The Fool's Progress: An Honest Novel

Edward Abbey's voice is unstoppable in this almost broodish transverse through his own personal lifetime. While Henry Lightcap searches for his own piece of the rock, vintage Edward Abbey shows through in picturesque word painting, and philosopher like style. As down to earth as always, if this book dosen't make you want to kick back a few cold Blatz with Cactus Ed,you could NEVER understand this man. Paralleling his life in almost military precision, this is as much an autobiography as a soliloqui on the modern day redneck. Ed Abbey (Henry Lightcap) gives a voice to the honest and the crazy who know only to "tell it like it is". His flowing paintbrush of words will be missed, but his works, and more importantly, his ideals, will live on forever.

I have loaned Fool's Progress out more times than I can remember, to all sorts of people, always with the stipulation that the person has to either read it or return it quickly. It's not a book to lose, but one to carry with you on long outdoor adventures: the more dog-eared, the better. Without fail, the response of people who borrowed & read it has followed a progression of illumination not unlike the one presented by Abbey himself: 1) geez, this guy is a pig!; 2) Well, he's a pig, but I sort of understand how he got to where he is; 3) I get it, and I understand the protagonist. This is a fantastic novel.

Every time. I never ever want to be without a copy of Fool's Progress.

This book is basically an autobiography of Edward Abbey's life, as lived and read through the eyes of Henry H. Lightclap. I personally find most autobiographies to be mind numbingly boring, but this one was entertaining. Edward and his masochist viewpoints lead to some rather funny moments and remarks. His relationships with women have been filled with tragic comedy and His liberal ideas struck a cord with me. (Considering myself a liberal also) This book is not for everyone. (Which means this book is not for feminists, conservatives, and hard workers) but for everyone else, it is an enjoyable read into the journey that has been one man's life.

Edward Abbey has written a book about the life of Henry Holyoke the sounds suspiciously like Ed Abbey. This has got all of the usual Abbey obsessions as well as a few new ones, all written in a very funny and honest way. It is also very romantic and moving. Abbey put his soul into this book as he does in many of his books and in spite of the bombast and posturing, it is a compelling and genuinely american soul.

Life. Death. Love. War. The life-long struggle away from what you are towards what you might be, if only..., or the struggle back to what you were. Read this. Read the rest of the reviews below. Then shell out twelve bucks and buy this book. When it arrives at your door, dedicate a few hours in an out-of-the-way place. Keep those that you love handy. Keep your spirits up, life is one kick in the groin after another and this tome is no different. It's a long, hard race kids. No one wins or loses, we simply end up carrying our stinking dying dogs the last few miles home.
I sent this book to my mom when she asked me why I thought the way I did. A few months later I got the best letter of my life.

This book is about the journey and adventure of an Appalachian man's life. He goes through many woeful experiences with love, employment, and other failures in life. But this free spirited Hillbilly from the mountains of West Virginia manages to find strength in his Appalachian family, tradition, and habits to over come the physical and emotional ills that plague his lonely life.

"The Fool's Progress" provides detailed depictions of different environments and personalities with a crude comical twist. It is entertaining to read at times and boring at others. Overall, the book is a heart warming novel that does not really stick with the traditional story telling of having a plot, climax, antagonist, protagonist, and etc. The book also tended to stretch a bit (over 500 pages with no real plot or story line to follow). Rating: 6.5/10

Henry Lightcap leaves his house in Arizona and travels back to where he grew up. Along the way we read all about his past. Henry can come off as a lazy, emotionless, and uninspired when you learn about his numerous jobs and marriages but, his character explains a deeper meaning. Henry just can't seem to find his place in society. He is not striving to make tons of money and start a family since he turned down a psychology degree and loving wives. Henry is very compassionate about the wilderness and can be about women too. By looking through Henry's eyes you can understand that what our society values and strives for may not be all that important. Henry gets satisfaction by just having the freedom to live in the mountains far from cities. He doesn't have to have a steady job that he does not like, but has the freedom to move around. This book takes you through his ups and downs always wanting to turn the page.

I am writing this on March 14th, 1998 - the ninth anniversary of the passing of Cactus Ed. This novel is the most satisfying of Ed,s books. It fills in so much about his life that his non-fiction essays only hinted at. Plus, it's a damn good story. I have all of Ed,s books, all first-editions and most autographed by Ed. I cherish my autographed first edition copy of Fools Progress more than any of my many books. Ah me, today I am sad thinking about Ed. I want to thank him again for all his writings, but especially for his " Fat Masterpiece", The Fools Progress. I would love to read the unedited manuscript for this book; the final product is only half as long as the entire story he wanted to tell.

This is a masterpiece. A deeply personal work of fiction. I sense that the mood and experiences the author portrayed could just as easily have been what Abbey's life could have been. This is a book of sadness, joy, disappointment and ultimately relief. I believe this is Abbey's longest book, but it reads so quickly that you'll wish it were twice as long. Read this book.

In Edward Abbey's novel Fool's Progress, we follow the adventures in the very unique life of Henry Holyoak Lightcap. We watch Henry grow and progress towards true happiness with every failed marriage and every termination from a job. It would appear at first in the novel, that Henry has horrible luck when it comes to relationships and employment. As the novel rolls on, we discover that luck really isn't the issue at hand, it really is more of a question of love or lust. Henry is quite a hopeless romantic, as it would seem at first that Henry would never be happily married, and doesn't mean to do some of the things that he does while in his relationships. After his first 2 marriages fail, Henry faces a reality in which he might not ever end up happily married. Henry's family seems to be a large part of his life, even though it seems like Henry would enjoy spending more time with them than he does. I think Henry really does have good intentions, but something always changes the winds against him. In my opinion, this book really isn't very interesting because it really seems like a string of unfortunate events chained together in sequence. If you enjoy a good amount of detail when you read, this book is definitely for you. The book is very well written, however the dialogue is somewhat confusing as quotation marks aren't always used. Another part of why I didn't really enjoy this book is the fact that characters entered the story and were only around for a short amount of time. Many of the characters were almost insignificant, although every character did play a pivotal role in the story. I wouldn't recommend reading this book to anyone that didn't want to endure unnecessary detail or long winded explanation.

Fools Progress is a special book. It made me laugh and cry out loud. It forced me to evaluate all of those things in my life that I felt were important. The book certainly changed my paradigm. This is the essence of the human condition.

My boyfriend introduced me to Edward Abbey. He likes to live vicariously through him and wanted me to read him so I could see what a womanizer and a hard living guy really is like!!!!!!!. Ha! He was right. It is heartbreaking and funny. I could not put it down. I am look9ing forward to reading many more.