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The Lobo Outback Funeral Home: A Novel
"The Lobo Outback Funeral A Novel" by Dave Foreman, Foreword by Doug Peacock. Jack Hunter, disillusioned and burned-out on environmental activism after years as a Sierra Club lobbyist, leaves Washington, D.C. for southwestern New Mexico's Diablo National Forest. Getting caught up in the bloody consequences of his cynicism, he discovers the true cost of not taking a stand for what he loves.
226 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 10, 2007
Possibly the worst book I've ever read. So bad, in fact, that it is worth reading for the sheer hilarity.
February 27, 2022
Surprisingly, because I had heard it was bad, I quite liked this book. Dave Foreman is an inspiration to me and a friendly colleague who has sung my praises for organizing anti-GMO crop trashing escapades. But I'm not biased.
I've been reading a lot of Tony Hillerman recently, and this book has the feel of one of his books. While not about the Dineh or Hopis, it is about the same region in New Mexico. It's about a campaign to add some wilderness to an already preserved region, the Diablo Wilderness, which local politicians are trying to delist as wilderness.
A very fun part of the book is that the wilderness additions are all named after Earth First!ers I know or have heard of: co-founder Ron Kezar, Mount Graham organizer Rod Mondt, and former EF! Journal editor John Davis.
Otherwise, there are no Earth First!ers in this book, but it should be of interest to EF!ers. It's about the kind of activist NGO lobbying and public promotional activism battles which, because it failed as a national strategy, led to the outgrowth of Earth First! in 1980.
The characters are appealing–except for the planet killers they are fighting, who are appropriately dimwitted and bigoted; the love scenes are well done, as are the descriptions of the wildland. (I sure want to check out southwestern New Mexico now!). The story is engaging throughout, although it suddenly wraps up in just the last few pages (maybe because of a publishers approaching deadline?)
Even though I would have liked some monkey wrenching scenes, like in "The Monkeywrench Gang," I think wilderness conservationist Earth Police of all stripes will enjoy this book, just as they would something written by Ed Abbey.
I've been reading a lot of Tony Hillerman recently, and this book has the feel of one of his books. While not about the Dineh or Hopis, it is about the same region in New Mexico. It's about a campaign to add some wilderness to an already preserved region, the Diablo Wilderness, which local politicians are trying to delist as wilderness.
A very fun part of the book is that the wilderness additions are all named after Earth First!ers I know or have heard of: co-founder Ron Kezar, Mount Graham organizer Rod Mondt, and former EF! Journal editor John Davis.
Otherwise, there are no Earth First!ers in this book, but it should be of interest to EF!ers. It's about the kind of activist NGO lobbying and public promotional activism battles which, because it failed as a national strategy, led to the outgrowth of Earth First! in 1980.
The characters are appealing–except for the planet killers they are fighting, who are appropriately dimwitted and bigoted; the love scenes are well done, as are the descriptions of the wildland. (I sure want to check out southwestern New Mexico now!). The story is engaging throughout, although it suddenly wraps up in just the last few pages (maybe because of a publishers approaching deadline?)
Even though I would have liked some monkey wrenching scenes, like in "The Monkeywrench Gang," I think wilderness conservationist Earth Police of all stripes will enjoy this book, just as they would something written by Ed Abbey.
February 4, 2008
Dave Foreman is a brilliant activist - but he's apparently not a novelist. This story reads like a text book read aloud on an empty stage by bad actors. I know a lot more now than I did before about wolves, the Diablo Wilderness in New Mexico, and political obstacles that environmental activists have to overcome, but I had to learn it through one-dimensional cardboard characters and expository dialogue. If you're looking for a good story, look somewhere else. If you want to learn more about environmental activism, well, maybe you should still look somewhere else.
April 25, 2017
There isn't much fiction to choose from when it comes to ecological writings. In Dave Foreman's "The Lobo Outback Funeral Home", a tremendous exception is made.
Foreman, known mostly for his involvement in the radical environmental group Earth First! and his non-fiction on the subjects of overpopulation, monkey wrenching (let's call that fiction for right now) and rewilding, brings us a fun, violent and devastating story of conservation gone wrong.
Retired conservation lobbyist Jack Hunter returns home to rural New Mexico, home of one of the few remaining expanses of wilderness left in the southwest, the fictional Rio Diablo. Upon his return he picks up horseshoeing as a trade and hides away in the desert, hiking the local mountains and trying to forget his past life lobbying for lost causes in Washington^.
Of course, a girl comes into play with a differing view of conservation. MaryAnne McClellan is a research conservation biologist, hellbent on conserving the wilderness they both love. A torrid love affair is immediately obvious, and Foreman writes it much better, though verbose at times, than one would expect from a conservationist.*
This is, however, not a feel-good story. What ensues is a violent battle to conserve the wilderness, with crooked local militant police, corrupt politicians, and violent good old boys fighting against it. Cactus, arson, wolf traps, cleavers, cholla and a mineshaft combine to tell the story, and although this is an excellent work of fiction, you won't walk away from it smiling.
^Coming from someone working in the conservation industry, Foreman's background here is extremely well-researched and his depictions of conservation at the federal level are extremely accurate.
*Dave Foreman succeeds at what Edward Abbey often failed at: wiriting about love. While there were plenty of attempts, and works of his non-fiction (Fire Lookout) and fiction (Black Sun) have their own place and are enjoyable reads, Foreman's passionate affair between Jack and MaryAnne is much more believable than the relationships his friend Abbey wrote about.
Foreman, known mostly for his involvement in the radical environmental group Earth First! and his non-fiction on the subjects of overpopulation, monkey wrenching (let's call that fiction for right now) and rewilding, brings us a fun, violent and devastating story of conservation gone wrong.
Retired conservation lobbyist Jack Hunter returns home to rural New Mexico, home of one of the few remaining expanses of wilderness left in the southwest, the fictional Rio Diablo. Upon his return he picks up horseshoeing as a trade and hides away in the desert, hiking the local mountains and trying to forget his past life lobbying for lost causes in Washington^.
Of course, a girl comes into play with a differing view of conservation. MaryAnne McClellan is a research conservation biologist, hellbent on conserving the wilderness they both love. A torrid love affair is immediately obvious, and Foreman writes it much better, though verbose at times, than one would expect from a conservationist.*
This is, however, not a feel-good story. What ensues is a violent battle to conserve the wilderness, with crooked local militant police, corrupt politicians, and violent good old boys fighting against it. Cactus, arson, wolf traps, cleavers, cholla and a mineshaft combine to tell the story, and although this is an excellent work of fiction, you won't walk away from it smiling.
^Coming from someone working in the conservation industry, Foreman's background here is extremely well-researched and his depictions of conservation at the federal level are extremely accurate.
*Dave Foreman succeeds at what Edward Abbey often failed at: wiriting about love. While there were plenty of attempts, and works of his non-fiction (Fire Lookout) and fiction (Black Sun) have their own place and are enjoyable reads, Foreman's passionate affair between Jack and MaryAnne is much more believable than the relationships his friend Abbey wrote about.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews