Humans are a strange race. It's part of our nature to seek out the abject, absurd or vicious, seeking to inflict harm on ourselves in the name of a good time.
Hunter S. Thompson was, for decades, the spokesperson for this side of human nature, as well as the chief representative of the dark underbelly of the American collective consciousness. The way he portrayed himself to the public was pure id, unaware or unconcerned with consequence or reason - a self-proclaimed freak and dope-fiend.
What Americans often fail to recognize in their public figures is the schism that separates the person's public life from their private life. Set out in its introduction, one of the explicit goals of The Kitchen Readings: Untold Stories of Hunter S. Thompson,"" according to Michael Cleverly and Bob Braudis (Thompson's biographers and friends), is to show the public ""the real Hunter, the private Hunter.""
Although Thompson is without a doubt an unusual person, the fact that Cleverly and Braudis set out to tear down his carefully erected public fasade shows that the poignancy of Thompson's legacy has been entirely lost on them.
Thompson's character, sometimes called Raoul Duke, is prototypical anti-journalist, refusing to adhere to even the most foundational conventions of the trade. In Cleverly and Braudis' attempts to humanize the man, they have created a piece of work that is entirely without merit or substance because it stands in opposition to everything Thompson accomplished.
Hunter Thompson the public figure was never meant to be humanized, because the Hunter Thompson that exists in literature isn't human. He is a dark cloud of gratuitous violence and illicit narcotics who not only survives his self-destructive behavior, but manages to produce some of the most compelling social and political commentary of his era.
The private Thompson was colorful as well, with the exception that he is a well-known and successful journalist. The ""real life"" stories in the book range from engaging recollections of Thompson on assignment (many of which are told with much more flair by Thompson himself in ""Kingdom of Fear"") to voyeuristic, tabloid-worthy yarns about Thompson's decline in health, his death and funeral.
The story about Thompson's spinal surgery is one of the book's most despicable. Titled ""Sheriff Bob Relates Fun and Games at the Vail Clinic,"" it is the literary equivalent of watching someone you respect be horribly maimed.
Regardless of any particular fault or merit of the book, the fact that ""The Kitchen Readings"" was ever published betrays one of the darker facts about celebrity. Bob Braudis and Michael Cleverly are clearly cashing in on their dead friend's popularity. Although the two clearly had affection for Thompson and were shaken by his sudden suicide, that is no excuse for prostituting Hunter Thompson's legacy for their own personal gain.
Their stories about the events surrounding Thompson's death and funeral could have been a touching homage to their late friend, had they been distributed to Thompson's other close friends. But, when published and sold at bookstores across the country for $13.95, they are the musings of two unremarkable, money-grubbing sycophants. More than likely, the book will sell fairly well, the reason being that the photograph on the cover is not that of the authors.
