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The Fool's Progress: An Honest Novel

4.2 of 5 stars 4.20 · rating details · 1,584 ratings · 154 reviews

When his third wife abandons him in Tucson, boozing, misanthropic anarchist Henry Holyoak Lightcap shoots his refrigerator and sets off in a battered pick-up truck for his ancestral home in West Virginia. Accompanied only by his dying dog and his memories, the irascible warhorse (a stand-in for the "real" Abbey) begins a bizarre cross-country odyssey--determined to make pe...more

Paperback, 528 pages

Published August 15th 1998 by Holt Paperbacks (first published 1988)

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Dec 04, 2007 Lucy rated it 1 of 5 stars Recommends it for: personal fans of Edward Abbey

Apparently, Edward Abbey is an environmentalist whose books have been known to inspire radicals but also open up frank discussions about the treatment and protection of the western landscape. All right. That's one point of view. I can respect that.

But, this was not the book to start with. I don't know if he's a great author or not, but, supposedly, this book is autobiographical and I can tell you, if it is (he's dead...so it's all speculative anyway) that I don't like him. Completely self-indulg...more

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Mar 01, 2008 Michael Thoeresz rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is one of the funniest books I've read in a long time.

"Like him I'll get shitfaced fallingdown snotflying toilet-hugging drunk. Reality management."

"And why? What's my problem? Well, I have this queer thing about pretty girls: I like them. And this weird thing about steady jobs: I dont like them. I dont believe in doing work I dont want to do in order to live the way I dont want to live."

"The word itself--skirt--excites im instantly. There is something about that airy garmet, he feels, that...more

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Apr 09, 2008 Harper rated it 5 of 5 stars

Edward Abbey is a dirty old man. Backwoods, racist, sexist, libertarian, dirty old man. I love him. I would proudly have his babies.

This may be the best summary of this book ever.

Really it's beautiful. Makes me homesick for the desert and the kind of rugged individualism and anti authoritarianism that Abbey represents so well. Makes me realize that coming home is a powerfully healing thing to do.

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Dec 22, 2012 Jonathon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Though hes racist, an idiot, and shitty towards women, some of the stuff he says is pretty damn funny and quite honest (it is an honest novel)! I enjoy his philosophical references also and his general outlook on life and political views. I disagree with a lot of his ignorant, arrogant, bigotry rants; Im not sure his point in using derogatory terms. It didnt come off as ironic or meaningful, just blatant racism. Some how he reminds sometimes of the rapist from deliverance or the creep at the loc...more

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Nov 18, 2010 Erica rated it 5 of 5 stars

Long an Edward Abbey fan, I'd been excited to read this for a while. It took some looking. Never seen in the used department, or the new of HBS, I resorted to the BPL, who's single paperback copy had to be shipped from some far flung branch.

The first 50 or so pages were a bit rough - this is a decidedly male perspective - I felt familiarly annoyed with the blatant sexism. But waited it out, and was glad I did. The narrator, in whatever he says or does is honest. I might argue in real life, but...more

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Jan 23, 2010 Zigmund rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book brought tears to my eyes. This book gave me a glimpse into the surreal reality of the Rio Grande area. My subconsoious just took the wheel of my car one hot summer and I drove until I wound up at a cold daybreak at the foot of the Eastern Slope of the Carson National Forest. Having entered darkness with Pike's Peak in the distance, I was more than happy to find myself awake in my trusty pavement dragon at the foot of the most beautiful mountain meadows, brooks, and glades I had ever fo...more

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Jun 27, 2009 Wendy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-time-favorites, literary-fiction

To be honest, I was concerned while reading the opening scenes and almost put the book down: Henry Lightcap treats his current wife miserably. when she decides to leave him for a computer engineer, he is so distraught that he takes out a .22 and shoots the refrigerator (the culmination, as it turns out, of his hatred for technology and "modern civilization". Oh no, I thought, a self-absorbed misogynist tells his sufferings. For the most part, I was wrong (there is plenty of suffering). This was...more To be honest, I was concerned while reading the opening scenes and almost put the book down: Henry Lightcap treats his current wife miserably. when she decides to leave him for a computer engineer, he is so distraught that he takes out a .22 and shoots the refrigerator (the culmination, as it turns out, of his hatred for technology and "modern civilization". Oh no, I thought, a self-absorbed misogynist tells his sufferings. For the most part, I was wrong (there is plenty of suffering). This was one of the best books I've read in a good long while.

