I found out why they call this novel The Rum Diary. They
call it this because… it has a lot of rum in it… obviously. Actually I wanted
to point out that the crazy guy (Kemp’s roommate) actually made 460 proof rum.
That’s insane! In fact, it was so crazily strong that just one swig from a
bottle of that stuff made the alcoholic Kemp go cross eyed, get chased and
nearly killed by natives, blow flames into a cop’s face, get thrown into jail,
and get a court sentence for 4 years. Thank goodness one of the corporate
people (Sanderson) paid the bail for him. So unfortunately since the way things
work around Puerto Rico is pretty corrupt, Sanderson basically owns them now. This
rum was so powerful that just after one swig, the next morning Kemp has the
worst hangover in his life and swears, “I will never touch alcohol again” (Pg.
140). Of course, he doesn’t follow through with this vow. I don’t know if
you’ve noticed Brian, but have you thought about the relevance of extreme
alcohol and drug use throughout all of Hunter S. Thompson’s novels? I find it
quite amusing and I wonder why he does it. All of his adventures could have
been done (or at least the final product) without the use of any narcotics or
alcoholic beverage. Then again, this is probably where Hunter would have
referred to the old saying of: Its not where you’re going but the adventure or
journey of getting there.
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