I need a good book.

Edward Abbey (1927-1989) is a touchstone for anyone involved in the radical environmental movement. Abbey, who looks like the product of a union between William James and John Muir, churned out numerous books and essays concerning the American Southwest and its wondrous natural beauty. His best known work is this novel, "The Monkey Wrench Gang," a fictional tale about four nature lovers who decide to wage relentless war against America's manic desire to spread the industrial system into every corner of the country. Abbey apparently based some of the characters in the book on real people he knew during his life in the boonies. It is important to remember this while you read the book because it will scare the heck out of you that people like this actually exist.
Abbey does not waste much time introducing the reader to his main characters. There is Seldom Seen Smith, a jack Mormon and river rafter who rambles around the countryside when he's not visiting his three wives. Seldom Seen quickly hooks up with Bonnie Abbzug, a Brooklyn born beauty with a predilection for older men and geodesic domes. Abbzug's flame of the moment is Doc Sarvis, an aging surgeon with a propensity for spouting off about nature and history when he's not operating on a patient. Finally, there is the hero of the story, George Washington Hayduke, a Vietnam vet who returns to his home only to discover bulldozers raping his beloved country. When the four meet up on a river-rafting excursion, Doc throws his checkbook into the ring so the four can go on an environmental rampage of astonishing proportions. No bulldozer, bridge, or member of the area's Search and Rescue team (run by the nefarious Bishop Love) is safe from the monkeywrenching activities of these four ecoterrorists.

Abbey describes the destruction of industrial equipment in loving detail. The first excursion is at a construction site, in which the gang cuts wires, pours karo syrup in gas tanks, and pours sand in the engines. Subsequent missions involve driving equipment into lakes, pulling up survey stakes, destroying an oil drilling station, and rolling boulders over pick-up trucks. Whenever trouble shows up, the four melt into the rugged terrain of the Southwest, a land of desolate wastes interspersed with stunning plateaus, mountains, and rivers. Abbey's eye for beauty rarely fails in his descriptions of these haunting images. Even the most hardened soul will feel a real kinship with our vanishing wilderness after reading this novel.

There is no doubt that Abbey was an extremely intelligent man. His writing ability is amazingly brilliant, with numerous jokes, word plays, and multi-layered dialogue thrown in at breakneck speed. For those familiar with Ambrose Bierce or Mark Twain, Abbey will seem like an old friend. Like those two august figures of American letters, Abbey is an iconoclast, always willing to take painful swipes at any institution, accepted belief, or know-it-all jerks with absolutist values. Even environmentalists take a few shots on the chin in this book (For example, George never misses a chance to throw his beer cans out the window). Abbey's tendency to make politically incorrect comments and jokes is sure to anger many people who, in their quest to lecture us about their idea of a perfect world, accidentally left their sense of humor in the trunk of their brand new SUV. In short, when Abbey comes out swinging, be sure to duck.

Morgan said:
The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy
Anything by Francesca Lea Block. But try starting off with Weetzie Bat
Rent Girl by Michelle Tea
The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K LeGuin
The Book of Mercy by Leonard Cohen

jonnytrrrash7 said:


daniel clowes rules!

SexyBeast said:
The last book I read wasAmerican Gods, by Neil Gaiman. It's a really good book.

Now, I'm looking for another really good book. Give me some suggestions.

_DictionaryGirl_ said:


The Fuck-Up. Depressing through most of it, wonderful at the end.