Monday 7 November 2011

The Rum Diary

I was drawn to read The Rum Diary because for one I knew it was Johnny Depp's next film and secondly I thought it was going to be about pirates.  I was a bit disappointed to find out otherwise but I was also excited to see it was a Hunter S. Thompson book as although I have never read Fear and Loathing I did greatly enjoy the film and not just because it has Mr Depp in it.

I wanted to read the book before the film was released and so I have done.  I finished the book yesterday morning and the film comes out in five days time.  I didn't love the book nearly as much as I thought I would though but as a journalism student I found the book interesting on that basis.

As mentioned above the author is Hunter S. Thompson - he's an interesting character to say the least and a pretty famous journalist because of it. He is thought to be the creator of 'gonzo' journalism - a form of journalism where the author involves themselves so much in the story that they become a central figure in the story.  This is also the style in which his books are wrote.

Having watched Fear and Loathing I read most of the book hearing Depp's voice tell the story - which made it pretty enjoyable. It would be interesting to see if others have experienced this whilst reading Thompson books after having seen Fear and Loathing.  I'm going to watch some interviews with Thompson later to see if the voice Depp does in Fear and Loathing is anything like Thompson's.


"Thompson almost always wrote in the first person, while extensively using his own experiences and emotions to color "the story" he was trying to follow. His writing aimed to be humorous, colorful and bizarre, and he often exaggerated events to be more entertaining".

I really enjoy Thompson's writing style but being honest I didn't find the book that exciting or entertaining.  To quickly summarise the novel I would say it is a twisted love story mixed with a lot of alcohol and partying in the Caribbean, all with journalistic work going on in the background.  I wouldn't call it a bad book it just didn't captivate me as much as I thought it would.  I hope to read Fear and Loathing in the next couple of months so I will be able to talk more of Thompson's writing style then.

I am still looking forward to seeing The Rum Diary the film as I have a feeling the book may translate better in film but so far I have heard mixed reviews.  So I will just need to see, once I've seen the film I'll blog and say what I thought of it.



Judging from the trailer I think the book is definitely going to translate better in film.  So excited to see it and not just because it's Depp.

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