The Monkey Wrench Gang by Edward Abbey (1975).
One day, on a river trip to Glen
Canyon, four strangers, after long conversation over campfire about society,
government, river, etc., agree on one thing:
they are the last stand against
all the establishments that threaten the beloved Glen Canyon and its river.
So they start the sabotages on
bridges, trains, construction sites and all heavy equipment’s around the river.
The first ever home breed eco
terrorist group, The Monkey Wrench Gang is born!
P
|
layers. –It’s
basically four wacky heroes versus one egomaniac. Here is fab-four, The Monkey Wrench Gang:
Seldom seen Smith. A Mormon river guide who knows all the
terrain around Colorado River, Glen Canyon and Southwest America. He has
several wives and they call him seldom seen because they get to see him only
once in a blue moon.
A gentle,
cautious and reasonable man. Gang’s leader, I think. Hannibal.
George W. Hayduke. Veteran
Green Beret who survives Vietnam and now safely back home. But like most of soldiers
from Vietnam, he can help himself but looking for another war and finds it in
The Monkey Wrench Gang.
He
looks and talks like a savage caveman. He is always heavily armed and extremely
dangerous. Also, he leaves his signature “Rudolph the Red” on every site he
terrorises.
Your
basic description of crazy psychopath. Mr. T.
A.K. Sarvis, M.D. A
gifted Armenian surgeon who is the financial back born of The gang. He is the
one comes up with the strict rule that they will never harm anyone. Only
bridges and mines and anything made out of plastic and metal need their attention,
he says.
After
his wife passed away, he spends his time like a walking zombie until he meets
Abzug. Murdoch with clear mind.
Ms. Bonnie. Abzug. An
absolutely gorgeous hippie girl form Brooklyn.
She
is an assistant/nurse/lover of Dr. Sarvis. She has been chainsaw-cutting
billboard sighs in highway with Dr. Sarvis until she founds TMWG with others. Face.
TMWG’s
final goal is Glen Canyon Dem and they are plotting and musing about it all the
time.
And
the bad guy is
Bishop Love. Multi-millionaire
red neck Mormon businessman who wants to be a mayor and beyond. He is a leader
of a search and rescue team and vigorously goes after The Monkey Wrench Gang.
Vicious
psychopath who will do anything to do whatever he pleases. Just a fantastic
Super villain every good adventure novel need.
All
of gang members including Love have amazing background story to tell and that
is one of the main attraction of this book.
P
|
lace. – American
Southwest around Grand Canyon. The land of dead, no man’s land, you name it.
Most of it is just endless horizon of land with nothing much in it except harsh
weather and wild nature. The author however describes the land with such a care
and love, you sometime get the strange feeling that vast nothingness is
actually cool.
Nature
aside, wherever there are bridges, mines, high way expansions and trains, you
can be assured that out gangs will be there with their full gears.
P
|
lot. – Even if
the subject matter is quite violent and what they are doing is completely
insane, this book is actually filled with humor and great characters.
There are
two things that carries the story on this book. One is four totally different,
complicated and crazy yet fantastic characters and the other is the actual acts
of attack.
The ecological
sabotage that causes all the havoc, not to mention cost millions of dollars to
government and cooperation is so random, simple and brutal, it’s almost like watching
preschoolers play with their toys on playground. I mean, they are destroying one
ton, small house-size bulldozer with sugar and syrup!! And since there is no
internet in 70's to get all the know-hows, the gangs are learning their trade by trial
and mistakes. You know, like, sometimes use too much syrup, sometimes use too little
dynamites, something like that. It’s hilarious.
The basic
storyline is as follow:
1. River trip.
The Monkey Wrench Gang emerges.
2. Basic planning
with Dr. Sarvis’ big wallet.
3. Ecological
wrecking!! All the fun begins.
4. More
sabotages. Authorities and local red neck gangs lead by Love start to caching
on to TMWG.
5. More
sabotages. Finally, the luck starts running out.
6. Every law
enforcement outlet is after them and none of them is interested in catching
them alive. Can TMWG survive? If they do, what about their final and ultimate
objective, the magnificent Glen Canyon Dem?
V
|
I
am also quite surprised that this book did not inspire quite a few aspiring eco-terrorists
to do exactly the same thing TMWG is doing to the real life
because this book makes eco-terrorism
so cool!! Or maybe I just don’t know about it. It’ll be interesting to find
out.
This
book is funny, often hilarious, exciting with several chasing
sequences and also occasionally educational about life in the desert. It has everything, you know.
It’s
a truly unique book which glorify horrible act of ( eco-) terrorism, yet somehow
manages to stay humorous, intelligent and convincing.
Act of sabotaging civilization
has never been this cool!!
