Abbey's Road (Paperback)

~ (Author) "For me, the journey to Australia began with an abstract seige of time and space in a QANTAS (Queensland and Northern Territory Air Service) 707..." (more)
Key Phrases: train crept, fire lookout, thorns starfish, Park Service, Dick Nunn, Anna Creek (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Curmudgeon, environmental brawler, and literary desert rat, Edward Abbey nursed dreams of one day walking out into the wild "to become one with the landscape. To just... disappear." He made valiant efforts to make good on that dream of escape in sometimes harebrained, often dangerous expeditions to difficult places, adventures some of which are recounted in this lively collection of essays.

The first part of Abbey's Road is given to a walkabout in the outback of Australia, whose scattered human settlements remind Abbey of towns in the American West, "although not so blatantly ugly." Having ignored good advice not to stray too far afield in that waterless place and lived to tell the tale, Abbey turns later in the book to other desert landscapes (islands in the Gulf of California, remote corners of the Grand Canyon, and the like) before delivering a series of trademark yawps against the forces that would just as soon bulldoze such places as protect them. Along the way Abbey recalls his work as a seasonal park ranger (which yielded his incomparable memoir, Desert Solitaire) and fire lookout, offers a few tongue-in-cheek words in defense of rednecks, and muses on the effects of hallucinogenic drugs and the virtues of his "slapstick, slapdash, sex-crazed manner"--all good and generally good-natured pieces, even if a few of them are now showing signs of age.

If you're new to Abbey's work, Abbey's Road is not the best place to start; have a look at The Best of Edward Abbey or The Serpents of Paradise, two sturdy, career-spanning collections. But if you've read his better-known books and want to have a closer look at the man behind them, Abbey's Road is the one to follow. --Gregory McNamee

Product Description

Abbey's explorations include the familiar territory of the Rio Grande in Texas, Canyonlands National Park, and Lake Powell in Utah. He also takes readers to such varied places as Scotland, the interior of Australia, the Sierra Madre, and Isla de la Sombra in Mexico.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Plume; Trade Paperback Edition edition (January 30, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452265649
• ISBN-13: 978-0452265646
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #594,455 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Abbey is great, but this collection is not his best, July 14, 1999

By A Customer

Do not let this book be your introduction to Edward Abbey. There is plenty of brilliance here, but an established fan will be able to appreciate that brilliance best.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wistfully Abbey's best desert writing outside USA, June 26, 1996

By A Customer

This wistful collection of essays captures the spirit, the essence of the great deserts of Australia and Mexico. There is a yearning for all that is wild in the great Australian outback which captures the reader's inner core. Abbey makes clear that though Australia is his kind of place he is obliged to return to his mother country. He captures the spirit of place by describing the weird smells emanating from gedgi trees, the bitter taste of Aussie Black Swan lager, the distant and near views of Ayers Rock, his longing for an Aussie barmaid who almost accepts his invitation to travel with him in a rented 2-wheel drive vehicle across the impenetrable western desert. He captures the Australian or Strine vernacular and the desperation of the modern aborigine. This yearning of Abbey carries over onto a desert isle off the coast of Mexico where there's not much but isolation, scarce water, no women, and beans for dinner. That's pure Abbey

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you enjoy Edward Abbey, this is as good as it gets!, February 10, 2006

By	Kevin Crotty "4crottys" (Bellaire, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Abbey's Road (Audio Cassette)

All of the material in this cassette is available elsewhere, but nowhere else can you hear the intonation, humor, and on occasions rants of Cactus Ed in his own voice. I have played this for friends who have never heard of Abbey and universally comment that they have never heard anything quite like it. Whether he's drinking with pigs in the desert, musing on planting a tree under the nuclear umbrella, or playing cat and hiker with a puma, there is wisdom and absurdity in every spoken sentence. If they ever get another copy and you beat me to it - mine has worn out - you have won a real prize.