Hayduke Lives!

Monkey Wrench Gang #2

by Edward Abbey

The sequel to The Monkey Wrench Gang featuring the ex-Green Beret George Washington Hayduke who was thought dead, but lives to fight again. The author has also written Desert Solitaire and Fool's Progress.

Genres: Fiction, Environment, Nature, Literature, Adventure, Novels, Politics

308 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1990

About the author

Edward Paul Abbey (1927–1989) was an American author and essayist noted for his advocacy of environmental issues, criticism of public land policies, and anarchist political views.

Abbey attended college in New Mexico and then worked as a park ranger and fire lookout for the National Park Service in the Southwest. It was during this time that he developed the relationship with the area’s environment that influenced his writing. During his service, he was in close proximity to the ruins of ancient Native American cultures and saw the expansion and destruction of modern civilization.

His love for nature and extreme distrust of the industrial world influenced much of his work and helped garner a cult following.

Abbey died on March 14, 1989, due to complications from surgery. He was buried as he had requested: in a sleeping bag—no embalming fluid, no casket. His body was secretly interred in an unmarked grave in southern Arizona.

Reviews

[Andy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wanted to find out what happened next to the gang but after a few chapters I felt like I was standing in line at a mini-mart checkout with all those porno magazines staring at you wherever you look. I was disappointed in how dirty old cactus Ed became and didn't even finish this one.

[David Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

After re-reading The Monkey Wrench Gang recently, I learned that there was a sequel. I wanted to read it while the other book was still fresh in my mind, and I'm glad I did.

This volume features the same looney cast of characters, and it was an enjoyable read. I felt like it didn't flow as well as the first book did, and a couple of the chapters were way too long. But the opening and closing chapters brought a little bit of Desert Solitaire to the plot, which added to the overall feel of the book.

I believe this is the last book Abbey wrote, and I think it was actually published posthumously. As I was reading it, I was reminded of the last two or three Paul Simon albums. This is not at all my favorite period of Simon's career. At times, you feel like he’s lost his muse. The melodies are less rich, and the arrangements are sparse and sometimes feel colorless. It’s an interesting period where he isn’t as inspired and is probably somewhat tired yet, at the same time, he is at the top of his game in that he has the benefit of a full lifetime of experience to work with now. Plus I think he probably feels freer to do whatever strikes his fancy than he might have earlier in his career. So, on a second or third listening, you start to notice quirky, unconventional stuff that you never would have heard on an earlier Paul Simon album. And, in that way, this later work informs his early and middle periods by providing a contrast to them.

I feel like Hayduke Lives! does the same thing for Abbey. One thing that surprised me about the book was the killings. It seemed pretty clear to me all the way through the first book that these weren't the kind of people who would ever take a human life. And yet it happens in this book, and more than once. This made me think of John Lennon in the Beatles song “Revolution”, where he can't seem to decide whether he’s open to potentially violent confrontation or not as he sings the words “When you talk about destruction, well, brother, you know that you can count me out… in… out.”

After all, when wilderness is developed, it’s gone forever. So it’s worth asking: Do we just let that happen without putting up a fight when the end result is that a few people get rich while the rest of the human race, including all future generations, loses its birthright forever? I don’t know the answer, but I don’t think it’s an easy one.

[Austin Spence · Rating 2 out of 5]

Allllllrighty so I am going to assume the batshit craziness of this book has something to do with it being published a year after Abbey passed.

It had its moments, but the juicy plot points were drowned out by unnecessary fodder.

The main crew still rocks, though.

[Colin K-D · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun uplifting ecotage

[Will T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book, it is hard not to embrace your anarchic side and go tip over bulldozers for Mother Nature. The characters are this story, their weirdo personalities alone make it engaging compelling. I really like Edward Abbey’s writing style and his messages of questioning authority and resisting industrial growth in the name of the wilderness resound deeply with me. His depiction of women is still feels sexist to me, but it is hard to tell if this is thematic or not. I really like everything about this book but the sexism doesn’t always help the message. If you want to read a fitting parody (with some truth) about the characters roaming the SW United States, this is a killer book. I must be getting homesick because that’s all I’m reading these days.

