Copy: The Observer, January 2013
>> When I was choosing my books of 2013, my heart sunk a little when I found that Sid Lowe’s chronicle of Spanish football – a story I’m very much looking forward to reading – will be called Fear And Loathing In La Liga. The overuse of Hunter S Thompson’s most famous headline is depressingly unimaginative – even when used in the context of the “gonzo journalist” himself.
Which brings me on To Fear And Loathing At Rolling Stone, a collection of Thompson’s work for the famous American magazine at which he made his name. Reviewing it for The Observer this week crystallised all my doubts about his uneven output – it’s actually quite a gruelling, even irritating, read. Thompson was unique, and by goodness didn’t he know it.
Still, when this hyperactive writer found himself at the heart of an intriguing story and took the time and care to write about it properly, he was peerless.
Can’t bear the Terry Gilliam film, though.
Click here to read the full review of Fear And Loathing At Rolling Stone in The Observer
