Thr Monkey Wrench Gang

I cheered when I finished this book. "The story of a mad doctor, a Nigella-esque revolutionary, a Mormon polygamist outdoorsman and a crazed Green Beret 'Nam Veteran and their battle for the world they hold so dear against all odds." The book lived up to the blurb and doesn't that plot just sound fantastic. 'The Great Gatsby', for all its beautiful prose and delights, doesn't have the most intriguing of blurbs. Abbey, who wrote 'The Monkey Wrench Gang', has written here something which is readable, accessible, enjoyable and certainly worth reading. Their is wit but it tends to be a bit crude as an example "The fuckin' fucker's fucked.". But let's be honest who can't fall in love with that line? Indeed who can't but fall in love with all the characters? They're all magnificent caricatures, beyond the realms of reality and thank god for that. It is just joyful to encounter characters which are not whiny, or self-obsessed or indulging the author's sense of vanity, but instead to meet with characters who the author has obviously enjoyed creating and who have been created to be fun.
However, the prose can be a bit heavy and the writing is not as glorious as Heller's -who seems to me to be a direct influence. The long descriptive passages can be a little heavy going but they constantly reinforce the author's message that this landscape is in danger.
Nonetheless it was great fun, I enjoyed it as a romp through the American landscape and read it at great speed. I do feel that this book could have the tendency to drag if it was allowed, but if you read it quickly then you wouldn't be bothered by it.

76/100