The Monkey Wrench Gang - Edward Abbey

 

Came upon this author quite by chance and he sounded like quite the character so upon learning that our library had this book, I decided to check it out so I could check it out!

This 1975 story is the tale of four disparate individuals who randomly come together and equally randomly decide that their mission in life is eco-terrorism in the Southwestern United States. A middle-aged, wealthy doctor, who can afford to finance their work, his young, sexy, female hippie/anarchist assistant, a Vietnam Vet and a river guide, knowledgeable about the area. They hate the spoilage of the open areas, although their reasoning can be a little vague and kinda squirmy - as in, they will do their best to stop work on roads or blow up bridges but use the roads and bemoan the fact that there aren't bridges where they could use them. But I guess no one's ideals are quite perfect, are they?

There's a romantic plot "twist" that literally anyone could see coming for chapters'n'chapters but the ending does give a few surprises, in a way, although some stretch the imagination a bit.

I'm actually not certain how I feel about this one, which probably means something in and of itself. Some bits drag on a bit too long, there are some obvious plot devices, but Abbey does manage to keep your interest, especially towards the end as you don't really know what is going to happen. Not sure that I will search out anything else of his, but intriguing, at least.