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You need look no further for this writer's best: this collection of pieces, first published in 1979, spans all of Thompson's primo era, including short pieces and selections from longer works. The Great Shark Hunt sports a few articles filed by a pre-Gonzo Hunter S. Thompson, which show flickers of passion but no real fire; the first experiments with the author's drug-fueled brand of journalism at the Kentucky Derby; and finally the gigs that made him an American institution, in Las Vegas and on the 1972 campaign trail.
Thompson's style is so unique that a reader is tempted to think that he leapt, fully formed, into Gonzohood. However, along with the crazy, careening prose itself, one of the auxiliary pleasures of The Great Shark Hunt is the map that it gives of Thompson's ascent (or descent, if you prefer) from the workaday hyperbole of sports writing to the hell-blast vigor of his later work. The drugs are, by and large, a distraction--lifestyle points that get in the way of the genuinely perceptive journalism that Thompson created. (But they are there, always, and in quantity.) If you're looking for insight into the underbelly of America, Hunter S. Thompson is your best and only guide, and The Great Shark Hunt is an excellent place to begin the grim safari. --Michael Gerber --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of life's greatest authors,
By J.T. Waterhouse (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time (Paperback)
Merely the latest in the long line of exceptionally talented goons who, because they are totally incompatiable with society and thus have been kicked out, are the only ones truly capable of writing about our society. Lucretius, Juvenal, Chaucer, Swift... the list is endless. The Great Shark Hunt is possibly the finest compendium of satire by a modern author, because, let's face it, proper Gonzo literature is fiction, and apparently that is the best way to tell the truth. Furthermore, it is journalism of the highest quality, that seems to relate an eyewitness account in the most hair-raising manner, and whose level of grammatical perfection is matched by few. That Thompson has gone over the top in attempting to outrage as many people as possible, is undeniable, but this collection reflects a time when such behaviour was outrageous; maybe now we are indifferent, but The Great Shark Hunt should still be an inspiraton to us all. If you enjoyed "Katzenjammer: Soon to be a major motion picture" (Mccrae)or the novel "Get Shorty," then Thompson will be right up your alley. Great stuff. Finally, someone who "understands."
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Bible of Gonzo.,
By Beeblebrox (United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Great Shark Hunt (Paperback)
Here's one book which collects, in scores of stories and articles spanning a few hundred pages, every facet of Hunter S. Thompson's career, in which he seamlessly transitioned from staid Air Force newspaper writer to roaming correspondent for the now-defunct _National Observer_ to edgy compatriot of the Hell's Angels to full-bore, drug-addled gonzo journalist. And everything inbetween, to boot.Nowhere else is the richness of Thompson's talent so fully illustrated than in _Shark Hunt_. Here, in "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved," a chronicle of the yearly madness in Thompson's hometown of Louisville, the reader experiences the earliest rumblings of what would later become a totally unique journalistic style that he further developed in "Fear and Loathing at the Super Bowl," also found here. We are also treated to assorted dispatches from Thompson's travels throughout North and South America, written when he was a roaming correspondent for Dow Jones' _National Observer._ Here the true skill and power of Thompson's writing becomes apparent -- an observation both powerful and poignant when these writings are compared to his later works, making it clear that the drugs have indeed taken their toll on his remarkable mind. For the new Gonzoist, excerpts are included from _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas_ as well as _Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72._ Through not very useful if you own these books already, they still make for fun bathroom reading. Also included are most, if not all, of Thompson's articles for "Rolling Stone" about the Watergate scandal and Nixon's resignation -- truly rollicking political tales full of savage grace and fiendish wit. Sadly lacking are Ralph Steadman's original drawings which accompanied the stories in RS. There's more, too: stories about the "Brown Power" revolts in Los Angeles in the late 1960s; tales of Oscar Acosta, Thompson's mysterious Mexican-American lawyer friend who was the model for the "300-pound Samoan lawyer" in _Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; Thompson's experiences in Muhammad Ali's training camp; his bizarre times with Jean-Claude Killy and O.J. Simpson as they travel through America hucking Chevrolets at auto shows in the early 1970s. These are indeed strange tales from a strange time. Buy this book.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Essential HST,
By Mark Milner (Ontario) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Great Shark Hunt: Strange Tales from a Strange Time (Paperback)
This is truely the most Essential Collection of HST's work. From his early experiments in Gonzo (Hell's Angels, Kentucky Durby), to Fear and Loathing across the USA to wild adventures in South America, this book almost has it all... In fact, the only real downside is the lack of Ralph Steadman's art that accompanied some of the original works...
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