The main character Henry, I learned later, is a close representation of the reclusive author. Abbey apparently reveals much of his own life through this "honest novel", but to what extent...I wish I knew. Henry grew up in the West Virginia backwoods, submerged in nature, and later rediscovered the even more intense wilderness of the West.

The flashback chapters to the past are interspersed with the Henry here-and-now, older, in his sixties, and harboring a grim secret. Like him, his truck is on it's last odometer rotations. The dog, Solstice, is also old and sickly, and is one of the few beings Henry is tender toward, and makes for some of the more touching scenes.

What initially perplexed and repelled me at first was Henry's treatment of women. Throughout his life he only falls for the bombshells who, ultimately, have nothing in common with him and his love of the wilderness. When he drags is first wife from NYC to barren New Mexico, things do not bode well. After so much trouble with women, evidence of Henry's first real love comes as a shock. Henry is more complex than he seemed, and I began to empathize with him.

This book seems outwardly like it would be a simple semi-memoir, but Abbey's descriptions, especially of nature and wild places, elevate it to something more. The tone is bleak, of a man looking back on his life and contemplating his regrets, but is not without humor (a certain Grand Canyon scene, for example, or his arrest in Denver). When I read Abbey, a (para)phrase from his Desert Solitaire comes to mind: get out of the car and walk, better yet crawl through the dirt and rocks and cactus. You can't get the full experience any way else--this philosophy sums up A Fools Progess well. Highly recommended.(less)

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Jul 16, 2012 Owen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: environment, autobiography, non-fiction, american-civil-war

Edward Abbey died in March of 1989. In the latter part of 1988, he saw his last and perhaps most accomplished work brought to bed at his publishers in New York. The author of many highly controversial works of fiction and non-fiction, best known for his seemingly solitary stand against the ecological destruction of the western American deserts, Abbey's last book effectively completed a cycle. At the same time it was a very close foretelling of his own probable doom.

Abbey was an environmentalist...more Edward Abbey died in March of 1989. In the latter part of 1988, he saw his last and perhaps most accomplished work brought to bed at his publishers in New York. The author of many highly controversial works of fiction and non-fiction, best known for his seemingly solitary stand against the ecological destruction of the western American deserts, Abbey's last book effectively completed a cycle. At the same time it was a very close foretelling of his own probable doom.

Abbey was an environmentalist from the beginning. In the East of his youth, he saw strip mines close in on his father's mountain acres. Out West, he witnessed the early preparations being made to dam the Colorado and its tributaries. He rafted down Glen Canyon and saw the hidden valleys filled with a beauty that was soon after to be engulfed. He smelt out the tricky political deals being woven by senators and landowners in the forgotten tracts of the butte country and did his best to expose them. Against all of the attempts to tame this corner of the American wilderness, Abbey railed.

In books ranging from "Desert Solitaire" (1967), a journal of a season in the desert, to "The Monkey Wrench Gang" (1975), an explosive novel of saboteurs versus dambuilders, Abbey argues his points in favour of preserving the canyon country. Having been there "before" and "after," his voice has a compelling authority. To read his account of Glen Canyon before the dam is to be filled with regret at the later spoliation.

In "The Fool's Progress," Abbey gives us something of a summing up of his own life. The book is like a reverse history of Kerouac's "On the Road." Instead of youth rushing out through the length of America to meet its new and cosmic identity on the West Coast, here is a life which is wearing down, attacked from within, going back from the desert to the Appalachian hills of birth and ancestry. In the chronicle of the winding down, as the truck begins to fail and a mortal pain begins to rise, boyhood is measured against the actual experience of the now hard-bitten adult.

