"The Curse of Lono" made me laugh so hard that tears filled my eyes. Hunter S. Thompson was paid to cover a marathon race by Rolling Stone or some other magazine. While the race is the usual bore, the antics of the journalist are not. Having drunk gallons of beer and liquor and consumed various illegal drugs, Thompson and his traveling companion sit at the edge of the race and jeer on the racers. "He fatso. What's wrong? That hill is too steep for you?"

Flying on a jumbo jet to the race in Hawaii Thompson gets his arm stuck in a chemical toilet. He put his hand down there because his marijuana, cocaine, or whatever falls into the toilet bowl. When he comes out of the head his arm and his shirt and stained bright blue. The airliner's crew know at once what has happened.

The funniest part of the book to me is what happens when Thompson goes fishing. The captain of the boat drinks a quart of vodka and then takes some mescaline or some other hallucinogenic drug. A the boat bobs precariously close to the cliffs along the island the captain lets go of the anchor line and it falls overboard. The captain then dons scuba gear in his tripping, hallucinating state and dives overboard to retrieve it. As Hunter S. Thompson puts it, "No self-respecting captain would return to port without his anchor" for fear of being laughed at.

All of this talk of drugs and drink might be pathetic or sad if it was not handled properly. But Thompson is the founder-and maybe only participant in-the style of writing and journalism that he calls "gonzo journalism". His style is truly unique. I became convinced of his genius after reading "Fear and Lothing in Las Vegas", another drunken, stoned adventure tale and a memoir that he wrote in "The New Yorker" magazine. His New Yorker article deviating from his usual tone-perhaps owing to it's presence in that hallowed forum--was a well-written and very interesting look at his days living in Puerto Rico as a journalist. I think his books on presidential politics are less interesting than these two books. I haven't yet read "Hells Angels" but plan to do so.


Samoans, Claudes, and dope fiends, ye Gods!   November 28, 2005
 11 out of 16 found this review helpful

In 1779, Capt. James Cook, a British Explorer, stopped by the Hawaiian Islands to repair his ship and gather a few supplies. He was promptly clubbed, slaughtered, and as legend has it, eaten by a vicious tribe of islanders. Nearly two hundred years later, a world famous drug crazed journalist attempts to make the same journey in between battling the forces of nature, blowing things up, and covering a running marathon. And then later things get ugly. Now consider that this story (shaggy dog though it may be) is mostly nonfiction, and the incentive for running your greasy mitts through its pages becomes clear, though be warned that it may fade as you dive deeper into this newly reprinted, strange and terrible adventure.

Since this is a sequel of sorts to previous Gonzo sagas, perhaps it is expected that family and friends are presented as characters in it. While this might sound appealing and like a good opportunity to push some character development in, it serves more as an anchor to reality that drives a rift between the myth and man of Hunter S. Thompson more than anything else. For example, Ralph Steadman, the surrealistic illustrator of many of Thompson's works may work well as the frumpy comic relief, but on occasion he would say something that struck me as a little too wild, or not typical of an admittedly boring individual. It's not so much that I can't believe a well mannered character wouldn't overact after a string of stressful scenarios, but when he does he does it using signature vulgarities I'm already familiar with having read them in past books by the same author. This presents a fascinating look into an author's writing process as I can now see how he gauges himself in adding his own words when quoting others, but it also pulls me out of the story. In any case, this will only be a problem to those who have read books or articles by Steadman; otherwise you'll have no reason to believe anyone is putting anything into his mouth.

Even if Ralph Steadman doesn't always work as a character, as an artist he does well enough. With many drawings, I had to seriously restrain myself from taking an axe to them and then impaling them onto my wall, while others I would hardly consider worthy to be scribbled on a soiled dinner napkin. Unlike most other Thompson/Steadman collaborations, the illustrations in Curse of Lono are colored, and beautifully so. There is a wonderful contrast in many of the drawings between simple ink designs, and then fantastic, vibrant, and multi-hued colors with the occasional undertones of violence. They are a great compliment to Thompson's writing.

