- Hardcover: 400 pages
- Publisher: Harcourt; 1 edition (Sep 29 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0151012822
- ISBN-13: 978-0151012824
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.7 x 3.8 cm
- Shipping Weight: 771 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #295,553 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
Steadman, who famously illustrated much of Hunter S. Thompson's work, wasn't along for the legendary ride to Las Vegas, but he was there at the birth of gonzo journalism in 1970, and he was there when Thompson's ashes were blasted out of a cannon in 2005. Here, alongside a generous selection of his drawings, he recounts their shambolic adventures together, from the Kentucky Derby to the Rumble in the Jungle to the Kona Coast. While Steadman's slashing, ink-spattered art seems the perfect embodiment of Thompson's booze- and drug-fueled prose, in temperament he was a foil, a Welshman who hated America, while Thompson, in his excess, was perhaps the quintessential American. Steadman genuinely admires his friend's writing but examines his character with clear-eyed honesty and corrects the record as he sees fit. Given the push-pull of their relationship, one wonders if Steadman--an author in his own right--will write his "own" memoir or if he'll be content to be on the record as the level-headed sidekick of the most mythologized journalist of all time. Funny and--unlike his subject--dry. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
PRAISE FOR "THE JOKE'S OVER"
"Hunter Thompson's marvelously deranged illustrator, Ralph Steadman, gives us a terrific memoir with "The Joke's Over" . . . His testament to Thompson, light on hyperbole, is both fitting and touching."--"New York Post"
"There can be no question that Hunter S. Thompson's pivotal works would not be the same without the accompanying artworks of his partner Ralph Steadman . . . A vivid, well-written paean to Thompson and, by extension, the character of the American rebel."--"The Buffalo News
"
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
"Hunter Thompson's marvelously deranged illustrator, Ralph Steadman, gives us a terrific memoir with "The Joke's Over" . . . His testament to Thompson, light on hyperbole, is both fitting and touching."--"New York Post"
"There can be no question that Hunter S. Thompson's pivotal works would not be the same without the accompanying artworks of his partner Ralph Steadman . . . A vivid, well-written paean to Thompson and, by extension, the character of the American rebel."--"The Buffalo News
"
--This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Insights on a relationship with a great writer but selfish man,
By
This review is from: The Joke's Over: Asper Nights: Ralph Steadman on Hunter S. Thompson (Paperback)
I have yet to read Jann Wenner's oral biography, so Steadman's book is currently my sole reference point.This book will give you a greater understanding of HST and an appreciation of the working relationship between the author and the artist, which ranges from fond collaboration to insecure suspicion. While I do appreciate HST's style, I believe that Steadman's illustrations and input elevated the published works to a higher plane. Imagine if "Hells Angels" were accompanied by artwork... One of the overriding sentiments is that to be liked/loved by HST was to be verbally abused by HST. I had an uncle like this and while the love was there, it did make for a trying relationship. Add guns, addiction, genius and insecurity to the mix and such a relationship takes on whole new dimension. While the book obviously focuses on HST, I liked the stories about Steadman's own endeavours and philosophies. It provided a nice break from substance-fuelled Gonzoic episodes and educated me about the man at the drawing table. In the end, I came away with a diminished view of HST the human (but hey, we're all screwed up in some way) but greatly impressed by Steadman's honest account. Despite all the trials, he remained a true friend to the end and ever after.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (27 customer reviews) 18 of 20 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
An unflinching look at the dear, departed Prince of Gonzo,
By M. Chapman "superedit" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories of GONZO: Hunter S. Thompson and Me (Hardcover)
Artist Ralph Steadman worked with commando journalist Hunter Thompson for over 30 years, and this wonderful book details the high-wire act that working with "The Doktor" truly was. This book debunks Thompson's insecure bellowing that "Steadman can't write". Write he does, and he does it well. Steadman's account of his on-again, off-again, love/hate relationship with the most savage, visceral American writer of our time reads like the diary of a marriage -- which indeed it resembled. Thompson as a person was capable of treachery, petty jealousy, sloth, narsicism, depression, violence, and occasionally, sentimentality and great affection. It's clear that Thompson's writing career was boosted by Steadman's illustrations, and that on occasion Thompson resented it, wanting to be remembered as a serious writer in the style of Hemingway or Faulkner, not a drug-swilling, epithet-spewing cartoon character.Through it all, Steadman serves as the perpetual straight man (although with a wicked touch of Peck's Bad Boy and a horror of American politics and excess), forgiving his friend's moods and abuse, but never forgetting. It's clear that they had some wonderful adventures and times together, and though Steadman's ambivalence towards his friend in later life is obvious, it remains the most honest portrait yet of the dear, departed Prince of Gonzo, and also of the man who describes himself as Thompson's "Sancho Panza." A must for Thompson and Steadman fans alike. 6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Ralph's Take on Hunter,
By William Rieger "wjrzagfan" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories of GONZO: Hunter S. Thompson and Me (Hardcover)
There are passages in this volume which will cause your heart to weep. Steadman is no slouch with the written word. His recounting of the Kentucky Derby episode had me LOL. When he does address the dark side of his departed friend, you feel as though there's no axe to grind, merely an attempt to set the record straight.If you've been drawn to HST's work over the years, then this effort by Steadman should take its rightful place on the bookshelf next to Thompson's works. Part memoir, part elegy, it gives another insight into the "bad craziness" that made Hunter S. Thompson tick. 5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
About the father of "Gonzo Journalism",
By Armchair Interviews - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Joke's Over: Bruised Memories of GONZO: Hunter S. Thompson and Me (Hardcover)
Few people knew Hunter S. Thompson as well as Ralph Steadman did. Over thirty-five years, they collaborated on articles for Rolling Stone (including the counterculture phenom, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), and documenting the stories that shaped America from the 70s to the 90s, including events as diverse as The Kentucky Derby, Watergate and the Foreman/Ali fight. Their collaboration gave birth to "Gonzo Journalism*."In this memoir, Steadman recounts a turbulent and wild working relationship and friendship with Thompson--both the fun and games as well as the paranoia and betrayals. It's a wild ride. Steadman's casual prose style captures the voice of the chaos that whirled around Hunter Thompson. And he doesn't hold back--his prose, like his drawing style, is raw and vivid. There is, as would be expected, lots of bad behavior in this book. Thompson was a guy who never expected to live beyond the age of 30--that he waited 67 years before killing himself with a shotgun was surprising, even to his closest friends. So he lived without a future, in a way, or at least without considering it: drugs, alcohol, guns, women--and his writing, which in many ways seemed to be as much a vice as the rest. The book is strongest when using text from the actual letters, faxes and answering machine messages that punctuated Steadman and Thompson's relationship, and Steadman's drawings help to make Gonzo real, even to someone not at all familiar with his or Thompson's work. Steadman himself admits he is a better artist than writer, but, in true Gonzo style, he makes up for that by immersing himself, and us, into the actual world. You have to be careful, though, if you are the type of person who wouldn't want to get lured into admiring Thompson and his dark lifestyle of wanton carousing. As Steadman says toward the end of the book, "Gonzo is a strange kind of magic that appeals to the beast that lurks in the dark heart of most of us." That magic comes through in Steadman's book. (* According to Wikipedia, "Gonzo Journalism" is a style of reporting that mixes fiction and factual journalism. This highly subjective style often includes the reporter via a first-person narrative.) |
|
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
