation and some of the peopleAmostly drunks and layaboutsAwho gravitated to a loosely supervised journalistic stint in the tropics. An introduction sets the scene, and the novel that follows is almost equally documentary in tone: young Kemp comes aboard at the News, gets to know its perpetually embattled proprietor and some of his feckless staff. He observes the island, as the invasion of American tourists and values is just beginning to change its lazy, sun-struck character. He gets involved in a drunken fight with the police, is thrown in jail, bailed out and goes in for a little shame-faced PR writing. He comes between a wild colleague and the equally unbuttoned young Connecticut girl he has brought out to visit him, and the end is a youth's easy-won nostalgia for a silly, drunken time. As he always has done, Thompson lays on the drinking and general hell-raising very thick (the amount of rum consumed would dry up a distillery) and indulges flashes of bad temper toward commercialism while always showing a willingness to do whatever it takes to make a buck. His style is less hallucinatory and exclamatory than it later became, but the groundwork is there. The best parts of the book are its occasional, almost grudging, acknowledgments of natural beauty; the people in it are no more than props. Author tour.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Also in my permanent collection.

I've decided to start another bookring with this one.


*User (*Country/*Shipping)

1. stubee (UK/International)
2. TheBowieFollies (USA/International)
3. Sugaryfun (Australia/International)
4. Rrrcaron (USA/International)

The book is on its way home - 23/03/2007

Mailed to stubee yesterday.

Arrived this morning, looking forward to giving this a read. thanks bandaids :o)

I loved it, there is something about Thompson's writting style that just enlightens me. Excellent story, good to follow and I just loved the characters in here.

I've just sent TheBowieFollies a PM for their address so I should be sending this off very shortly.

EDIT: Sent 07th December 2006

alreet! Av got the book the noo aye it looks like a well radge read innit
cheers stubee for the ace card like and bandaids you sunny suverner for lettin mae be a part of the minions...stubee say hullo to me fellar in horwich miss 'im proper me :(

appy crimbo to ye like, promise i wont take yer bike
lorra larfs peace on erth
the sister of mersey
Veronica

SOrry for the delay, I have been going back from continent to continent, life of a rock star(ish)
irreverent, no disenchantments with this Thompson read. To be expected!
The sort of book that if you come back to it in a lustrum, would see it in a whole new perspective good on ya bandaid!!
nice one la!
Im leaving for Scotland Friday so hopefully I can obtain the next stop address otherwise sorry but it will have to be posted in 3 weeks after

cheers
ronnie

this was sent for Ronnie to Australia today via air letter post
cheers!

The book has arrived safe and sound in Australia. I'll start reading it soon.

I've finished the book, and will be posting it off today.

I'd never read any Hunter S. Thompson before, and now I want to track down some of his other books.

I really like the part right at the beginning where he says
"It was the tension between these two poles- a restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other that kept me going".

I received this in the mail yesterday. I have a couple to read before this one, but it won't be long!
Ruth

This was a very entertaining read.I could feel Kemp's fear throughout the read, the fear of where is life was heading in the beginning to the actual fear for his life at the end. I enjoyed this author's style, and will be looking for more of his books in the future. Sending home as soon as I receive an address. Thanks for sharing!
Ruth

The Rum Diary has made it home safely!

Thanks to everyone who took part in this book ring, I hope you all enjoyed it.

I'm planning on wild release next, I'm just not sure where yet...