A bit of the best, a bit of the... not best.

Here's the thing about this book. As the cover says, the text of Hey Rube is taken from Thompson's contributions to the ESPN.com Sports Desk, beginning in 2001. You can still read many of the pages on ESPN's site. By this point, Thompson had more or less run out of gas. In Hey Rube, you can expect a lot of... a lot of... a lot of football.

But because it's HST, you can also expect a lot of politics, whenever he can find a way to sneak it in. Because the majority of these pieces are written in the immediate wake of 9/11, negotiating football into talk of politics is a gimme. Be prepared to encounter some of Hunter's finest writing in the entry from 9/12/01. It's the culmination of a lifetime of work among the American political machine and the endless series of wars that was the twentieth century. Most of the observations he makes about the war resulting from the attacks on 9/11... were dead on. That said, if you're not a Thompson die-hard, watch the first ten minutes of the recent documentary 'Gonzo,' and you'll get the best of it. Read infinitely better. Otherwise, if you can wade through endless news clips of football, football, football, you'll find a few magnificent moments.

Okay. That's the text itself. The actual reading is a completely different matter, and I still can't believe I made it through. Let's get one thing straight: even at his least inspired, Hunter's a consummate craftsman. His language is as full of nuance and personality as the words can possibly hold. So why they chose this particular reader is beyond me. And what's even more beyond my ken is why this guy is reading the majority of the HST audiobooks here! It seems to me Sowers either knew nothing about Thompson or his work, or the director of these audio recordings didn't give a rat's ass (can I say that?) how they turned out. Sowers doesn't read, he yells in a grating monotone. It's either a Monday Night Football preview, or a day in boot camp, and it just doesn't work.


Short version: if you're into Thompson's work to the extent that you need this one, just buy the text and read it. If you're looking for a great listen that'll educate you about all things HST in one of the greatest audiobook readings of all time, check out Fear & Loathing at Rolling Stone. It's absolutely magnificent, completely addicting. If the rest of Thompson's work were handled with as much love & care as Phil Gigante gave to reading (& obviously researching) the RS work, we'd be very fortunate indeed.

6 people found this helpful

Great Work Ruined by a Narrator

Awesome collection of HST's work for espn, ruined by the worst narrator on Audible. His voice is just horrid. The guy seems coked out of his mind and super aggressive, even when that time is not called for. Sounds like a little fella trying waaaay to hard. Waste of a credit, stay far away from this one. It is misleading as well, someone else starts out reading the intro and forward, then this fool takes over at chapter one and sinks the ship.

1 person found this helpful

Drunken rantings

Drunken rantings of an abusive backwoods hillbilly. Hunter S Thompson fans must read this book.

2 people found this helpful

Great

If you could sum up Hey Rube in three words, what would they be?

Hunter Kicks Butt !!!

Who was your favorite character and why?

N/A

Which character – as performed by Scott Sowers – was your favorite?

Hunter of Course

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Definately awaken the sheeple in me..

Any additional comments?

I wish I would have paid more attention to Hunter a long time ago when I was getting Rolling Stone, I caught Ralph's drawings but was too young and silly to realize Hunter's Depth... Don't know how I missed it... but Extremely glad I am reading him now !!!

2 people found this helpful

Thompson at his best

Having been born in 97’ it’s hard at times to relate to certain aspects of his work. Yet this is one that I’ll remember forever because everyone mentioned in it affected my life and in some cases still does. Great book and a great look into early 2000’s America from the last great Gonzo American author.

it may start a slow but it gets crazy good

whenever I first learned of Hunter Thompson I thought that he was a schizophrenic threat to himself and the world, now I read the books and I laugh and I smile and I realized that he is a pure soul that love to write and love to be loved. I love Hunter Thompson, tell Thomson!
Rest easy

Only Glimpses of Hunter's wit show through.

Book is as advertised, Hunter giving sports briefs and only occasionally delving into politicat commentary.

always satisfying

Who doesn't occasionally need to listen to the ravings of a drug addled, degenerate gambler? It makes it even better that H.S.T is mind boggling brilliant.

The Doctor Was Apparently Mailing It In With ESPN

Looks like Thompson was just stealing from ESPN if this is the "best of". Not that I mind seeing ESPN get fleeced. Hunter had gone from cutting edge to a star struck (Hollywood/pro athlete) groupie who was just trying too hard to recapture that edge. Oh well.

Hey Rube, buy this book!

I saw the movie, "Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas". Therefore, I should have known better than to get this book. Why Hunter Thompson or his written rants are, apparently, held in high literary esteem, begs understanding. I have encountered and worked to help quite a few addicts get clean and sober, over the years. Addicts/alcoholics as writers, while still "using", tend not to be very good. There have been exceptions, of course. But not here. In general, before they get into recovery (if they ever do), what addicts have to say to the rest of us, via whatever media they employ to do so, is, mostly, not worth bothering with. And this writer/columnist/gadfly's writings strongly support that last statement. Just plain uninteresting. The ravings of a narcissist, with nothing really to say. except to glorify his own existence. Any flicker of wit or insight which begins to illuminate, perhaps, something important immediately fades into angrily aggressive bluster or blatant self praise. Also, Thompson "drops names" faster and more frequently than snowflakes in a blizzard. I guess he always wanted to be a famous writer. But, since he didn't write that well, he ended up grasping for the "famous" part... by whatever means he had at hand..
And the narrator, who I never listened to before this book, was a one note, overly strident, irritating performer.. Maybe he thought he was capturing the essence of the "gonzo journalist's" writings, vocally. Come to think of it, he may have done that.
If you love loud, pointless, rants and constant demonstrations of unmerited personal aggrandizement, be sure and get "Hey Rube"..
If your taste lies elsewhere, spend your money on something else.

2 people found this helpful