Desolation Peak by Jack Kerouac—book review

My review of Jack Kerouac's Desolation Peak: Collected Writings. Edited by Charles Shuttleworth. A collection of all the writing Kerouac did while at Desolation Lookout.

https://www.splicetoday.com/pop.../kerouac-s-road-to-fame

 

There Is No Antimemetics Division—book review

My review of the science-fiction novel There Is No Antimemetics Division by the british author qntm, which becomes a parable for the horror of how easily people forget horrible things perpetuated by horrible people.

 

https://www.splicetoday.com/pop-culture/forced-forgetting

 

KANT: A Revolution in Thinking by Marcus Willaschek

My review of Kant: A Revolution in Thinking by Marcus Willaschek, a half-explanation/half-biography of the german philosopher Immanuel Kant. Translation by Peter Lewis. Up now at SPLICE TODAY.

 

Baby Driver by Jan Kerouac

My review of Jan Kerouac's memoir, Baby Driver, now up at Splice Today . Recently re-issued on New York Review Books.

"I might have been more responsible, less happy."

 

 

Follow The Science by Sharyl Attkisson

My review of Sharyl Atkisson's Follow The Science: How Big Pharma Misleads, Obscures, and Prevails. Atkisson worked for CBS for decades, and NPR, she was as mainstream journalism as you can get. This is in what she found out about Big Pharma's influence on the media and our government, and about how they tried to block her stories. Up now at SPLICE TODAY:

 

  

Girl on Girl by Emily Costa

My book review of Emily Costa's short story collection, Girl on Girl, published by Rejection Letters Press, now up at Splice Today!

A Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness: The Novels of Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba

 

My long-form book review "A Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness: The Novels of Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba" is now out in the new DENVER QUARTERLY Vol 58, No. 4, 2024. It's a print journal, and not clear how to order a copy except through their website:

https://liberalarts.du.edu/.../journals.../denver-quarterly

 

 

Desert Cabal by Amy Irvine

This book review appeared in the literary journal DEEP WILD in Summer 2020. You can order that issue here.

Desert Cabal

by Amy Irvine

Torrey House Press 2018

ISBN: 978-1-937226-97-8

If there is a patron saint of backcountry enthusiasts, it is Edward Abbey. And if there is a book that has ruffled the feathers of Abbey fans recently (especially men, and especially men who haven't read the book) it's Amy Irvine's Desert Cabal. It's a short, fast, informal, read—perfect, say, for carrying with you into the backcountry, which is where her imaginary conversation with the ghost of Ed Abbey framing the book takes place. Mostly this talk takes place around his most iconic book, Desert Solitaire, though also Abbey in general, all his contradictions and hypocrisies and grumpiness. Desert Cabal is not an attack, but Irvine asks important questions, not just for Abbey but for all of us lovers of wilderness, though she is definitely claiming a place at the table, as an equal, and genuinely wanting to understand a man and writer who meant so much to her.

Each chapter focuses on some aspect of Abbey's thought, with Irvine's commiserations—we get her experiences in, and thoughts about, the backcountry too. And Irvine may prove to be a little prickly to some readers, just like Abbey—she's no fan of Republicans or Democrats, no fan of upper-middle class environmental activists who look down on the working poor while driving SUVs, and she at least has some grudging respect for the occupiers of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge for standing up to the federal government. And she carries a Glock.

Of course, Abbey can't answer back, and Irvine does make some suppositions about how he might react to what has been happening recently, most of which I agree with. The one big one I question is thinking that he in fact might be in favor of Trump's border wall. As evidence, she invokes Abbey's (in)famous quote about sending mexican immigrants back from the border with a rifle and a box of ammunition (which I have always thought is misunderstood by most). My thought is that Abbey would have hated the wall, not because of the humans its supposed to (symbolically, at least) keep out, but because of the wild spaces it divides. Because of the jaguars and wolves and pumas.