[Charlie Davidson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Worst book I’ve read in ten years

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of Edward Abbey’s writing, beyond Desert Solitaire and The Monkey Wrench Gang. This book is a follow-up to The Monkey Wrench Gang, but I don’t think it measured up to the original.

Sequels are tough and oftentimes not worth it, not if they weren’t intended from the get-go. Once in a while, a follow-up can come along that’s great, but it’s a pretty high bar to pick a story back up that didn’t seem to initially have that purpose.

From what I understand, Edward Abbey was still writing this book up until he died and his estate moved forward with publishing it.

The story follows the original Monkey Wrench Gang as one member seeks to bring them all back together to help him with a final, large project of sabotage. The goal is to take down a giant machine built and used to tear away the natural landscape of the southwest desert in the name of manmade, capitalist-driven progress. But the group is being monitored by government agents through a former Mormon missionary they’ve hired to infiltrate gatherings of the gang, as well as meetings of a group of young activists called Earth First! The agents are sure that the original gang has connections to the other group.

The story is written in typical Edward Abbey form, except it’s rougher than his other writing. It feels incomplete, not fully edited. The first chapter and the last few are the best in the novel. They seem more true to his story-telling once refined. His humor is present, as well as his snarky characterizations of different groups of people. The outline of the plot is interesting and fun, the bulk of the actual writing, though, not as much.

For someone working their way through the catalog of writing by Abbey, it’s an okay read, at best. It’s a take it or leave it kind of book. It doesn’t add anything to what can be gleaned from his other work. For those lightly reading Abbey, who are more likely to only read one or both of his better-known works (mentioned above), I recommend not picking this one up. It’s not worth the time.

[Geoff Winston Leghorn Balme · Rating 4 out of 5]

The follow-up to the eco-warrior's bible The Monkey-Wrench Gang has our heroes once again coming to the rescue of the fragile and over-grazed southwest (Abbey's beloved lands) which are once again being sold and perverted for the short term gains of profiteers (so it goes and has been going for as long as we can remember--i note that Franzen borrowed a bit on this theme as well for Freedom) . . . or, depending how you look at it, being carefully exploited by savvy businessmen who wish to "better mankind's lot" through the use of outrageously destructive equipment in order to extract the mineral wealth . . . OK there's no way I can argue for the industrial complex after having just digested a couple of Father Ed's works, but you get the picture. The humor in the story is perfectly well done, if a bit flat-footed in terms of painting the profiteers in a far less than congenial light, but that's the job. When your sexy several story several thousand ton excavation equipment is crushing the life out of turtles it's hard to see the sweet side.
Abbey is dearly missed and I don't know who fills his much needed role today.

[Pamela · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book seriously disappointed me in many ways. At one point, about to quit going any further, I told myself I wasn't giving the book enough of a chance. Plus I'm generally reluctant to abandon a book I start. It's a problem I'm trying to learn to let go easier, and move on to something else.

Well, I gave Abbey some more room. This book is a sequel to his more popular book Monkey Wrench Gang, and as I remember it was okay, but not great. I think I rated it higher than the book deserved. More for some of the sentiment. Well, this one sank, and far. Maybe, just maybe, it was due to the book being unfinished and published after Abbey died. But I doubt it. The book was awful in the writing.

There were parts of the story that started to be interesting, yet I could not get beyond the characterizations of the people. It would not quit. Everyone was sexualized and it was completely unnecessary. Then there was racial slurs. I cannot believe that this book published in the 1990s was allowed to let this go. There was no reason for it. Surprisingly, I got to around 30% of the book and I could care less about any of it.

[J Bjo · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is fanfiction shorts by the author. Every female character has her sexual anatomy described and she'll likely be harassed by male characters at each appearance. If you dig at the bottom of barrells for nostaglia, have at it. Was this published posthumous? Seems unfinished, not in a 'cliff-hanger, wait for book three' way. I recommend reading Desert and Monkey then move on. That said, the final chapters may have been written in priority and contain, in my opinion, the better chunk of writing and narrative.

