Searching for Hunter S. Thompson in Laos by Roy Hamric

 

 

 

 

During the second World War my father served on a PT boat that was active in the South Pacific. I once asked him whether, when the war ended, he ever thought about staying in the Philippines or in New Guinea, both of which he had experienced during his service.

He said that he had never considered staying, and never in his life did he return to Asia, except once, much later, to Japan to see his son.

There are, of course, obvious reasons why someone whose primary experience of a place is war would want to leave that place—that war—as expeditiously as possible. I learned much later that one of the first things my father did upon his return to the States was to burn his uniform. Clearly those years, those places, did not hold happy memories for him.

But there are Americans and other foreigners who encounter Asia (all too often as members of a military force) and do elect to stay or to return. Roy Hamric is one of those. Reading his memoir Searching for Hunter S. Thompson in Laos, one can follow the threads which lead him, ultimately, to settle in Thailand and to take a Thai wife (this memoir is, in part, a love story). Preeminent among these threads is his interest in Buddhism, which he first encountered, like so many Westerners, through the books of D.T. Suzuki. Suzuki's books resonated, for the well-read Hamric, with works from closer to home by Thoreau and Emerson. Thus he was, perhaps, primed to enjoy the Buddhist world he encountered when the army sent him off to Vietnam. He was fortunate enough to get there before the "police action" began in earnest, and also in that he had a non-combat job when that was still possible. Thus he avoided much of the horror that might put anyone off, and could simply enjoy being young and abroad.

As Buddhism is an important thread in Hamric's life, it is not surprising that a significant part of the book is devoted to it. I'm sure those who have chosen that path will find those sections of the book of interest. Not on the path myself, I much preferred other sections, and this is very much an episodic book, a quilt made up of straight memoir, but also travel pieces, profiles, interviews, and the writing on books which made up my favorite part of this memoir. We see, for example, that Hamric has a real understanding and appreciation of Hunter S. Thompson. He reminds us of what a great writer Thompson was, something that is often forgotten by those who know him primarily for his epic consumption of drugs and alcohol. His writing on Thomas Merton's photography is also illuminating.

At a time when too many writer's programs seem to be: experience trauma and then write about how you survived it, it is refreshing to read a memoir about a man who finds in love, in Buddha, and in the East, a satisfying way to live.