While America has recently lost one of its most controversial and influential writers, Hunter S. Thompson's legend and works will undoubtedly live on forever.

Thompson is perhaps best know for his work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which was later made into a movie that never rivaled the book.

But Thompson has written at least a dozen other novels, which are often not widely recognized, such as The Rum Diary.

Written by Thompson at the age of 22, the book is an interesting glimpse into his early years filled with just as much drinking, sex and the usual bizarre antics as are to be expected from the "Gonzo" journalist.

Chronicling his years working for the San Juan Daily News in Puerto Rico, Thompson portrays the plight of a young journalist thrown into the chaotic world of a struggling newspaper.

Thompson and his group of friends attempt to keep the newspaper afloat while soaking up the Puerto Rican sun, picking up women and drinking the island dry.

Though their salary is hardly enough to feed them, let alone support their hell-raising lifestyles, they manage to get around it by taking advantage of the locals.

Of course, they take advantage of each other as well.

Beneath the story of a group of wild reporters trying to keep a newspaper from bankruptcy, is the story of a passionate love triangle.

Thompson falls for Chenault, the beautiful young girl that happens to be the girlfriend of his closest friend.

Thompson's portrayal of his female characters often show them to be irresistible objects of his desire and rarely anything more, there is something vulnerable in his relationship with Chenault that reveals another depth to the author.

Thompson, of course, does not fail to occasionally demean her, but he clearly wavers between his feelings for her and his desire to be free.

This wavering feeling is one that pervades the whole book.

Thompson wavers with Chenault and almost all the characters waver in between staying and enjoying Puerto Rico or returning home to get serious jobs with real opportunity.

This wavering sets the rhythm for the book, giving it at once both a stifling and liberated feel.

In The Rum Diary, Thompson creates a work that portrays a young man in his twenties struggling between the carefree attitude of youth and the need for solidarity.

It is a passionate, endearing look into the early life of a man that would forever be in need of freedom and who would leave his mark on American society forever.