Gonzo

Starred review from December 31, 2007
Uproarious and unpredictable, this oral biography is a fitting look at the turbulent life of Gonzo journalism pioneer Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005), a life surrounded by many but understood by few: “always pushing,†Thompson “created a kind of inner circle of people who stood the test.†That circle is well represented among the volume's many “voices,†including ex-wife Sandy Thompson and their son, Juan; longtime collaborator Ralph Steadman; actors Johnny Depp and Jack Nicholson; and old friends Porter Bibb and Ed Bastian. The storytellers provide a great number of angles, bringing forth insight that goes well beyond Thompson's famous love for alcohol and drugs—though they don't neglect the intoxicants, nor the eccentric writer's most obvious quirks (such as his indiscriminate verbal outbursts: “he was always yelling at himself, like 'AAHHH!!! CAZART!!!' â€). A rich, rollicking vision of Thompson that highlights his outlandish personality and passion for language (“He started typing out Fitzgerald and Hemingway books word for word… he said, 'I just like to get the feel of how it is to write those words.' â€), Wenner and Seymour's work also encompasses the unlikely transition of Gonzo from radical, reactionary style du jour to culture-defining literature: “Only a handful of writers in a generation can pull that off, and Hunter transcended his competition.†This fine, fond biography amuses, inspires, outrages and haunts at all the right moments—and sometimes all at once.

November 1, 2007
The difference between "The Gonzo Way: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson", Anita Thompson's 112-page sketch of her late gonzo journalist husband, and this 512-page biography by Wenner (founder, "Rolling Stone") and Seymour, Hunter S. Thompson's former assistant, is mainly that one is written by a disciple-turned-wife who knew her drug-damaged subject only for the last few years of his life, while the other is by 100 wonderfully varied friends and equals, some of whom knew Thompson since their childhood together in Louisville, KY. The contributors to Wenner and Seymour's comparatively more measured and convincing study make a lively mosaic of modern American life: they include, e.g., President Jimmy Carter; novelist Tom Wolfe; Hunter S. Thompson's son with his first wife, Juan; illustrator/Thompson collaborator Ralph Steadman; the late TV correspondent Ed Bradley; and actor Johnny Depp, who wrote the introduction. But they also include myriad other, less famous but equally articulate friends and associates who here share their own takes on Thompson. A full, complete picture of this complex countercultural hero; highly recommended for all large public libraries, even those already having their share of volumes by and about Thompson.Charles C. Nash, formerly with Cottey Coll., Nevada, MO

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from November 1, 2007
GivenThompsons penchant for epic conversations, an oral biography is the perfect form for conveying his literary genius, on-the-edge life, and complicated relationship with the truth. Not to mention his passion for women, ardor for firearms, and tall-tale capacity for alcohol and drugs. This singularly well-shaped collection ofcandid reminiscencesfrom more than100 witnesses to Thompson at his finest and worst, from his Louisville, Kentucky, boyhood to his suicide in 2005 at 67, forms apenetrating, sharply emotional portrait of a brilliantwriter at loose inAmerica during a time of genuine if messysoul-searching. Rolling Stone founder and owner Wenner was Thompsonseditorfor 35 years, and his descriptions of Thompsonsall-night, high-alert writing methodology add new dimension to the term gonzo. With particularly illuminating contributions from Doug Brinkley, literary executor of Thompsons estate; Johnny Depp, who portrayed Thompson in the movie version of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; writer and friend William Kennedy; Thompsons long-suffering wife; and many other notables, Wenner and coeditor Seymour have exploded the Thompson caricature to reclaim the man in all his empathic volatility and the writer whose original and ferociously smart and funny works will forever spike the American canon.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)