The Joke's Over
by Ralph Steadman
Published by Harcourt
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Reviewed by Michele Heather Pollock
Subtitled: Ralph Steadman on Hunter S. Thompson
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.)
Armchair Interviews says: A close look at a fascinating and turbulent life.
Author's Web site:
http://www.ralphsteadman.com