The Rum Diary: The Long Lost Novel

When I informed a friend of mine who had read this book previously that I had ordered it, and was going to read it, his response was, "that book goes nowhere." Up to about halfway through the book, I could not believe his prior sentiment, since I was really enjoying the story, and the general debauchery fueled lifestyle of each character, but then there was an almost sudden drop-off. It just stopped being compelling, and building to anything of substance. While it is infinitely better than the movie, it still didn't do much for me. If you would like to read it, just for the sake of getting more Hunter S. Thompson in your life, by all means, give it a go. Otherwise, I would skip it.

Paul Kemp moves to Puerto Rico for a position with the local paper. He's a drifter, never quite finding a place to put down roots, and though he wishes that San Juan will be different for him, he soon realizes that is not to be. He yearns for the places he hasn't been yet, or has already been; he yearns to be anywhere but where he is at that moment. He hates Old San Juan, he despises Condado, he visits St Thomas and is ready to be quit of it after only one night. He's simply unsatisfied in his life, in his career, in everything. And yet, his opinion of his surroundings and the people he spends time with is quite detached; his hatred is a cold thing, he has no passion and is not spurred to action by his malcontent. The book meanders through Kemp's time in Puerto Rico, his drunken nights and even drunker days, his wild exploits with the paper and the journalists that work there, with no real point to it. The writing is beautiful, with delicious descriptions of the beautiful and the ugly alike, but there is no real tension to keep you riveted on Kemp's story.

A great "fictional" story that hunter writes about a journalist that travels to Puerto Rico to work and gets caught up in the usual HST madness.

Recently, I've been reading Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary. Actually, I'm almost finished with it. Hunter wrote it when he was 22 and it shows, but in the way that a sapling has the blueprint for the whole tree in its little structure. In it, the very Hunter-like protagonist, Paul Kemp, runs around Puerto Rico doing very Hunter-like things, but there's something extra odd in there that isn't in anything else I've read of his. Paul has recently turned 30 and he's realizing how arrogant and cocky he was in his younger years, how he eschewed the plain averageness of middle class suburban life, rebelled against everything and how now that's not what he wants. Something has changed and to the younger invincible self, it feels like death. It feels like the end of an era, the end of some mythological golden age, a stage we all go through and only realize it on the way out the door, when you realize that the "best years of your life" - the time when nothing could destroy us, that anything and everything was possible, when we were bigger than the world, even the universe, up knocking at God's door, absolutely sure we could do it bigger, better, faster, more. And this too, far in the future, I will look on as youthful folly.

Thompson's thinly veiled self-acknowledged portrayal of a journalist - Paul Kemp - who leaves New York to go working for a folding newspaper, the San Juan Daily News - is a largely ignored piece of work. This is largely due to its pre-gonzo style that will alienate most of the fans who have been seduced by his later works - most notably Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. However, there was much more to Thompson's methodical writing than 'gonzo' (see his earlier letters for example). Sure, his influences do include Hemingway, and this is most notable in The Rum Diary, but Thompson manages to capture a boozy, sleazy, sun-soaked world full of typical Thompson creatures. The Rum Diary was actually written in the late 50s - early 60s, however it remained unpublished until the later years when Thompson's name was enough to give it a seal of quality. This is not to say that this novel is just a cash in for Thompson. Reading his letters at the time, he sweated blood to try and get this piece of work published, despite rewriting it many, many times. Also, judging by his letters, he was immensley proud of this book and - as a desperate poverty striken writer without much work - he became disillusioned with publishers and the writing world in general on its lack of success. The novel simmers along at a subtle pace leading to an edgy - and quite shocking - climax at a street festival. Early characteristics of Thompson's style do break through - most notably the drunken madness and brawls that the antagonist gets involved in. "When the sun got hot enough it burned away all the illusions and I saw the place as it was - cheap, sullen, and garish - nothing good was going to happen here."

This is the "lost novel" by Hunter S. Thompson, a book that he started writing in 1959 to make a quick buck. He struggled all through the sixties to get this thing rewritten and published, but because of its quality and Thompson's legendary shakedowns with agents, publishers, and contracts, it died on the vine - until a few years ago. This quasi-fictional account of a New York reporter drifting into a job at the San Juan Daily News is somewhat based on Thompson's experience on the Carribean island in the late 1950. Trying to put Puerto Rico on the literary map like Hemingway did for Paris, he spells out a story of corruption, boredom, and alcohol in a more simple San Juan, before the big booms of the travel booms and technology of the sixties. Paul Kemp, the fictional narrator, describes the coworkers, women, natives, and insane government, riddled with syndicates and kickbacks. The writing here isn't like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - it's more of the Orwell/Mailer/Miller genre, and does a good job of painting memorable scenes of the insanity, camaraderie, poverty, and drunkenness on top of the tropical backdrop. It's not bad stuff, and I wonder if it recently went through heavy rewrites, or if there just wasn't a market for it back in the sixties. Either way, it's a light, fast read at just over 200 pages, and made me wonder if Thompson's other unpublished work would be as satisfying in a trade hardcover. Maybe someday?

Brilliant first novel by the great Doctor of journalism. Funny, immoral, decadent, plenty of alcohol and madness. What else could you expect from HST? Although the main character Paul Kemp is not fully developed and two dimensional, it was a terrific novel. Liked it better than A Sun Also Rises. If you're a fan of HST, then it is your moral duty to read this book!