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May 22, 2007

Abby rated it:

Yes, it's an iconic work of anarchy and environmentalism, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth the read. This book is hilarious. Like most other American nature writers, Abbey was a bit of a self-important pig (I can't stand Farley Mowat, though maybe he's Canadian); unlike most other American nature writers, he has a sense of humor about it.

The characters are grizzled and absurd, their actions are grandiose and delusional, and I felt a strong sense of solidarity and sympathy the More...

1 comment like (6 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

meredith rated it:

I blame reading this book at an inappropriately young age (9 or 10?) for the violent gag reflex that occurs whenever I smell patchouli, as well as the involuntary "NOOOOOOO" that I surprise myself with every time a ratty college do-gooder accosts me with a clipboard and a jaunty, "do you have a minute for the environment?"

Also, the surfeit of clunky, unshaven, back-of-the-VW-with-a-dog-looking-on-from-the-front-seat sex that occurs every second or third chapter co More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Aug 08, 2008

Jason rated it:

OK I'll try not to say what other reviewers have said. First of all, I loved the drama, the ideas, the characters, but I didn't buy the ending at all so I deducted a star. The other star was deducted because of the at times clunky writing and I think the character's histories merited further discussion.

First what I liked: The plot is riveting, to the point of agonizing. You just want them to call it quits and save themselves! It can get a little bogged down in technical descriptions More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 24, 2007

Nate rated it:

Amazon.com
Ed Abbey called The Monkey Wrench Gang, his 1975 novel, a "comic extravaganza." Some readers have remarked that the book is more a comic book than a real novel, and it's true that reading this incendiary call to protect the American wilderness requires more than a little of the old willing suspension of disbelief. The story centers on Vietnam veteran George Washington Hayduke III, who returns to the desert to find his beloved canyons and rivers threatened by industrial More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 18, 2007

Ryan rated it:

Giving this book 5 stars would probably put me on some sort of a list, but let's be honest: I'm already on that list. If you're at all concerned about the environment, this is a pretty good book to read. It was the inspiration for Earth First! (The exclamation point is part of the name of the organization, the real end of the sentence follows this parenthetical). But the great part about this book is that it isn't a boring didactic screed. Instead, it's a hilarious comedy/adventure novel. T More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Nadine rated it:

Edward Abbey was my dad's favorite author. We once stayed at a place near Moab, Utah called Pack Creek Ranch. Our cabin butted up against Abbey's former shack, where he did his writing. Somehow it has taken me 10 years to pick up one of his books, and I'm so glad I did. The Monkey Wrench Gang makes even the most law abiding citizen (such as myself, haha) want to pour sand into the gas tank of a bulldozer. The book revolves around a plot to blow up Glen Canyon Dam, the travesty that drowned More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2008

Kelly rated it:

Lovable and brave, if occasionally sloppy. The politics win out, even if some of the descriptions meander. I was very glad to see Loa mentioned. Thanks again, Jeremy (and Amy).

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 12, 2007

Jessica rated it:

Genteel Doc Sarvis, solid and faithful (though patently unfaithful in marriage) Seldom Seen Smith, wild George Hayduke and breathtakingly pretty if directionless Bonnie Abbzug make an unlikely band of eco-activists/bandits with questionable motives in this book perhaps loosely based on an actual group of bandits running around blowing up things they thought ecologically unsound in the 1970s.

Despite lots of action-packed sequences, this book really took me forever to get through. I st More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 30, 2009

Kate rated it:

In recent times, Al Gore has credited Rachel Carson (The Silent Spring) for introducing environmental concerns into his nascent consciousness, but it is a work of fiction not fact, Edward Abbey's "Monkey Wrench Gang", published first in 1975, which is regarded as having inspired a new generation of angry young environmental activists to the practice of extreme sabotage, sometimes called terrorism, for the sake of protecting the earth. For this reason, I recently reread this novel. I wa More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2011

Mick rated it:

Overall, a halfway decent read, but wouldn't call it "deep" in any way. The situations and story kept my interest, and I love national parks and the American West, so the places all had a familiar ring to me. But in order to enjoy all this you're gonna need to get passed the one-dimensional characters. Sorry, but these aren't actual people that you or I would give two shits about. Each one merely represents an idea or viewpoint. Edward Abbey wrote much like this earlier in Desert More...