"The Fool's Progress" is the work of a now accomplished writer in his prime. We might have expected much more from Edward Abbey and his early death is a great loss. Nevertheless, his completed works stand on their own and I can recommend them to anyone who is intrigued by the workings of an original mind as it tackles the problems of our age. (less)

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Feb 01, 2011 Charlie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I love Abbey because he is tough nut to crack, and a hard drink to swallow. He can be downright offensive, but it's important to see his distaste is not limited to women and Mexican's but leveled fully against all participants in society not excluding his autobiographical character Henry H. Lightcap.

The autobiographical nature of this novel helped me untangle a bit of the contradictory, larger-than-life image Abbey has here in the west. Reading it after Loeffler's biography was helpful.

I don't...more

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Feb 06, 2008 Ryk rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not a review. Not yet.

What I remember at the time is that this book scared the crap out of me, even as I enjoyed it. Because it showed me how out-of-sync I was with myself, my life, my sham first marriage- everything.

I'm picking it up to re-read, as my life needs the shake-up this book delivered the first time, and after 13 years, it will be a different book because I'm a different person.

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Mar 28, 2009 John Sahr rated it 5 of 5 stars

One should not start reading Abbey by starting with The Fool's Progress, because it is a very honest novel. Shortly after I read it, I recommended to a woman friend, ... she showed up a few days later and glowered at me. When I inquired, "why?" She reminded me that the protagonist is quite frankly misogynist in attitude.

The book is clearly autobiographical, and includes many references to earlier works. It might be said that the earlier works contain reference to The Fool's Progress. Those conne...more

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Jan 11, 2011 Susan Emmet rated it 4 of 5 stars

Still on my Abbey Road. I'd actually read FP at my mother's behest years ago and returned to it again. Dark humor and incredible detailing of Henry Holyoak Lightcap's life and family. A picaresque novel, the reader is led through his life in meandering fashion, tracing his paths in America and Europe, as well as his amorous adventures throughout. So much history here. So much to ponder, especially in the latter third of the book as Henry heads home to Stump Creek, W. VA with his dying dog Solsti...more

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Aug 17, 2010 Brian rated it 5 of 5 stars

Semi-autobiographical. Entirely hysterical and heartbreaking all at once...it brings to life the old saying, 'Everywhere i go, there i am'. This is my favorite book of all time.

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Mar 23, 2009 Windy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: own, favorites

The timing was perfect when I read the book, as I had just completed student teaching and my undergraduate degree, left Tucson, and moved back to a town I had promised I'd never return to. The book begins with the narrator (modeled strongly after Abbey himself) grieving over the fact that his wife has left him. He swerves through Tucson traffic (it's actually a hilarious, and realistic, scene) and decides to head back to his Appalachian family. He takes his old, decrepit dog with him, and he him...more

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Oct 12, 2010 Ellen Dugosh rated it 5 of 5 stars

I read interesting reviews on Goodreads before/while reading this one and either people loved him or they really hated it. Edward's Henry (the main character) is a hillbilly and an ass and a womanizer and I couldn't help but love him. He's crass and sarcastic and the book is beautifully written. This book took me an embarrassing 6 weeks to finish-- books never take that long but I had to read so slowly so that I didn't miss anything (and I was of course busy living my life!). Edward Abbey has an...more

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Feb 13, 2013 Sara Stahlman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Abbey is an unconventional writer, but certainly has a way of creating images in the mind of his readers. This book is no different. I didn't think I would enjoy it as much as I have. There are portions where I laughed out loud, and parts where I was incredibly moved. There are also parts that are really disrespectful of women, and I found that the most memorable thing about the book. The "fool" he refers to is an asshole. But as the book and the fool progress, the main character becomes more an...more

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May 07, 2012 Lara Stilling rated it 5 of 5 stars

