Screwjack: A Short Story

I love this little book. People who measure their literature by the pound may complain about this one, but fans of Thompson will whip right through it. SCREWJACK was first published privately in 1991, and has been spawning rumors ever since. Only one of its essays, a 1969 account of Thompson's first mescaline trip written in real time, was previously published elsewhere. As well as being an incredible piece in that you can actually see him writing himself through the freakout and emerging on top, "Mescalito" perfectly crystallizes the life of a freelance writer (some of us, anyway): " ... [H]alf drunk full of pills and grass with deadlines past and people howling in New York ... the pressure piles up like a hang-fire lightning ball in the brain. Tired and wiggy from no sleep or at least not enough. Living on pills, phone calls unmade, people unseen, pages unwritten, money unmade, pressure piling up all around to make some kind of breakthrough and get moving again." SCREWJACK also includes the tale of a psychotic friend who killed himself in front of the author after making a disastrous bet on a football game, and the title story, a demented love scene between Thompson's crazier alter-ego Raoul Duke and a huge black tomcat, reminiscent of some mad cross between Mikhail Bulgakov and Dennis Cooper. (A version of this review was originally published in the New Orleans Times-Picayune.)

For those of you who wrote that the price of the book was outrageous should have looked and seen that the book is short. It is a collection of three SHORT stories. Peronsally, I adored the book, all three stories, and was just happy that Screwjack was released. The third story, and title of the book, was such an amusing story I even named my cat Mr. Screwjack. However, I can assure you his and I's relationship is a little less intense.

I rode my motorcycle 20 miles in a light rain to eat breakfast in a cafe on the California coast with this small book stuffed into my worn leather jacket's inner pocket. I will never forget the look into Hunter S Thompson's psyche that this great little book provides for the reader. His words are especially powerful in "Mescalito" the author's first experience with Mesculine. His words as well as his train of thought become more and more garbled as he experiences the first of many wild rides that have become the wonderful although sometimes controversial subject matter for many of Thompson's writings. This is a great taste of Hunter S Thompson, for someone discovering or re-discovering his writing.

Some reviewers were unjustifiably harsh in their comments in regards to Screwjack. While all are entitled to their own opinion, it would seem that those with a blast of negativity were searching for some pseudo-Fear and Loathing II. While HST did write extensively on over-indulgence, he shouldn't be labled only as the writer of an around-the-bend drug odyssey. Thompson is in fact a fine craftsman of language, which is prominatly displayed in Screwjack. Each story imbibes a surreal experience. More like twisted fairy tales than short stories. Screwjack itself is my personal favorite piece. It has a poetic flow and almost a sing-song rhythm. Reading Screwjack reminds me of strange dreams an blurry memories. Certainly something to check out.

This is a great quick read... you'll finish it in 25 minutes. It is a complete success at what it attempts. I read it last night at Borders and loved it (I'm a big Thompson fan). My girlfriend, who's unfamiliar was startled by it, and wondered what I saw in it. The bottom line is that this is a very difficult book to write... read it and you'll understand. I'm a copywriter and I couldn't write this... check it out.