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Apr 13, 2010

Elaine rated it:

We are reading this in my book club. So far I want to punch myself in the face. Hard. As hard as I possible can. Cartoon-like storyboard, self-important hippies that drive cars that use gas and miss the irony of that act, sexist men, hippies that talk about saving the environment as a "I care about stuff more than you, look at me I am such 'rebel' and everyone who disagrees is the Man" masturbation technique, annoying tense shifts, hippies, 7th grade creative writing descriptions of More...

5 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 02, 2009

Tony rated it:

Abbey, Edward. THE MONKEY WRENCH GANG. (1975). ***. This was very much a book of its times, when concerns for ecology and preservation of our natural environment was becoming of prime importance to a growing number of people in our country. As such, the novel struck home with all of these newly inspired and dedicated people, especially the younger people that were attracted to these causes. It reads today as a dated manifesto for forcifully reclaiming our natural surroundings – or at least More...

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Apr 12, 2011

Mykle rated it:

This novel has all the same elements that make Edward Abbey's non-fiction so compelling: the depth of his knowledge and emotions about the desert landscapes of Utah and Colorado, his poetic descriptions of same, and his eloquent condemnation of the loss of this wilderness for the sake of city-dwelling, industrial man.

This book has all of that on display in droves, but also it highlights some of his weaknesses: smart-assey movie dialogue, rampant sexism and a love of bad puns. His four More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Oct 05, 2009

Stacy rated it:

When I was about 12 years old, my dad took my sister and me camping in Southeast Utah. We took my dad's Ford truck with four wheel drive to Canyonlands National Park and went on various roads, back roads, dirt roads, and roads that were barely roads at all. We bumped around the slick rock of Ernies Country, and went up a narrow and twisty dirt road with a sheer cliff on one side. It terrified my sister and I so that we buckled into the middle seat together and sang hymns the whole way down. More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 10, 2009

Patrick rated it:

Anarchy is my middle name. Not really. It’s Thumper—like the bunny. Okay, maybe its Boring like what my friends call me. Well, at least they don’t call me late to blow up a damn.

As anarchy reined supreme in the 70’s a diverse fictional quartet of colorful characters set out to impede the effluence of industrialization spreading across the southwestern desert. Starting with the burning of billboards and working up to bulldozers and power towers, their ultimate goal is to destroy Lake More...

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Feb 07, 2010

Matt rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Dec 17, 2011

Ensiform rated it:

Four ecologically-minded misfits --- a jack Mormon, a surgeon, a nurse and a crazed Vietnam vet Green Beret --- form a group dedicated to the destruction of the system that pollutes and destroys their environs, the West. As their attacks on deserted bulldozers and trains continue, the law’s net closes in. Written with erudition, flair and down-home wit, the book’s descriptions ring true (Abbey made the West his home and practiced wilderness survival).

It’s an enjoyable, funny morality More...

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Jul 14, 2011

Andrew rated it:

The book really didn't get going, well at least exciting, until about 3/4 of the way through. The initial portion is more meandering and tells the story of how the characters formed up into their own little ELF group. Out to slow down, maybe even stop, the rate of destruction of the environment. Now, at no point was there any discussion about what they'd be willing to live with. A bridge here a dam there to save on gas and coal? Or back to the middle ages? Or simply a slower rate of destruction More...

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May 05, 2011

Ben rated it:

I am not an environmental enthusiast - a "tree-hugger". This is not to say that I don't understand the moral sympathies of such people, my enthusiasm simply falls into different categories. But like any good piece of literature, this story is not about circumstances, but about conflict and the natures of those waging it. This carefully-crafted, satirically pleasurable, intense and near-unbelievable story is about the courageously convicted against the farcical power of man's progress. More...

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Sep 14, 2010

Kat rated it:

The summer after I graduated from college I spent a lot of time out west, roaming the country between Salt Lake City, Utah and the beautiful park land nearby; Zion, Arches, Canyonlands, and a personal childhood favorite of mine, Goblin Valley, where the shadows cast by the rocks in the twilight evoke ghoulish figures creeping up on you from all sides. I love these landscapes, so different from the Connecticut hills I grew up in – the colors, smells, and emotions of the American West are somethin More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 15, 2010

Phillip rated it:

Sometimes the dialogue is contrived, perhaps the whole "getting into tight situations but inevitably coming out on top at the last second," is reminiscent of old pulp adventure stories, but the energy of challenging the system--of putting one's life on the line for a cause they believe in--is inspiring (as in making you want to blow up a Wal-Mart inspiring). Also Abbey's prose when describing the landscape is exciting and interesting--something I notice a lot of Southern/Southwestern More...

