The Last American Man
Book reviews by Jered Standing
The Last American Man
By Elizabeth Gilbert
(Viking Adult)
I think every person in America should read about one-third of this book. Go ahead and read more if you like, but you’ll only have yourself to blame.
The Last American Man is the story of Eustace Conway-who, at the age of 17 left his “big house” and family in the suburbs to live on his own in the wild. Granted, that’s not a new story by any means-Henry David Thoreau did it many years before Conway, many so-called American Pioneers did it years before him, and even more recently, Jack Kerouac experimented with his own, urban version of the same type of individualistic trek.
The idea that we should get back to nature-before there’s no nature to get back to-is not a new one. But it is an important idea…
Or at least it was an important idea. Forty years ago.
About halfway through the book, I feel that I myself have ventured into a forest. It’s a forest of slow, awkward prose, tall trees made of tired cliches, with a dense undergrowth of poorly placed profanity and non-humor. I’m stalking through that forest, ears and eyes sharp, seeking-as Eustace Conway would seek out a squirrel, raccoon, or deer for his dinner in an actual, wood and soil forest-seeking, searching for some tiny morsel of wisdom.
The search is not wholly fruitless, however. There are (haphazardly heaped throughout the vile text) moments of real truth and eloquence. But these gems, these diamonds in the very, very rough usually show up in the form of direct quotes, or journal entries from Conway himself. Not from the author, Elizabeth Gilbert.
So, I do recommend this book to all and anyone. But first, here are some ground rules.
Rules for reading The Last American Man:
1. Go to bookstore. Buy copy of Last American Man.
2. Go to liquor store. Buy twelve pack of domestic beer, one bottle white wine.
3. Drink four beers.
4. Open book
5. Starting on page 1, read to page 30. Skip ahead to page 49, and continue reading up to 126. Then jump forward to 147. Stop at 156. (You should be through with the beer now and starting in on the wine.) Turn to page 225, read the middle paragraph only. Pick up again at page 239, and read on until you reach the end or pass out.