Black Sun

Beautiful, lyrical, magical - the best book Abbey ever wrote, in my opinion. I suppose many would argue the point, as Abbey doesn't address environmental issues at all, and the story is strictly a love story. But it is a wonderful story written in remarkable metaphorical prose - fantastic.

An early Abbey work, Black Sun is a very good novel written in a style similar to John D. MacDonald only more alive, more real. Will Gatlin is much like Travis McGee, an imperfect fellow who has learned to live life on his own terms and makes no apologies for it. An entertaining read, this is one you won't want to put down until you've finished it.

In typical Ed Abbey fashion, a beautiful book that explores the depth of Abbey's romantic side. Environmental and isolationist, this book will appeal to the outdoorsy, just-want-to-get-away-from-it-all type.

This is perhaps Abbey's most poetic, beautiful book--and it often reminds one of the sun slanting through trees in a forest. Poetically written and entrancing, on one level it's a memorial for Abbey's late wife and his heart-torn reaction to her death, on another level it's a struggle between hope and cynicism, and on another level it's a very moving, beautiful romance between a rough forest ranger and a young woman. It has plenty of nature and landscape observations evoking the pine forests of the west so that you'll feel as if you spent a long time visiting them when you finish this book. It's one long ode to the wilderness and to wild love, and I enjoyed it and was moved by it equally. It'll make you want to go outdoors. One warning--it has plenty of frank depictions of sexuality and also one extremely sexist character--but this is part of the novel, one theme it is exploring is true love as opposed to the typical cynical view of many people so anyone who can't seperate the author's POV from his character's could be offended--but I found the whole thing deliriously beautiful. A sensuous, special book you can read many times over--or maybe once in your life, you'll remember it forever.

The person who wrote this review must be completely immune to subtext. Abbey is such a raw, emotional expositor on nature. This book he considered his masterwork, I think because he saw it as his best, most personal expression of how he felt, both about the red rock region and his late wife. In this book he reconciles the loss of the later and diminishment of the former, yet doesn't succumb to any easy answers about what happens to either. Vicious in its simplicity. I recommend it if you've read some Abbey and want to get into his head a bit.