And compliments it needed since this work was admittedly written just for the money, and the lack of inspiration was overbearing for the seasoned reader of The Good Doctor. In past novels and material I believed the craziness of the characters and the language they used with the utmost ease and decadence, but this time around it looks like the same colorfully apocalyptic dialogue has been rehashed and injected into characters that were probably meeker than the author would like you to think. There's no actual evidence to support my claim, just an overall gut feeling that the author was putting more than a few lines into his own words. But even so there are also the excerpts from history books about the Last Voyage of Capt. Cook. I enjoyed reading these, but the manner in which they were cut and paste from their source and into this book struck me as a lazy way to integrate some history into the main story. Hunter makes the relevance of these articles clear later, but I still think I would have enjoyed it better had I gotten a look into what made the story of an old sea captain interesting to him in the first place.

But none of this is to say I didn't enjoy the book, just that its flaws are going to be more memorable than the standard HST fare writing to the Gonzo Diehard. If you haven't read a Thompson book before, dive right in and enjoy the warm water...which is actually a mix of LSD and Wild Goose liquor. And don't worry about the thing brushing against your leg since; it's probably just a marine iguana. Hunter's writing is bizarre beyond description, and is so visceral you'll know if you like it within a few pages. The first time reader will no doubt embrace the entire psychedelic experience with joy and then puzzlement as to why some bathroom floor piss soaked douche box only gave it three out of five stars on Amazon. I will maintain that Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is probably a better starting place for anyone looking to try this writer out, I consider it the definitive HST book, but there is great fun, learning, and more than a couple audible laughs to be had here. Buy the ticket, take the ride...or at least flip through it in a Barnes and Noble. You cheap swine.



Best description of marathon madness I have ever read.   June 23, 1998
 9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Prior to reading this book, I had dismissed the author as someone who just got loaded and made up a bunch of stuff. However, the first few chapters of Lono represent the best description of marathon madness of those times that I have ever read (I finished 6th place at the 1983 Honolulu Marathon). His insightfulness into carbo-loading parties and the running divorce lead me to believe that he first did his research sober and then crawled off to finish the book.It has given me a lot of new respect for Gonzo Journalism.And Steadman's manic drawings of a perfect match.


Hawaii Will Never Be the Same   July 5, 2002
 8 out of 11 found this review helpful

Hunter is the creator and king of gonzo journalism. Here is a quote from Thompson about what Gonzo journalism is:"My idea was to buy a fat notebook and record the whole thing as it happened, then send in the notebook for publication-- without editing. That way, I felt the eye and mind of the journalist would be functioning as a camera. The writing would be selective and necessarily interpretive - but once the image was written, the words would be final; in the same way that a Cartier-Bresson photograph is always (he says) the full-frame negative. No alterations in the darkroom, no cutting or cropping, no spotting . . . no editing.

This is a good book, full of funny moments and hard to believe stories. There is no slow build up or filler in the middle. The book grabs you from the beginning with the author's stories and keeps you laughing until the end.

This might not be a good first book to start with. Hunter's style and actions may be hard for some to read without getting offended. Sometimes Hunter will wander into side tangents before getting back on track with what is currently going on; this may annoy some people. I recommend starting with "Hells Angels" or "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" before paying the extra bucks for this out of print book.


Taschen Beautifies a Masterpiece   June 1, 2005
 6 out of 11 found this review helpful

Today I received my copies (I bought a few for investment purposes) of the Taschen reprint of Curse of Lono. Wow. It is worth every penny of the $300. Big, bright, heavy, in a word, beautiful. Good luck finding one if you didn't preorder!

Fifteen years ago, in a used book store in Wisconsin, I picked up my first Thompson book - The Curse of Lono. I read it by flashlight in a cabin in the Northwoods, laughing so hard I woke up my bunkmates. The copy eventually disintegrated (like most of the original paperback first eds), and I bought two more as I found them in other secondhand stores. That led to a search for other out of print titles from the good Doktor. Suddenly, I find myself a collector with a few Screwjacks, a nearly full set of firsts, and some oddities signed along the way.

Sad indeed, then, that Hunter chose to end his life mere days after signing these editions at the prodding of his old pal and collaborator Ralph Steadman. An unhappy coda to my collection, and a tragic end to a great American life.

YAWP!