The Monkey Wrench Gang

This past December, I had a friend stay with me before he was to go home for Christmas. We caught up and talked about tons of different subjects (solving the world's problems from the couch, I believe he said at one time), but one thing we spoke about was the best books we had read in a while. He mentioned an author that I had heard him speak of before and after a jaunt to the Maine Mall (or Border's to be exact) he purchased the novel The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey for me. I loved it so much that I also went back to Border's (with the gift card he had also bought for me) and purchased Desert Solitaire, one of the first non fiction books that I have even thought of buying in a very long time.

Abbey is a environmentally minded author with the wit and humor of Ken Kesey. He isn't the poet Kesey was, but nonetheless loves colorful characters. George Hayduke, the main protagonist, leaps off the page, wringing your neck for attention. He is a Vietnam vet who moves back to the Southwestern United States and discovers that the landscape is being "ruined" by progress such as highways, clear cutting, and dams. He ends up with an unusual cast of characters (the names alone are great: "Seldom Seen" Smith is a prime example) and they go around sabotaging logging equipment, cutting down billboards and the like. Eventually, things escalate, there are many chases between the gang and law enforcement, and each character is forced to choose how far this will go. Hayduke is just full tilt boogie the entire time.

What You May Like:

The action that takes place in the book is well paced and described efficiently. Abbey loves the environment and will make you yearn for a camping trip by the end of the first couple of chapters. His setting of the American Southwest acts as a mirror for the souls of his characters, bringing out the dreams, demons, and desires in technicolor.

The dialog is hilarious. I dare not spoil anything, but Hayduke uses profanity like oxygen with everyone, and I mean everyone.

I liked the chase scenes the best, especially the inventive use of a pulley system on the front of the Jeep that Hayduke drives. I won't tell, but you will know it when you read it.

What You May Not Like:

The book bogs down in the middle with the sense that perhaps Abbey didn't know where it was going to go either. Once he figures out to let the characters take over and guide him, it gets back on track (won't tell you how though). If you can get through 30 or so pages that don't really seem to fit, you will be fine.

The language can be a bit harsh in places. I put that there because, well, some people seem to think that no one swears. I am here to say that is just not f*cking true(Hayduke would love that sentence).

In closing, my friend turned me on to an author I will post more about, especially after I read Desert Solitaire. I have always had a fascination with the desert environment and the animals that survive there so it will be educational for me to hear about what that ecosystem is like. If Abbey's non-fiction is as good as this fiction was, then I am in for a treat. Until then, keep on reading.