Hayduke Lives!

As a sequel to his great 'Monkey Wrench Gang' this is one continuously funny romp in Abbey's notably acerbic style. A couple of his characters are drawn as such ludicrous and one-dimensional individuals that they detract from the story line a bit, but it's still hilarious, on target, and worth reading.

In "The Monkey Wrench Gang," Edward Abbey told the story of four friends who decide to do whatever possible to stop the explotation and overdevelopment of the West. Mainly, they blow stuff up and wreck machines, but they have a fun time doing it.In "Hayduke Lives!," the sequel to that book, Edward Abbey returns to those characters and tries to stir them up to action once again, this time with the threat of a giant bulldozer about to destroy a beautiful canyon.Yeah....First of all, do not read this until you've read "The Monkey Wrench Gang" first. And even then, think about it carefully before reading this half-formed, rambling, disappointing sequel.I loved "The Monkey Wrench Gang"--I've read it multiple times--and so the first fifty pages or so of this were just a lot fun to me, being reunited with the characters from that book.But then, the story never really goes anywhere. The novel constantly digresses to describe sex scenes or Earth First! rallies, and it's not until page 270(!) of a 307-page novel that the four original members of the Monkey Wrench Gang finally reunite.The book rambles on in an unfocused way that damages the characters that were so nicely formed in the first book, constantly digresses, and ultimately, unfortunately, becomes much more violent than "The Monkey Wrench Gang" ever did.The writing is occassionally good--sometimes even great--and some of the scenes are exciting, but none of it ever goes anywhere. There are too many characters and not enough character development, and the whole thing with the bulldozer comes across as lame and cheesy, especially when the first book set up their next goal to be something much bigger and more exciting--the destruction of Glen Canyon Dam.Read this only if you absolutely LOVED "The Monkey Wrench Gang," but even then, be warned that this might dampen your enthusiasm even for that book. It's pretty disappointing, especially coming from an author that we all know was capable of much, much better.

He can paint a picture in your mind of what it was like before they paved paradise...

I'm only a couple chapters in but of course happy to be back into the story with the "gang" again. This review covers the paper quality. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of this paperback. The pages are thick and smooth. The printing and cover are nice too. Such a pleasure to receive a book that feels so nice to hold. :-)

Abbey never wrote a bad book. I have been reading him for years. Reading his books over and over. A good part is because I have been to most places he wrote about in Canyon Country. I have seen the changes over the last 40 years. Now I stick to the Arizona strip and the Maze. So much lost.

I grew up in New Mexico and live here most of my life . Hiked and packed all over the west. Monkey wrenching came early and often. Ed was an inspiration to many of us always fighting delaying actions in the path of greedy progress

Such an important, hilarious book. Will open your mind and make you laugh most of the way through. Every character is such a legend, much like the author himself (flawed but still brilliant) To more "monkey wrenching" of the corporations and people ruining the natural world.

Not Desert Solitaire but still an excellent read. Abbey would be devastated with the disaster in the South West he so accurately predicted.Protecting the parks in The US seems to be a lost effort. The youth today are most anxious to throw rocks, break windows,turn over trash cansAnd scream vulgarities. While Yellowstone, the Smokie Mts., et al, quickly turn into huge smog filled traffic jams. Sad. I salute Edward Abbey. However, he does not rest in peace. In

Hayduke Lives! is not as good as its predecessor, The Monkey Wrench Gang, but it is at least as interesting.TMWG is more original and more exciting. Hayduke Lives! is slower and has more characters, many of the of peripheral importance to the story, but it probably does have a more exciting ending.TMWG is the book that gave birth to the radical environment movement Earth First! By the time he wrote the sequel Earth First! was almost a decade old, and here Abbey gets to comment on the movement he inspires - and I think we can safely say he loves them all.The result can be a little confusing. The fictional gang meet along the way the non-fictional Dave Foreman, co-founder of Earth First! as well as another real eco-warrior who appears on the last page (I won't give the game away by saying who). There is also an appearance by Earh First!'s ideological nemesis Murray Bookchin, fictionalised as Bernie Mushkin, who in a rant about eco-fascism name checks Abbey himself.You may not agree with Abbey's endorsement of ecological sabotage, and the gunplay towards the end of the book moves things on in a darker direction than TMWG, but you can't fail to be inspired by Abbey's deep love of the American southwest. The gang's reactionary tendencies probably jar with other progressive readers like myself, but they also provide a welcome contrast to idea of eco-warrior as liberal go-gooder.An interesting and inspiring read.

I'm pretty high up in the Edward Abbey disciple stakes. The man's a brilliant writer...a sage...a prophet...a wit...a revolutionary and an inspiration to anyone who shares his green vision.Furthermore,his political incorrecetness and his determination to plough his own furrow mark him out from the vegan fascists who do so much to damage the cause of envirionmentalism with their po faced fundementalism.After saying that.'Hayduke Lives' is a disappointment after the wonderfully cinematic vision of 'The Monkey Wrench Gang'. Ed is going through the motions.A contrived and rather silly final excursion for the gang.Goes to show....quit while your ahead. Thank God Abbey continued to write fine essays-published in various collections- right up to his death.If you haven't read Abbey yet. Don't start with this novel. It could be your last and his genius doesn't deserve that.

All the characters from The Monkey Wrench Gang return for another eco-farce played out amongst the canyon country of the Four Corners region of the good ole US of A.A very funny book that pokes fun at both sides of the Industry v Environment divide. Plenty of memorable characters and slapstick moments which had me laughing out loud a couple of times (a very rare occurrence for me when I'm reading - unless I'm reading The Viz of course).There is a serious side to it too with its hypothesis that the destruction of the environment cannot be stopped by human beings because consumption is like a gigantic machine that has enslaved mankind and from which there is no escape.Overall, I enjoyed this more than Monkey Wrench.

This book is marvellous !!! The sequel to the Monkey Wrench Gang is packed with Edward Abbeys wonderful descriptive prose and humour I laughed cried and was ( as usual when reading Edward Abbey) held in joyous slavery until the end I believe he finished the book a short time before he passed from this earth May he rest easy with the pinyon and cottonwood trees under the desert sky

after the all-time great genius of TMRG *****, such a let down. cauld kale rehet, as we say in Scotland. or revisiting your own... but not a bad 'holiday read' for green sympathisers