Oh boy. You can try to hate Henry Lightcap as much as you want, but it is a fool's errand. I am as anti-misogynist, anti-glutton, anti-male-worldview as they come, but I love this book. It is a testament to honesty, that no matter how ugly, the truth is always better than the lie. Henry is honest about all his ugly parts from the get-go, and it's amazing how difficult it is to judge an honest man. I love a book about a "journey," and this one might just be the best. No coincidence, I'm sure, tha...more

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Aug 06, 2012 Eugene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Settling into this book was tough for me. The main character, Henry Lightcap, presents as a self-indulgent anarchist crank, gun-toting and sexist and not very likable. His wife packs him in, leaving him broke. He shoots his fridge full of holes, and along with his sick dog (and in his sick truck), starts on a road-trip east from Arizona to Stump Creek, West Virginia to see his brother and his mother and the farm on which he grew up. Along the way, Henry washes down opiates with beer (while drivi...more Settling into this book was tough for me. The main character, Henry Lightcap, presents as a self-indulgent anarchist crank, gun-toting and sexist and not very likable. His wife packs him in, leaving him broke. He shoots his fridge full of holes, and along with his sick dog (and in his sick truck), starts on a road-trip east from Arizona to Stump Creek, West Virginia to see his brother and his mother and the farm on which he grew up. Along the way, Henry washes down opiates with beer (while driving) and tosses the cans out the window. I know Abbey has been embraced by environmentalists, but they must have had a challenging time swallowing the contradictions afoot in this character.

There is a finality about this trip east. Henry searches out some old friends he needs to see and then heads east to West Virginia. As he drives toward his childhood home, we learn about Henry's life, his family, various wars and Henry's great loves. We learn of his love for the West, for the desert and the forest. Henry's happiest times with his wife Claire are associated in the novel with the land (they even go mushroom picking together).

Henry makes a choice early on to work as little as possible. He is not built for the work-a-day world, which is simply madness to him. The low-paying seasonal job as a park ranger is one of few roles that suit him. It's a job in which he can work on his own, be on the land and as a bonus get laid off at the end of each season. He has little concern for lack of money or security.

In Henry's mind, America is rapidly heading for ruin. On an earlier trip east, he talks with his brother about "progress" and comments that it is overtaking the West too but they are perhaps 30 years behind. Although Henry and his brother Will are different in many ways, they share a distaste for the modern world, which Henry believes will be destroyed by overpopulation. Will lives without an indoor toilet, without running water and without electricity. The brothers agree - America is in trouble.

I found myself becoming more sympathetic to Henry as the novel unfolded. He is way more sensitive than he would like to let on and he's suffered more than he would tell you. Henry's not just an anarchist crank. He's a romantic, trying to make the best life he can in a crazy world, on his own terms. If those terms don't suit anyone else, he accepts that. Henry's not big on compromise.

I can't imagine The Fool's Progress being set anywhere but America. It is a long rant about freedom and wilderness and doomed America, bleak and powerful with an underlying dark humour. (less)

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Nov 05, 2009 Nicole rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-hero, pure-win

Abbey hits all of his strengths over the course of this novel--waxing poetic about pristine landscapes, waxing poetic about women, railing against institutions and commercialism...and it's all wrapped into a classic epic journey format, reverse-Kerouac style.

Henry Lightcap is sarcastic and cantankerous and, in all honesty, comes across as an alcoholic misogynistic asshole, at least in the beginning of the book (when we first meet him he's shooting his refrigerator because his third wife left him...more Abbey hits all of his strengths over the course of this novel--waxing poetic about pristine landscapes, waxing poetic about women, railing against institutions and commercialism...and it's all wrapped into a classic epic journey format, reverse-Kerouac style.

