BLK SUN (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

***Spoiler Alert***So I don't usually write reviews, but I can't help it with this book because every review I read of it seems to miss what I felt was the point of the book. Hey, maybe I'm wrong, but until I came to this conclusion I honestly thought this book was pointless, and perhaps even a little embarrassing for such a fantastic writer. Some passages had me asking, really? Isn't he just a bit ashamed of this obvious old man fantasy or whatever? And then I realized I'm only a year younger than the main character so perhaps I might want to think a little deeper.Hitting my mid-30s honestly does feel a little old. Not because I am truly old, but I'm not young anymore. And I think that is really what this is all about. A man, over the hump of youth, has a few kids, an ex-wife who no longer inspires him, has grown world weary and tired of the repetition of history, etc. etc. Retreat to the woods to get away from it. And along comes youth. The intoxication of youth, the memory of who we all once were when the world was big and amazing and new and our whole lives were ahead of us.In this way, Sandy is a merely a representation of the most basic of the elements of youth - innocence, physical ability, virginity, curiosity, recklessness, needing direction from those older, etc. And Will is the washed up older guy who forgot all of that, but in becoming her teacher, so to speak, he could almost - almost - relive a youthful experience. Feel alive again.And this is why he doesn't marry her, doesn't commit. As much as he loves her, or whatever it is he feels - the nostalgia, the inspiration - he knows where it's going. She'll have children, age and then end up right where he is. Where we all end up. And then what? Will he start over with another young one and play it out all over again? And again?Contrast this with Ballantine's rants about women, and you can kind of see what his general views on this were as an older guy who was unhappy in a world where women were asking to be more than wives...the subservient younger type is his type.Anyway, so she disappears in some sort of metaphorical way to explain that at age 37, like it or not, youth is OVER. Sorry people, it is. Sandy is gone because that time has gone. It's telling that at the end he jokingly orders hemlock at the restaurant. (Also, that type of woman is on the way out. They're "liberated" now. How Abbey squirms at the thought of a liberated woman - in more than just this book.) Sandy (aka his youth) is over, so why bother anymore? What more is down the pike from here? Just more aging. The inspiration of youth will never return. That, everyone, can be true despair. Man it's tough seeing more behind you than lies ahead!Am I right? I don't know. But it made sense to me. We can never go back, not even with a younger lover. Everyone ages. It's extremely pessimistic but it is the only way I can explain this book to myself. If it's not this, then it's just a dumb story about a boring middle aged man going through a mid-life crisis who had a lucky fling with a beautiful young girl and then she left and who knows what happened to her and now he's sad, waaahhhh.

Annoying and frustrating objectification of women through this entire book. It wasn’t romantic. It wasn’t cute. It wasn’t heartfelt… Written by a man for men.I liked the premise - Will - older man (not really, he was 37), Sandy - younger woman (she was 19), sex in the forests, blissful solitude deep in the mountains, she disappears, he’s heartbroken. Nice backbone, but no meat.The conversations between the two are frenzied, terse, quippy and snarky. Not real or believable. He refers to her as “the girl” when not in direct conversation with her. He says he would marry her, but when she asks if he loves her, he refuses to answer her… But the real chauvinistic star is the friend Ballantine. Absolutely cringe-worthy. He writes sexist, vomit-inducing letters to Will, one includes his tirade of how prostitution should be legalized and “open to all girls, all women, of any age… who think they have something to offer men…”. This is after he’s left by a lover, “my delicious Darnelle… has flown my coop and left me stranded high and dry. Of course she’s replaceable - there’s fifty thousand waiting for me in this one city alone…”I’m by no means a feminist, or find myself particularly offended by men’s more egotistical notions of women and relationships, but, the male characters in this book are pathetic. No wonder the ladies left them.

Black Sun is a heartbreaking work of quiet beauty that is both surprising to behold and quintessentially Edward Abbey. Black Sun tells the story of a disaffected college professor who eschews his life and society for the solitude and peace of the Utah Wilderness.His life is a good one until he meets a lovely young tourist who shakes him from his complacency and alters his life forever.

I was pretty much fully aware of what I was getting into with this book and as many other reviews have pointed out this is a book with a middle-aged or older man's sexual fantasies about a younger girl. It probably reveals more about how men think then men really should be revealing but it is certainly Edward Abbey in every way shape and form.Abbey's descriptions of fire lookout and the work there are outstanding and I loved it. The whole romance narrative (and I'm somewhat reluctant to use that word) would have ruined the book if it were not for the ending. The ending is pure, Edward Abbey magic but I intend to reveal no more. It is worth the read.(BTW: Good backpack book. Light, paperback, and fits the surroundings)

I first read this book many years ago (30?) after the classic Monkey Wrench. At the time I thought it was cute fluff, of stuff that only happens in real life when there’s lots of money involved. Not anymore. Now, nearing 60 and having just ended a year long relationship with a 24 year old beauty (she moved back to Texas) I read it again and understand why EA felt it was his best book. It is. Read it and dream, just like Gavin did.

Abby's best book was DESERT SOLITAIRE. MONKEY WRENCH GANG pure vandalism. Doesn't speak well for environmental movement. GOOD NEWS waste of time. FIRE ON THE MOUNTAIN was entertaining.

Book came in good condition as described. I do prefer Abbey nonfiction. Two of my all time favorite books are Desert Solitaire and Down The River. I've read almost all of Abbey and regarding his fiction writing, only the original Monkey Wrench Gang was better than this IMO.

As with all of Abbey's writing, the descriptions of nature are incredibly effective and evocative. I doubt anyone has ever surpassed them for clarity and beautiful precision. But his dialog and characters are the problem here: everyone thinks or talks the same, with a self-conscious lyricism that probably sounds good as a stage speech but has zero relationship to how people really talk. This flaw made it impossible for me to believe in, or care about, any of the characters. Plus the denouement, such as it is, is so cryptic as to be basically non-existent. Sigh. Just read Desert Solitaire.

Magnifique roman sur l’amour disparu.La nature sauvage est prégnante comme toujours chez Edward Abbey.