Book Review - Five Stars
Stories I Tell Myself by Juan F. Thompson
This book review is somewhat disjointed because Hunter Thompson and his entire family were totally and continually blitzed out on high times dope.
When Hunter J. Thompson was buzzed in the 1970’s, and when the world was deeply divided, disillusioned, and dropping out was a way of life for those that could, my wife and I made a very timely escape. We were having the time of our lives living aboard our home built 46-foot dream boat Dursmirg, going where the wind blew, when the spirit moved us, and the price was right.
At that time Florida had four notorious anchorages where like minded boaters congregated, St. Augustine, Miami/Dinner Key/Coconut Grove, Marathon/Boot Key and Key West. Our friend Nira used to claim; “There are so many junkies in Monroe County (the Florida Keys), that you could become one by osmosis”
This
is where we encountered Hunter J. Thompson, the drug fiend and
mischief-maker. One Sunday evening a group of Bubba Schill’s
friends gathered aboard his old Nova Scotia sailing schooner for his
weekly one pot eating extravaganza. We were among them laughing,
joking, and enjoying being down in the
Florida Keys… As usual
it was a boisterous happy group. Suddenly there hanging on the gunnel
of the sailboat was this strange dripping wet person wearing diving
goggles. This person finally got our attention, and he exclaimed; “I
screamed, hollered, and nobody would come and get me so I swam out.”
This was the notorious Hunter J. Thompson!
I might add here; neither my wife Jane or I used any mind altering drugs except alcohol.
Read the book. It is a real peek into the real world of that day and time, both enlightening and tragic.
EXCERPTS:
He was portrayed as such by Bill Murray in the 1980 movie Where the Buffalo Roam. In 1998 Terry Gilliam directed Johnny Depp in a film adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which, though it did capture more of the complexities of the book, still presented Hunter primarily as a drug fiend and mischief-maker. Which he was. He was an alcoholic, drug addict, and a hell-raiser, but he was also a brilliant writer and craftsman of the language, facts that are still overshadowed by his Wild Man persona. This is the persona most people think of when they hear the name Hunter S. Thompson, if they know the name at all. And that is a shame. He was first and always a writer in the best and highest sense of the iconoclast, more buffoon than satirist. He was portrayed as such by Bill Murray in the 1980 movie Where the Buffalo Roam.
In 1998 Terry Gilliam directed Johnny Depp in a film adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which, though it did capture more of the complexities of the book, still presented Hunter primarily as a drug fiend and mischief-maker.
Which he was. He was an alcoholic, drug addict, and a hell-raiser, but he was also a brilliant writer and craftsman of the language, facts that are still overshadowed by his Wild Man persona. This is the persona most people think of when they hear the name Hunter S. Thompson, if they know the name at all. And that is a shame.
The fact that at fourteen I was taking acid, and worse, that my mother was actively supporting it. I also remember hearing that someone once asked Hunter at a lecture how he would react if he found out his son had taken acid. He responded, “I’d beat the shit out of him.” I did not talk to Hunter about my drug use then or in fact ever. And he never asked. He didn’t want to know.
For all the progress we had made over the past eight or nine years, our relationship was still filled with tension and I was exceedingly wary of him. Though I didn’t hate him any longer, I was still angry with him for being so difficult, unpredictable, volatile, unreasonable, and selfish. He was often such a bastard.
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