Henry Lightcap is sarcastic and cantankerous and, in all honesty, comes across as an alcoholic misogynistic asshole, at least in the beginning of the book (when we first meet him he's shooting his refrigerator because his third wife left him again), and these things make him both funny and frustrating. He gives us at least a dozen neat little nuggets of life philosophy over the course of the book, but here's the earliest one I noticed: "What's my problem? Well, I have this queer thing about pretty girls: I like them. And this weird thing about steady jobs: I don't like them. I don't believe in doing work I don't want to do in order to live the way I don't want to live." This is how Henry thinks, and this is how Henry lives. On one level it's completely unacceptable in modern society--this man will never be dubbed a "team player" by his coworkers--but on another level it lives up to the honesty promised in the novel's subtitle. It may be an unappetizing truth for some, but it is Henry's truth and he refuses to sugarcoat or apologize for it. And you know what? Good for him.

I know, it’s hard to go from “misogynistic asshole” to “good for him” in a single paragraph, and in reality it doesn’t happen in a single paragraph. Henry is compelling from the get-go, but one of the great successes of this book is to make this crass and self-absorbed and melodramatic and angry man so complex and sympathetic and just ridiculously and completely human that by the final chapters he’s got your heart in his fist.

There are a couple things besides Abbey’s general awesomeness that this book leaves me wanting to ramble on about, or maybe they are just a couple of the specific ways in which Abbey is awesome. First, Henry goes crazy with the literary references and philosophical meanderings throughout the book. It’s not really that unusual for a fictional character to be aware of existing literature and other fictional characters, but Henry takes it to a pretty impressive level. He weaves his awareness of these into his own inner monologues and everyday interactions with anyone and everyone, regardless of whether they even get the reference. And I’m sure there are dozens that went right over my head, because so many of them are slipped in there on the sly, easy to just take at face value within the context of the story if you don’t know what work he’s referencing. It’s all very slick and smart and I love it because even though I might be missing more than I’m getting, every single time I get one makes me feel smart, too.

Finally, the title. A good number of the literary references are from Shakespeare, and that got me thinking about the title and where the fool fits in and then what the progress is (if there even is any besides the obvious west-east movement). I haven’t sorted this all out in my head yet, but Shakespeare’s fools often (always? Find me a truly foolish Shakespearean fool, I’m not sure there is one) are the least foolish characters around, dispensing little nuggets of wisdom to all those around them who are too busy being self-important to see the wisdom for what it is until the final act. Because Abbey gives the book the title he does and then lets Henry go to town with the lit refs, I wonder if he wants us to make the link between Henry and Shakespeare’s fools. And I wonder what it means if he does. Henry is wiser than we think he is? Wiser than he thinks he is? Thinking about this makes me want to read the book all over again.
(less)

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Jul 21, 2008 Valerie rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed this book. It took me a long time to read it all the way through though; in classic Edward Abbey style, it is wordy with some long monologues and rants, but highly entertaining so long as you like the character. I'd say that only people who really loved Monkey Wrench Gang would enjoy this book, because that will help in understanding the main character and the writing style.

Edward Abbey said that the book was loosely based on his life. It has a great premise - a man whose third...more

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Feb 02, 2008 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

A middle-aged man's young wife leaves him for a college professor. With a glimpse at his own mortality, he piles his dying dog into his pick-up and embarks on a cross-country drive to visit his older brother in their Appalachian home. While he chronicles his trip, he visits old friends and reminisces on his young life.

"The Fool's Progress" alternates between chapters about the road trip and chapters about the writer's life leading up to the trip.

During the first half of the book, the chapters a...more A middle-aged man's young wife leaves him for a college professor. With a glimpse at his own mortality, he piles his dying dog into his pick-up and embarks on a cross-country drive to visit his older brother in their Appalachian home. While he chronicles his trip, he visits old friends and reminisces on his young life.

"The Fool's Progress" alternates between chapters about the road trip and chapters about the writer's life leading up to the trip.

During the first half of the book, the chapters about the road trip are far more interesting, as he visits old friends who have been corrupted by time; hip young people that have become real estate sharks and cultish new age gurus. These characters receive the bile of the narrator, a nihilistic environmentalist who appears to think that society is destroying the planet.