[James Biser · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sequel to The Monkey Wrench Gang and continues the story of the main characters. George Washington Hayduke is still alive, waging war on the institutions and individuals who are spoiling the wild places of the Western United States. He finds and requests the help of his friends that were his monkey wrenching partners previously. This is a great story about standing up for what is important.
I love the way the story begins and ends with a desert tortoise. The book is written beautifully.

My only complaint is in the sarcastic, preachy quality of the book.

[Eugene Miya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abbey's conclusion is a little wak and may disappoint some. It could have been stronger.

Kind of a corresponding book might be Ecotopia Rising by Ernest Callenbach. Sorry sequels do ten to be weaker, and this shows it.

[Richp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sequels are often lesser works, and that is true in this case. Still, I liked it.

[Kyle York · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another great and final chapter for the quartet of characters from the first Monkey Wrench Gang, but that only amounts to about half the book.

The rest is rife with preaching, disjointed arcs, tangential rants, a splash of racism, and a whole lot of horniness. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still on Abbey’s side when it comes to defending the southwest, but this sequel relies more on shouting its message at you than the first, which expertly wove its morals into a thrilling tale. That maybe some people’s thing, but I prefer a strong story that delivers its message through nuance and narrative.

Then again, this is Abbey’s last, posthumous book, so
I wouldn’t really give a fuck about what other people thought either.

[Jason Hackney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was highly anticipating the anti-hero George W. Heyduke. The first book was gripping and carried a smooth plot till the end. Unfortunately, this sequel did not live up to the first, as many sequels don't. There were flashes of Abbey's brilliance in descriptive writing like in Desert Solitude and the Monkey Wrench Gang, but not a full load. It took forever for a story to take shape and the writing seemed more interested in painting charitures for a long while. The end of the book brought back the old flavor and if you were a fan of the second, you have to follow the trail. It's worth the read, but not the keep.

3.5/5

[Pam Coon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another read by Edward Abbey, and the sequel to The Monkeywrench Gang. Hayduke lives on infamously (certainly even to this day) providing daring and absurdly on-the-edge escapades to thwart development of the Glen Canyon Gang, riling the establishment and the bureaucracy that run our government, often with abandon, corruption, and carelessness. This book was touted as scandalous by Smithsonian. it is. And it's a fabulous read. Hayduke lives. May he always. He is accompanied in this book, by George, Bonnie, and Seldom Seen Smith and adds Oral and Erika to the group. A delightful and daring read.

[Liam McKinnon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Edward Abbey in his from-the-grave, cantankerous, giving even fewer shits than every glory. The writing is critical of the government, land owners, ranchers, the BLM, the Forest Service, hippies, Mormons, the FBI, other religions, men, women, immigrants, construction workers, raft guides, jocks, politicians (regional up to federal) children of hippies, the left, polygamists, the right, poets, post secondary education and people who believe in short and concise sentences. It isn't as exciting as the Monkey Wrench Gang, or as poetic as the regular desert musing, but there's still enough Abbey-ness to keep you smiling. Also the 4250-D Walking Dragline is an excellent antagonist.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was Edward Abbey’s belated sequel to The “Monkey Wrench Gang” and final novel. It’s both a direct sequel that picks up shortly after the events of the previous novels, and a meta comment on the cult status and impact of its predecessor (it having basically stated the eco-sabotage movement). As a whole, it’s a lesser book. That said it’s still a rude, funny, sardonic, transcendental Abbey outing that revisits his beloved characters of T.M.W.G. It does perhaps spend too much time on some new characters, but it’s not without its appeal or charm. Some other reviews accused it of being less believable and more episodic than its predecessor. I would say that’s unfair. It’s really not any more episodic or less believable in my eyes. I would say if you really loved T.M.W.G. and you go in knowing that nearly all sequels aren’t as good, it’s an enjoyable and recommended read.

