In an age where cars and trucks and gasoline-fueled vehicles are all but extinct, horse travel, and a lot of walking, is the norm again, as back in the 1800’s. Is infused with actual, accurate road descriptions and topographic specifics that may not mean as much to out-of-towners. To local folks, especially those familiar with Greenwich in Washington County (called Union Mills in the novel), and river towns south along the Hudson from there, the book I was pleasantly surprised, and thoroughly engrossed while devouring it over a day and a half in mid-June. The comic relief was welcome, and surprisingly led to a redemptive, almost upbeat ending. Not only blew me away as a cautionary tale, loaded with post-apocalyptic detail, but made me laugh out loud 4 or 5 times in the final 50 pages, even as the story turned grimmer and grimmer.
Having said that, I can report that the book he wrote in 2008, “World Made By Hand,” The few times I met him in person over the past decade or so, he seemed on a nonstop crusade, never out of character as environmental evangelist. Not only do I admire both his writing and speaking success and even agree with most of what he was saying, but all sense of humor seemed lost in his persona as a caustic critic of American culture and lifestyle. He made a great living on his soapbox, and via the success of his nonfiction books such as The Long Emergency, and The Geography of Nowhere. Then came a long period where he took his social tirades to a point where he became a noted speaker on the perils of peak oil and the evils of suburban sprawl. His outlook on humanity was always a bit dour and certainly sardonic, but he used to really crack me up. I used to say I knew Jimmy Kunstler when he still had a sense of humor, way back in the day, say late ’70’s, early ’80’s, when his first couple of books were in the category of slapstick comedy.
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