Surprisingly unlike the diary of Anne Frank, "The Rum Diary" is the story of journalist Paul Kemp's short spell as a journalist at the only English-speaking newspaper in 1950s Puerto-Rico. There is whole lot of drinking. Probably more than is healthy if you want my opinion, which is odd because I've never known Hunter S. Thompson to be anything other than a sober, christian soul.
The only other book I've read by Thompson is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and, I gotta say, I like this one considerably more for several reasons:
1. I have never ingested, nor do I ever plan on ingesting, copious amounts of mescaline, cocaine, and human adrenaline, therefore, I find Fear and Loathing a little difficult to relate to. Granted, I also don't think I've ever had quite as much to drink as many of the characters in the book, but still...
2. This is one of Thompson's first books, written around his twenties, and it feels like he still has something to prove in his writing, which is pretty damn fantastic, by the way.
I ended up really liking The Rum Diary. It was a quick read and had very dynamic characters that were fun to imagine myself interacting with. I also enjoyed the theme that ran throughout the book of feeling trapped somewhere but also not being able to summon the will to leave... kind of finally gave me the energy and willpower to do my laundry, which I'll be doing... tomorrow.
8/10
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