Peruvian Nights and Jamaican Days

JONATHAN TROY

So I finished Jonathan Troy. Devoured it, really. I'm almost serious about reading it again right away. The main reason is that it's very difficult to get ahold of. It was published in 1954, in small numbers. Edward Abbey himself eventually said that he hated the novel; apparently, it was him who kept it from ever being republished. Occasionally you see copies of it for sale at a small bookstore in Moab for $1000-3000 (so, buy it, if you ever see it a thrift store, or something). So I managed to get it through an interlibrary loan here - some library in NY had it. I have it til the 23rd of November, and I'm thinking about making a copy. You know, in my spare time...it's only 400 pages(!).

So Abbey hated the book as he got older. When asked where a person could find a copy of the book, he said something like "I don't know where you can find one, but if you do find one, burn it."

Hell with that. It's a good book. Maybe great. I've read a half-dozen of Abbey's novels, and I would say this is my second favorite (after Monkey Wrench Gang, of course). I think part of the problem is that Abbey wrote this when he was fairly young - 27 or something, I think - and I think that as he grew older, he just lost touch with the person he was when he wrote it. It's true that it goes in a thousand different directions, and has many undercurrents. If you've read most of his other books, you'll be able to pick out themes that crop up in his other books in more detail. I think he also thought that he tried to put too much in the novel, and consequently didn't develop things well enough, but to me it came across as a subtle (well, in some cases), understated, but intelligent story. Sure, there are lots of things left out, but Hemingway said, "If you leave out important things...the story is strengthened."

I recommend it, if you can get your hands on a copy. And like I said, if you ever see a copy for sale at a rummage sale, thrift store, or whatever, snap it up.

-m