A Fool's Progress

I've never read Edward Abbey, but when Jay saw this book, he suggested I read The Monkey Wrench Gang, a book he had read in high school.

Seriously, what is it about me never hearing about authors and books that every.other.educated.person I know seems to know about? I've never heard of Edward Abbey and I only checked it out because it got great reviews on Amazon.com.

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 what, 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-indulgent and apparently moral-less, I'm not interested in his addictions or inability to commit or his lassez-faire attitude when it comes to love, work and person hygiene.

The writing is, I admit, good, but I'm a story girl...and the story is....bad.

You'd think he'd endear himself a little by calling himself a fool. By being so blatantly honest. But it only shows off his self-indulgence and egocentric perspective.

A Fool's Meandering is more like it. I witnessed no progress here.