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Sep 18, 2011

Alice rated it:

As an artifact of its age, reflecting social mores and values at the time, this book is interesting. However, as an interesting story with engaging characters, I was unimpressed.

This book is given as a strong recommendation for a character to read in one of Carl Hiaasen's YA books, and so I took that as a signal that it must've informed young Carl's writing. That may well be true; a lot of the same themes and sort of scenarios crop up. However, this book lacked a clear narrative. More...

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Aug 02, 2011

Vance rated it:

This is not great literature by any stretch of the imagination nor is it's Abbeys best writing. But it's fun pulp and a lot of what is expressed in this book speaks to me on some level. Apparently it spoke to a lot of people since you can probably credit it with codifying the ideologies for Earth First, ELF and other such groups. I can't recommend this book as it focuses more on blowing things up than on expressing the reverence that Abbey is famous for, but if you are interested in knowing why More...

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Nov 01, 2011

Jordan rated it:

This book was recommended to me by a friend, it isn't the sort of book I would typically read. That being said, I did enjoy quite a few portions of the book even if I didn't like the entire tome. There were some fantastically funny segments, and some that really kind of bothered me. The book is definitely a product of its time, so one has to take it for what it is. I found the characters interesting, though they did have a few hypocritical quirks which bugged me. Their seeming lack of ability to More...

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Jun 04, 2009

Marvin rated it:

Let me just say I don't advocate blowing up dams. especially considering where I live, or driving heavy machinery over a cliff. Nonetheless it is difficult to feel anything but admiration for Edward Abbey's tale of misfit environmental terrorists. Vietnam veteran George Washing Hayduke III return to his beloved southwest only to see that it is being destroyed by corporate greed. He joins together with a band of misfits to fight back. What entails is a funny story mixing action adventure with Abb More...

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Aug 10, 2011

Longfellow rated it:

The Monkey Wrench Gang doesn't quite meet the qualifications for a page-turner in my estimation, but it definitely classifies as a fun read. Quirkiness in the characters and a unique setting (desert areas of the Southwest) reflect the originality of the author, that of both his life and his means of expression.

Perhaps as much as anything, I appreciate the seemingly absurd contradictions within the characters: George Hayduke wants to save the wild Southwest from roads, dams, bridges, a More...

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Feb 11, 2009

Alina rated it:

Environmental anarchists. Or perhaps they're not anarchists; they just appeal to the higher power of Mother Nature.

Enjoying it. Loving the characters and the little, hilarious gems (i.e., "'Doc, are you going to sit there like a lump of lard and let that hairy swine insult me?' 'Well... yes," Doc said, after due consideration. 'You better. I'm a full-grown woman, and I can take care of myself.'")

Okay, so the further on into the book I got, the harder it was More...

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Jan 05, 2011

Susan rated it:

I love the MWG. Read is once years ago and returned to it this summer at the beach. Hayduke and his band of looney/smart/skilled/drunken/sex-ridden environmentalists take on bridge and dam-builders in the high skies of the Real West. On foot, on horseback, using old and new devices and techniques, they bring down the Big Guys who have been wrecking the planet for scores of years, all in the name of profit and a "better way of life" for all, both perpetrators and victims. Intricacies More...

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Apr 11, 2009

Millicent rated it:

Edaward Abbey, like Hemingway (<3 For Whom the Bell Tolls), can't seem to write beyond his own experience. You really can't forgive them their trespasses, and I am so glad I don't have to interact with them or their characters (much less fight a war/plan direct actions...): self-centered white manarchists are a frustration unto themselves. In sum, Hemingway and Abbey cannot write a woman for shit. But holy hell I love their men.

This book was fun and fast and exciting. None too More...

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Jan 07, 2009

Brad rated it:

Yes! The fact that it has been so long since I spent time with this great book can only be attributed to my own negligence. An Abbey should be re-read once a year at least; I shamefully admit that it has been far longer than that since I last visited the Monkey Wrench Gang and their pledge to purge the American Southwest of industrialization. Two thoughts on this latest go-through:

First, the hysterical seriousness, the absurd contradictions, the cheap shots and sly innuendos that mak More...

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