Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream by Hunter S. Thompson

28 reviews

kristenreids's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

If I hadn’t seen the movie before reading the book I think it’d be a bit hard to navigate. I think it also helps knowing a bit that Hunter S. Thompson is a journalist, and the book is a bit of a fictional amalgamation of his actual life experiences. Otherwise it kinda seems like a bunch of plotless babble. Not for the faint of heart. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Drug use, Rape, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Racial slurs

Minor: Sexual content and Vomit

disco_spider's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Fear and Loathing is a quick read that dumps you into a tempest of “dope culture”. Now that the 70s were fifty years ago the pressing cultural commentary feels lost but still relevant. Thompson seems to be offering an obituary of the 1960s counterculture in America. His own attempts to report on events in Vegas while deeply under the influence of a cacophony of drugs allow him to ironically comment on all that is well - or deeply unwell - with America as it marches into the age of Nixon. 

The book is both disturbing but funny. Uncomfortable yet enticing. It would probably take someone “unhip” like me a couple reads to glean all of the levels of meaning Thompson has weaves throughout his wild tale. The glowing reviews plastered on the cover and in the introduction seem to be missing something now that we are in the 2020s. Younger readers need a bit of context to make this book truly stick. However it has a life of its own and can be appreciated in different seasons of the life of a reader. Teens will find the wild and sinful exploits to be edgy. Young adults may start to appreciate the cultural commentary drenched in irony. More seasoned readers may connect with the deep cynicism and absurdism that life seems to hold around every turn. 

Definitely a wild tale that all American readers should take a stab at if you want to connect with the fallout of the 1960s and why America is what it is today. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Homophobia

Minor: Rape

emadisonc's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run, but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, and Drug use

Moderate: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape

Minor: Body shaming

hxcpanda's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Racial slurs, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Moderate: Racism and Rape

roseknows124's review against another edition

funny lighthearted reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gun violence, Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Rape, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, Violence, Excrement, Vomit, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Suicide attempt, Fire/Fire injury, Cultural appropriation, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

daswampthing's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A drug fueled tear through 1970s Western and Middle America. Fun. A few very dated portions, but overall a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug use

Minor: Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Vomit, and Kidnapping

readylabook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Body shaming, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Murder, Lesbophobia, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

lavinia_speaks's review against another edition

adventurous funny informative medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Hunter Thompson does modern take on Hell.  The wolf was seen in Inferno Cant I.  Translation from https://digitaldante.columbia.edu/dante/divine-comedy/inferno/inferno-1/: “Maladetta sie tu, antica lupa, / che più che tutte l’altre bestie hai preda / per la tua fame sanza fine cupa!” (Cursed be you, ancient wolf, who more than all the other beasts have prey, because of your deep hunger without end! [Purg. 20.10-12])

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, and Sexual harassment

morgcxn's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

1.0

While I'm glad to have finally read this, this was not it at all.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse

Moderate: Rape and Sexism

sarahuwu's review against another edition

dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.25

If this is the American dream, I want no part in it. Thompson comes across as totally unhinged in the worst possible way. As a look into the drug culture of the early 70s, it works almost as a cautionary tale of paranoia, violence, and filth. This book is completely bizarre and probably makes more sense to people who lived through the time it was written than it ever will to me.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse and Drug use

Moderate: Gun violence, Vomit, and Trafficking

Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Violence