In Dylan Quint’s novella, The Last Four Boats on Lake Foul, a new generation of Monkey Wrenchers returns to finish what Seldom Seen Smith, Doc, Bonnie and Hayduke began in Edward Abbey’s 1975 novel The Monkey Wrench Gang.
The novella takes up the last third of Wolverine Farm Publishing’s (WFP) latest journal, which is themed around Edward Abbey and his ideas on preserving the American Southwest.
WFP’s annual journal is comprised of poetry, short fiction, art and interviews – all carefully picked according to the current theme. The Last Four Boats on Lake Foul fits perfectly inside the most recent journal, Matter 13: Edward Abbey, as it is a continuation of Abbey’s The Monkey Wrench Gang.
Artemis, Georges, Weasel and Maggot are Quint’s likenesses to Abbey’s original four, all of whom take serious joy in the pastime of Monkey Wrenching, a.k.a. engaging in extreme and highly illegal acts of violence and vandalism in order to protect the environment (without hurting humans).
Taking place in 2012, when truly productive environmental activism has hit a low since its fiery beginning in the seventies, these four former members of the radical environmental activism group, Earth First!, decide to come together for one last life-risking mission for their beloved Earth. Their target: The Glen Canyon Dam.
As the story begins, it’s somewhat unclear where it’s taking us. A woman named Emily Sevo describes a scenic photograph hanging in her office for the first few pages. Once it becomes known that it’s a photo of Glen Canyon, the Abbey reader will most likely begin to grin. If you’re not an Abbey reader, the significance of this photo might not sink in for awhile longer.
For most of the novella, Quint allows the reader to melt into each character’s thoughts, and he does so beautifully. Reading these thoughts and then their interactions with one another after so many years makes for a funny read – although we also feel sorry for them as they realize that, in many ways, they’re not the same people they used to be.
Quint has a real talent for creating mystery and tension within a short space. Most of the novella consists of two scenes in which the reader anxiously awaits their collision. When all four friends finally meet up, Quint has the reader flying through the pages in anticipation for the big event.
Artemis, Georges, Weasel and Maggot are similar to Abbey’s Bonnie, Hayduke, Doc and Seldom in that they are four friends who are able to put their differences and annoyances of each other aside and come together to do what needs to be done – in this case, to reignite the environmental movement that they all agree died in the late nineties.
It’s a bold move to attempt to write a daughter story to a novel that many people (especially activists) use as their bible, but Quint masterfully pulls it off.
You don’t have to have read The Monkey Wrench Gang to understand this little novella, but it definitely makes for a more exciting read if you have.
If you are an Abbey fan, or even if you simply love the land on which you live, I highly recommend heading over to Matter Bookstore to pick up your copy!
Matter 13: Edward Abbey can be purchased at the Matter Bookstore, located inside The Bean Cycle on 144 N. College Avenue.
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