The biggest question Irvine has for Abbey, and the biggest revelation of the book, is why Abbey took out references to his wife and children from Desert Solitaire. Irvine has access to the original typed manuscript, and sees first-hand the sentences mentioning them crossed out. As a writer, it's clear she understands the conceit, or concept, of the solitude of Desert Solitaire, the Romantic (with a capital R) experience of the writer/speaker in and against and with Nature (also with a capital). But as a woman, and a mother, she can't help but take that (not just omission, but a) crossing out personally.

We'll never know if by keeping his family in Desert Solitaire whether it would have been the bestseller it was (and still is). My guess? Yes. It certainly would have been different. With the inclusion of those few sentences, the entire vision would have been changed. Which is Irvine's point. She sees a missed opportunity, which women would have seen—saw—automatically: "Solitude, for women, is a different animal entirely." And, a little later: "we [women] seek not so much solitude as solidarity, intimacy more than privacy. But it's the way of wilderness—in a thriving ecosystem, integration matters far more than independence." In other words, what if we'd had a bestselling book that shaped decades of activists and nature lovers which advocated for solidarity instead of a leftover sense of American rugged individualism?

Again, Irvine still values Edward Abbey as a huge, good, influence. I was happy to read that in fact, like me, the book of his that really meant the most to her is his novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, for its spirit of activism. It was there she learned that she "could resist authority...on behalf of...these beloved public lands!"

Which brings us to the 'Cabal' of the title. Irvine prefers the french, and female, version, la cabale, but which in either case is the (perhaps conspiratorial, perhaps witchcrafty) group of us, all, who love the wilderness but also want to save it from our governments (local and federal) and tourists and maybe from ourselves. Her invocation (her 'calling in') to us is the reverse of the famous Abbey proclamation to his readers not to get bogged down in the activist part of life, but to "Get out!" and enjoy the wild. Irvine does not deny that at all, but suggest to us (and Abbey's ghost) that, decades later, maybe it's time to 'Come back!':

"So I say to you, go solo, into the desert. Yes, do this and love every minute. But then come back. Come back to the cabale that has joined together, to save what we know and love."

FERAL by Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba

My review of Gabrielle Filteau-Chiba's forest thriller FERAL now up at Reckon Review!

 

Heaven in Disorder by Slavoj Žižek

My review of Slavoj Žižek's latest book, of shorter essays, Heaven In Disorder, now up at SPLICE TODAY:

 

 

Xstabeth by David Keenan

My review of David Keenan's experimental novel Xstabeth, now up at SPLICE TODAY, and on my birthday!

 

 

Tides by Sara Freeman

My review of Sara Freeman's novel Tides, out in January, now up at SPLICE TODAY:

 

 

Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz

 My review of Natalie Diaz's book Postcolonial Love Poem now up at SPLICE TODAY!

Bright Green Lies review

My review of the book Bright Green Lies by Derrick Jensen et alia—about how the mainstream environmental movement is lying to us about solutions—now up a SPLICE TODAY.

 

 

Hashtag Good Guy With A Gun by Jeff Chon

My review of Jeff Chon's novel Hashtag Good Guy With A Gun from Sagging Meniscus Press, now up at Splice Today!

Book review of Kim Addonizio's Now We're Getting Somewhere

 My review of Kim Addonizio's Now We're Getting Somewhere now up at SPLICE TODAY!

Social Poetics by Mark Novak—book review

My book review of Mark Novak's Social Poetics, titled "Workers Don't Go To Workshops," now up at SPLICE TODAY.

The Management of Savagery by Max Blumenthal

Now up at SPLICE TODAY, "Blind Liberation,"  my book review of Max Blumenthal's The Management of Savagery, in which he details how U.S. foreign policy under both Republicans and Democrats led to the rise of Trump:

Lima :: Limón by Natalie Scenters-Zapico: a review

My review of Lima :: Limón by Natalie Scenters-Zapico, from Copper Canyon Press, now up at the Poetry Northwest website!

https://www.poetrynw.org/sugar-lime-salt/

Desert Cabal by Amy Irvine

This review will appear in the 2020 issue of Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry. Order here!