[Kenzie O’Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes reading Edward Abbey feels like trudging through a swamp because there are just so many layers! I want to understand everything! Spent a while trying to come up with a coherent review before realizing that coherent doesn’t really fit this book. But in a good way. I think? Outdated but clever, sickening but inspiring, vulgar but hilarious. I find none of the characters completely likeable but root for them all, even the bad ones? This book is the antithesis of the American dream and I LOVE IT.

[Laur M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edward Abbey is a stream of consciousness, alliterative chronicler of the Southwest. He seems very much influenced by Jack Kerouac. This is an entertaining sequel written 10-12 years after The Monkey Wrench Gang. Unfortunately, this book is more dated than the 1970’s Monkey Wrench Gang with its increased sexualization of women and the landscape. It reminds me of the sexism rampant within the environmental movement of the 1970’s and 1980’s.

[Henry DeForest · Rating 5 out of 5]

This sequel was all around quite enjoyable. It managed to create novel and legitimate environmental commentary while simultaneously serving as an engrossing story— exploring in-universe living legends and generally-interesting subplots. This book was not perfect, and in many respects it was inferior to its former, but it stands on its own two feet, not simply being a repeat of The Monkey Wrench Gang, and has earned its place on my shelf.

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not quite as fun - and in fact, a bit meaner than - its predecessor, but still enjoyable to revisit these characters. It seems like Abbey was wrestling a bit with the potential repercussions of the Gang (both the actions of the characters and the book that he wrote) and how a movement could grow out of it for good and bad. In that sense, it's more meditative and less propulsive and harder to fully connect with, but a good read nonetheless.

[Janine Toomey]

I did not get too deep into this book before I realized I was not going to be in for the long haul. It felt raunchy and misguided. I ventured over to Goodreads and found I was not alone. I learned the book was published posthumously from a manuscript found after Abbey's death. I choose to believe he would have fiercely edited the work and brought us a good follow-up to MWG with some pleading direction on how to save the environment.

[Allan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The sequel to the Monkey Wrench Gang. Edward Abbey's last book in print. It was unfinished before his death. At times the book appears to drip with sarcasm; but overall it is a good read that reflects Abbeys musings. Would recommend it to anyone interested in the issues our public lands face. the face the same attacks now as they did in 1989 when the book was written.

[Ashley Wood · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wish I could say that I liked this more 😤 I was looking forward to reading it. People are right though, the sex talk was too much... it just didn’t go with the story?? Pointless and it took away from the actual plot of the novel. I mean at one point Glen Canyon was compared to a hairless vagina 🙄

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A disjointed, cynical, and unsatisfying sequel to the much loved 1975 novel The Monkey Wrench Gang published after Abbey's death. This novel was less fun, less goodhearted, more deadly, and much more sexualized. Still, there were sections that shined with Abbey's wit and sharp insight and the last chapters were both strong and coherent.

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've been trying to get my hands on a copy of this for years as I absolutely *loved* the original Monkey Wrench Gang, but this was so loaded with misogyny it quickly became an unpleasant read. Every woman in the book was just a prop for the men's sexual needs. Do yourself a favor and don't diminish the legacy of the Monkey Wrench Gang with this mess.

[Autumn Sunshine · Rating 4 out of 5]

God, I wanted to like this one so bad… Monkey Wrench Gang blew my mind when I read it back in the fall. The sequel really falls short though. This book is too heavily cluttered with new characters, and wow was it more sexiest than the first one. I’m giving it 4 stars simply because it gives glimpses of the OG characters I fell in love with in the first book.

[Lukas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked how the end referenced the beginning, and reading more about our favourite characters. Otherwise, this felt like a very tryhard continuation and copy of a story/style that was once very successful, only more sexist, raceist and ableist. I would not recommend reading this, keep the book closed after Monkey Wrench Gang!

[Nathan Szwarc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes it felt like an erotic fantasy novel, but I see the deeper meaning where ed is coming from. Makes me miss the desert and the quietness of it all. Society is on a constant treadmill of progress nothing will ever be enough until it is too much. But incredible ending I only wish I knew where George Hayduke would land next