"The significance of Abbey in Prentiss's own life is revealed through precise but emotional prose. The effect is both grounding and electrifying."—Weekly Alibi
"Even for readers unfamiliar with Abbey or his writings, Finding Abbey's insights into this problematic man are compelling."—Seven Days
"Captures the true spirit of humans and our ability to mold ourselves into what we sincerely long to become through whatever life gives us on our own personal journeys."—Porter Gulch Review
"Prentiss offers fine, thoughtful readings of Abbey's writing, and he applies it judiciously to his life and ours."—Kirkus Reviews
"Finding Abbey is philosophical, poetic, a creative biography and a loving, evocative celebration of a controversial life."—Shelf Awareness
"Prentiss successfully demonstrates his ability to write an intriguing and compelling story that simultaneously informs, inspires, and entertains. His vivid imagery and unique interviewing style adds depth and passion to his search, resulting in an exceptional narrative that flows smoothly and conveys his admiration for Abbey and the American West. Finding Abbey is a journey well worth taking."—Foreword Reviews
"[Prentiss] locates and interviews Abbey's inner circle of friends, and in these faithfully recorded scenes his book . . . catches fire—including a conversation with Doug Peacock, the ex-Green Beret model for Abbey's monkey-wrenching Hayduke, who in real life keeps a .357 Magnum by his side. The final chapters of Mr. Prentiss's quest are suspenseful and winning. . . . Finding Abbey is a touching book."—Wall Street Journal
"Readers will find something to envy in Prentiss's exploration. While having all the makings of an expertly researched piece of narrative journalism, Prentiss also turns the magnifying glass on himself. What is most commendable about Finding Abbey is [Prentiss's] willingness to go the distance and explore, to think deeply about one of modern America's most outspoken critics, and to inspire others to look for what [Prentiss] rightfully calls 'a life worth living.'"—Vermont Sports Magazine
"If you are an Abbey fan, don't miss this book."—Wildlife Activist
"[Finding Abbey] brings us on a fascinating journey. Prentiss is especially able to describe in evocative detail the feeling of mountains and deserts and plains. He gives us an essence of the maddening, fiery, outspoken personality of Edward Abbey."—The Hardwick Gazette
"A worthy contribution to the Abbey canon. . . . Highly recommended for all interested in the American Southwest, environmentalism, and modern literature."—Library Journal
"This book isn't a biography; those have already been written. Finding Abbey is what you do in grief. Celebrate the life you shared. Analyze the faults. Peer into the darkness. Come out on the other side."—Santa Fe Reporter
"What's best about Sean Prentiss's [Finding Abbey] . . . is that the author loves and understands what made Southwest writer Edward Abbey tick, why Abbey's writing is so resonant and why he was—and still is—so important."—Durango Herald
"Prentiss reveals the power of Ed Abbey's lasting call to action, not just as a Monkey Wrencher, but also as an ethicist who lives by Ed's own motto, 'Follow the truth no matter where it leads.'"—Jack Loeffler, author of Adventures with Ed: A Portrait of Abbey
"In Finding Abbey, author Sean Prentiss presents us at once with an intriguing shotgun overview of the late southwestern literary cult hero Edward Abbey's life and work, interspersed with an intriguingly unfolding chronicle of Prentiss's own search for direction, meaning, and art in life. And best of all—what Abbey would like best—this book has soul. The somewhat sensational title, by the way, is merely metaphorical. Or is it?"—David Petersen, editor of Confessions of a Barbarian: Selections from the Journals of Edward Abbey
06/15/2015
Prentiss (creative writing, Norwich Univ.) traces the life of the great environmental writer Edward Abbey (1927–89), who has a devoted following, somewhat more than a cult; his masterpiece is Desert Solitaire, with The Monkey Wrench Gang, about sabotage in the cause of environmental extremism, a close second. Prentiss interviews people Abbey knew and visits places he lived, creating a book that is full of humor and insight, musings and philosophy. The author describes his adventures searching for his subject's secret grave somewhere in the Southwestern deserts that were the fond focus of his voluminous writings. Prentiss also describes how the uncompromising Abbey was a complex, difficult person: full professor, Fulbright scholar, womanizer, heavy drinker, anarchist, and wilderness advocate. The inspirational renegade was also often solitary, shy, and withdrawn. In Prentiss's journey to know Abbey, he discourses engagingly on the significance of mystery, quests, travel, personalities, the desert, and humankind's relationship to nature. VERDICT A worthy contribution to the Abbey canon on the heels of David Gessner's All the Wild That Remains. Highly recommended for all interested in the American Southwest, environmentalism, and modern literature.—Henry T. Armistead, formerly with Free Lib. of Philadelphia
2015-02-15
It's on a hillside, within view of roadless desert and dug deep to keep the coyotes out. Prentiss (Creative Writing/Norwich Univ.) roams sun-struck country to find a famed grave, having narrowed its location down to a Massachusetts-sized parcel.The late novelist and environmentalist Edward Abbey (1927-1989) liked to imagine that he'd be reincarnated as a turkey vulture, floating on thermals and feasting on carrion. He likely didn't imagine that he'd become the subject of exercises in creative nonfiction, but Prentiss offers a book that's part memoir, part literary appreciation, part biography, part travelogue, part jeremiad for what the rest of the world has become. These parts are of uneven value. On the biographical front, Prentiss, who never knew his subject personally, has little to add to the standard works on Abbey, many of which are also uneven. Prentiss brings value to the proposition by interviewing numerous people who did know Abbey, and he settles a few matters that will nonetheless provoke controversy precisely because they're mentioned at all: the alcoholism (what causes esophageal varices, he asks a counselor and then a doctor, and the answer comes back, "Drinking"), the lechery, the racism. The appreciation is very good: Prentiss offers fine, thoughtful readings of Abbey's writing, and he applies it judiciously to his life and ours. The reverie of the desert—well, Abbey would doubtless grin wolfishly and disdainfully at effusions such as this: "In this landscape, my tongue is fat from dehydration. My scalp and neck sunburned. Cactus needles hang from my calves. Small rivulets of blood stain my legs like badges of honor." For Abbey completists, though, they'll be divided: does Prentiss give away too many secrets in his quest for the final resting place? Those fans will want to read this book and argue about it over a desert campfire.