The childhood stories do not fair very well, and slow down the pace of the book. One of my complaints with the book is that it is too long. One hundred pages could have been shaved off somewhere or another, probably starting with the inning-by-inning description of baseball game from when the narrator was eleven.

By the second half of the book, the road trip is in the Midwest, and the narrator has run out of friends to visit. The travel chapters blend together here, as they are all made up of Abbey's character drinking beer and driving through small, middle-American towns, complaining about the progress of society, and how it is leaving behind autonomous small towns and farmers. He has a good point, but he brings it up over and over, without shedding any new light on it.

Edward Abbey gained a reputation as a rogue environmentalist; more redneck than hippie, and an unapologetic asshole a la Bukowski. The big difference between Abbey and Bukowski is that Abbey focuses his rage into the indignation of a country boy who is watching his backyard get smaller by the day. Abbey finds the U.S. to be overcrowded, and is therefore against immigration. Some people call this racist, and Abbey doesn't help his cause throughout this book, as his character repeatedly makes fun of Hispanic people. It's a condescending exoticism; he views Hispanic people as rebel thieves, but it's also the same way that he views himself; siphoning gas during his trip and referring to his siphon tube as a "Chicano gas pump."

The character is also a womanizer, and references are made to his many mistresses, while ex-wives are shown in a very negative light. Except for one wife, who appears towards the end of the story, and kicks off the beautiful, heartbreaking final section.

The stories of the narrator's life are better in the second half of the book. We hear about him in the military, his failed marriages, the death of his father, and his jobs as park ranger and fire watcher in national parks.

Things tie together very well in the end, as the life stories blend into the current trip and some surprising revelations are made about the life of the narrator. The bittersweet final hundred or so pages make the rest of the book worth slogging through, though I do prefer another book about a grouchy coot on a road trip with a dog; Steinbeck's "Travels With Charley."(less)

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Jan 07, 2008 Curlita rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: those who love the desert, anarchists, rednecks

Shelves: all-time-favorites

Aging redneck, anarchist, individualist, and desert rat Henry Lightcap leaves his home in Tucson, AZ to travel back home to the hills of West Virginia when his third wife leaves him. On the way he reminisces about the life he has lead and waxes philosophical and poetic about life in the 20th Century. Henry hates "progress," but loves women, the desert, guns, and good, American-made trucks. This book is funny, poetic, profane, and moving. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll want to buy your own copy...more

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Aug 28, 2007 carolime added it

it is quite unfortunate that i read (most of) this book. i found edward abbey's name scrawled on a foldy post-it note from the move, and concluded he must be someone i was interested in reading, i jumped headlong into this novel- a stretch of murk that seems inescapable.

the book is a chronicle of the life of the protagonist, a womanizer who grew up in appalachia and fell in love with the wide spaces of the west. we begin with him in his present-day home in tucson, and follow him as he travels ba...more it is quite unfortunate that i read (most of) this book. i found edward abbey's name scrawled on a foldy post-it note from the move, and concluded he must be someone i was interested in reading, i jumped headlong into this novel- a stretch of murk that seems inescapable.

the book is a chronicle of the life of the protagonist, a womanizer who grew up in appalachia and fell in love with the wide spaces of the west. we begin with him in his present-day home in tucson, and follow him as he travels back (albeit in a drunken stupor) to the land of his birth, dallying for many trips down memory lane. he angers me because he's so simple. maybe this is the attraction of the tale for others? if perhaps you like to hear a lot from self-pitying characters who wax philosophic in gloating ways and abuse their women in others, then perhaps you'll enjoy this tale.

i did not enjoy this tale; and i only made it halfway through, owing to the double reasoning that i had to return it to the library and it seemed to be wasting my time and making me mad. why, why, you ask, might i subject myself to so much needless enragement? well, after this novel flopped so heavily, i looked up edward abbey on the ol' wikipedia. this is the first step for some, but i like to give everything an even chance.