Desert Cabal

by Amy Irvine

Torrey House Press 2018

ISBN: 978-1-937226-97-8

If there is a patron saint of backcountry enthusiasts, it is Edward Abbey. And if there is a book that has ruffled the feathers of Abbey fans recently (especially men, and especially men who haven't read the book) it's Amy Irvine's Desert Cabal. It's a short, fast, informal, read—perfect, say, for carrying with you into the backcountry, which is where her imaginary conversation with the ghost of Ed Abbey framing the book takes place. Mostly this talk takes place around his most iconic book, Desert Solitaire, though also Abbey in general, all his contradictions and hypocrisies and grumpiness. Desert Cabal is not an attack, but Irvine asks important questions, not just for Abbey but for all of us lovers of wilderness, though she is definitely claiming a place at the table, as an equal, and genuinely wanting to understand a man and writer who meant so much to her.

Each chapter focuses on some aspect of Abbey's thought, with Irvine's commiserations—we get her experiences in, and thoughts about, the backcountry too. And Irvine may prove to be a little prickly to some readers, just like Abbey—she's no fan of Republicans or Democrats, no fan of upper-middle class environmental activists who look down on the working poor while driving SUVs, and she at least has some grudging respect for the occupiers of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge for standing up to the federal government. And she carries a Glock.

Of course, Abbey can't answer back, and Irvine does make some suppositions about how he might react to what has been happening recently, most of which I agree with. The one big one I question is thinking that he in fact might be in favor of Trump's border wall. As evidence, she invokes Abbey's (in)famous quote about sending mexican immigrants back from the border with a rifle and a box of ammunition (which I have always thought is misunderstood by most). My thought is that Abbey would have hated the wall, not because of the humans its supposed to (symbolically, at least) keep out, but because of the wild spaces it divides. Because of the jaguars and wolves and pumas.

The biggest question Irvine has for Abbey, and the biggest revelation of the book, is why Abbey took out references to his wife and children from Desert Solitaire. Irvine has access to the original typed manuscript, and sees first-hand the sentences mentioning them crossed out. As a writer, it's clear she understands the conceit, or concept, of the solitude of Desert Solitaire, the Romantic (with a capital R) experience of the writer/speaker in and against and with Nature (also with a capital). But as a woman, and a mother, she can't help but take that (not just omission, but a) crossing out personally.

We'll never know if by keeping his family in Desert Solitaire whether it would have been the bestseller it was (and still is). My guess? Yes. It certainly would have been different. With the inclusion of those few sentences, the entire vision would have been changed. Which is Irvine's point. She sees a missed opportunity, which women would have seen—saw—automatically: "Solitude, for women, is a different animal entirely." And, a little later: "we [women] seek not so much solitude as solidarity, intimacy more than privacy. But it's the way of wilderness—in a thriving ecosystem, integration matters far more than independence." In other words, what if we'd had a bestselling book that shaped decades of activists and nature lovers which advocated for solidarity instead of a leftover sense of American rugged individualism?

Again, Irvine still values Edward Abbey as a huge, good, influence. I was happy to read that in fact, like me, the book of his that really meant the most to her is his novel The Monkey Wrench Gang, for its spirit of activism. It was there she learned that she "could resist authority...on behalf of...these beloved public lands!"

Which brings us to the 'Cabal' of the title. Irvine prefers the french, and female, version, la cabale, but which in either case is the (perhaps conspiratorial, perhaps witchcrafty) group of us, all, who love the wilderness but also want to save it from our governments (local and federal) and tourists and maybe from ourselves. Her invocation (her 'calling in') to us is the reverse of the famous Abbey proclamation to his readers not to get bogged down in the activist part of life, but to "Get out!" and enjoy the wild. Irvine does not deny that at all, but suggest to us (and Abbey's ghost) that, decades later, maybe it's time to 'Come back!':

"So I say to you, go solo, into the desert. Yes, do this and love every minute. But then come back. Come back to the cabale that has joined together, to save what we know and love."

Order Deep Wild: Writing from the Backcountry #2, 2020, here!