The Rum Diary

The Rum Diary is an early novel by American writer Hunter S. Thompson that was written in the early 1960s but was not published until 1998. The story involves a journalist named Paul Kemp, who moves from New York to work for a major newspaper, The Daily News, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Set in the late 1950s, the novel encompasses a tangled love story of jealousy, treachery and violent alcoholic lust among the Americans who staff the newspaper. Tho... more

The Rum Diary is an early novel by American writer Hunter S. Thompson that was written in the early 1960s but was not published until 1998. The story involves a journalist named Paul Kemp, who moves from New York to work for a major newspaper, The Daily News, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Set in the late 1950s, the novel encompasses a tangled love story of jealousy, treachery and violent alcoholic lust among the Americans who staff the newspaper. Thompson himself traveled from New York to San Juan in 1960 to write for an ill-fated sports newspaper on the island. Thompson had unsuccessfully applied to work at the larger English-language daily called the San Juan Star while novelist William J. Kennedy was the editor. While in Puerto Rico, Thompson befriended many of the writers at the Star, providing the context for The Rum Diary's fictional storyline. Although Thompson was only 22 when he wrote the story, it deals extensively with a fear of “going over the hill” and growing old. The... less