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A review by dzengota
The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey
2.0
I love "Desert Solitaire" for all of the totally justified reasons some people hate it. I love Abbey's anti-social, angry and bitter self-righteousness and I love his direct and potent style in that book.
That said, that style does not translate into fiction. The characters here are all so shallow, with just enough features to broadly justify the plot and occasional banter but never really implying any kind of greater life. Bonnie particularly suffers in a weird way where I think Abbey was unsure what to do with her. The primary purpose he seemed to have landed on was to have all of the other characters discuss how hot she is (an act which quickly stopped being characterization and started being an outlet for Abbey imagining a hot woman).
Also, the whole final act feels like it comes out of nowhere. The plot is moving along and the reader is starting to wonder if the big 'Dam job' is within the scope of the book when suddenly, they are pulled into a 80-page, multi-day chase sequence. The chase does have good drama to it but loses much of it as main characters suddenly and with little fanfare just disappear from the plot.
Overall, I don't think I'll continue with any of Abbey's fiction, but the sheer enjoyment I got out of "Desert Solitaire" is enough to pull me back into his non-fiction, someday.
That said, that style does not translate into fiction. The characters here are all so shallow, with just enough features to broadly justify the plot and occasional banter but never really implying any kind of greater life. Bonnie particularly suffers in a weird way where I think Abbey was unsure what to do with her. The primary purpose he seemed to have landed on was to have all of the other characters discuss how hot she is (an act which quickly stopped being characterization and started being an outlet for Abbey imagining a hot woman).
Also, the whole final act feels like it comes out of nowhere. The plot is moving along and the reader is starting to wonder if the big 'Dam job' is within the scope of the book when suddenly, they are pulled into a 80-page, multi-day chase sequence. The chase does have good drama to it but loses much of it as main characters suddenly and with little fanfare just disappear from the plot.
Overall, I don't think I'll continue with any of Abbey's fiction, but the sheer enjoyment I got out of "Desert Solitaire" is enough to pull me back into his non-fiction, someday.