The Monkey Wrench Gang (P.S.)

The real strength of The Monkey Wrench Gang for me was in Edward Abbey's gorgeous descriptions of the natural environments throughout South West America, particularly Utah. He had a sharp eye for detail and I particularly loved the passages evoking the plant life or vast rocky panoramas. That said, Abbey's whole novel is an entertaining tale, perhaps a little dated now in places, but I still enjoyed following the intrepid quartet along their roads to destruction.

I was not impressed. Many have said this book is essential reading and a fantastic story of direct action. But I couldn't get past the racism, sexism, absurdity and just plain datedness of it. It was not inspiring to me, in fact it was more tedious than anything.