anyway! wikipedia RAVESRAVESRAVES about e.a. for example, his "Desert Solitaire is regarded as one of the finest nature narratives in American literature, and has been compared to Aldo Leopold's A Sand County Almanac and Thoreau's Walden." and that's not all! he's totally crazy- anarchist, the father of ecotage, and the times describes him as a "cult hero." egads-- have i gone astray? have i missed and dismissed some true voice- an individual whose views are strong and occasionally counterculture?!?! heaven forbid!

it seems to me that the abbey pieces that are more famous, time-worthy, and of critical acclaim are his non-fiction works. i can only imagine that in these the protagonist seems less stilted and uni-minded because there is no protagonist, only a narrator and the facts m'am the facts. so, dear readers, don't be disappointed. before any further judging, it is my aim to try an abbey non-fiction work-- apparently the monkey-wrench gang is The Way To Go in anarchic environmental non-fiction literature. so i'm going to head that way!!(less)

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Oct 04, 2009 Sarah rated it 5 of 5 stars

Warning: If you are in grad school, or intend to go to grad school, avoid this book until you finish, unless you are abnormally enthusiastic about your life as grad student. (Now that I think about it, if you fit the latter description, you might not like this book anyway).

Aside from the warning, a really excellent novel. To enjoy, you must be able to appreciate road trips, the humor in awful things, wilderness, honesty, subtle foreshadowing, and you should not be looking for inspiration.

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Jan 24, 2010 Davidkabzinski rated it 5 of 5 stars

I cannot give this book enough stars. Should be required reading in college. Unbelievably well written, and easily one of the greatest books I have ever read. The main character is in no way endearing, and as the book reveals more of his history, you see he has not been the best of person... but in the end, you want to believe that with major life events, perhaps even the most shallow of person can change.

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Jun 03, 2009 Benjamin rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great book, but STRONGLY recommend you **NOT** read this book until you've read Abbey's other books. This is a good book from the perspective of understanding Edward Abbey's world view and philosophies of life--ie what's the meaning of life--but will diminish your respect for his earlier work (re: Monkey Wrench gang et al) and his reputation as a supporter of wilderness and the environment.

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Apr 20, 2008 jeremy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction

edward abbey may be america's most underappreciated writer. he is well-deserving of mention amongst our country's literary titans (whitman, emerson, thoreau, twain), and, thematically speaking, his works were as prescient.

short of abbey's journals (confessions of a barbarian) or his letters (postcards from ed), the fool's progess may be the most candid glimpse into his life. subtitled "an honest novel," this is still a work of fiction, but many of the events depicted mirrored abbey's own real-li...more

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Oct 17, 2011 Christian rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: all-time-favorites, favorite-novels

this is my favorite Abbey novel - it tells the story of one man's life through various episodes, closely mirroring Abbey's own trajectory. it is highly emotional, dramatic, funny, poignant -- it doesn't shy away from owning up to one's regrets and bad decisions, while the natural world is the inspiration for the main character's highest moments of grace and belonging.

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Jan 01, 2011 Jeansni rated it 5 of 5 stars

Abbey reveals himself as a huge misogynistic asshole. But somehow his life story, his blatant declaration of opinions and beautiful prose end up making him quite lovable. He is silly, completely honest, clever and down to earth. Imagery of the deserts and mountains reinspire the inner dirt bag in me.

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Apr 17, 2013 Jswharton rated it 4 of 5 stars

Had no expectations and was challenged by so many of Henry Holly Lightcap dichotomies seeing many parallels with my own life, but surely not as destructive. A mind in contrast and a heart that is __? Nobody said you had to stay and nobody ever said you had to go, is so powerful. Worth the read.

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About Edward Abbey

Abbey attended college in New Mexico, and then worked as a park ranger and fire lookout for the National Park Service in the Southwest. It was during this time that he developed the relationship with the area's environment that influenced his writing. During his service, he was in close proximity to the ruins of ancient Native American cultures and saw the expansion and destruction of modern civil...more

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