A book I can't wait to read

books:


	• Into the Wild Jon Krakauer Anchor, 2007 - 224 pages average customer review:based on 1154 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Go West Young Man

Into the Wild was our May book club selection, and I put off reading it until a few days before our meeting. Thinking it was a "guy book," I didn't even bother buying my own copy. That was a mistake, for once I began reading my borrowed book, I was entranced. Krakauer's writing style was captivating and managed to hold my attention from page one. Not only do we learn about Chris McCandless (a.k.a. Alexander Supertramp) and his family, but we learn about Krakauer's experiences, meet some fascinating folks who befriended Chris, and discover much about the geography and nature of various parts of the United States.

Yes, the writing itself was great. It's the story of Chris McCandless, however, that haunts me. How could someone with such promise act so foolishly? I can well understand the inner voice to "Go west, young man," but to travel into the Alaskan wilderness without compass or adequate provisions is utter folly. And this was a intelligent young man, a recent college graduate who had been raised with advantages unknown to many.

Chris was, like most of us, a bundle of contradictions. He was idealistic and gave all of his remaining college fund to an organization to feed the hungry; yet he sponged off of many of the people who befriended him. He was angry with his parents for living a lie, but he couldn't see that without his parents he wouldn't have had the resources that allowed him to finish Emory. He's perturbed at their treatment of him, but he treats them even more abominably by not even letting them know he's alive. Yes, he had "issues," but don't most people? Was he too fragile to handle them? If he had survived the wilderness, would he have returned to West Virginia with a softened heart and a more mature attitude?

Was he just a narcissist? Was he another affluent, sheltered, idealistic young man angry with society? Was he a typical young person in search of adventure? Did he feel any guilt at all about capturing the hearts of those he met when he bid them adieu?

I have my own copy of Into the Wild now. It's a great story about an intense, idealistic, determined young man who died in a deserted bus after eating a poisonous plant. While the reader will learn a great deal about nature, geography, and "adventure," he or she will also be forced to look at the psychological questions that Chris and his choices evoke.

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A Wild Story

Please forgive me if this review is a little rambling. This is my first time as an Amazon reviewer, but several books I've been into recently really pushed me to start writing reviews, just so people won't miss out on great reads, and this is one of them. As a librarian, I see thousands of books every day, and normally, people's requests don't change my mind on what I like to read - historical fiction or historical romance. But after people began continuously asking for INTO THE WILD, I thought I might pick it up a try it myself.

The author, more widely known for his book INTO THIN AIR, tells the story of "Alexander SuperTramp", as he called himself, in a strange - but immensely satisfying - sequence of events. He begins with his death by probable starvation, then goes onto account how Alex, born in a well to-do family and actually named Chris, decided to eschew life as a college grad joining the business world for a life as a vagabond. His incredible journey across the US, his survival for a time in the wild, and his sad innocence make this book unputdownable. It's a wonderful read for anyone into survival (or not) stories, wilderness stories, or just great nonfiction.

Firmly Five Stars.

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Wildly Unforgettable

"...there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun...we just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living..."
-Alexander Supertramp
Certainly unconventional, Into the Wild, is not your typical coming of age story. Christopher McCandless, a graduate fresh from college abandoned all aspects of the predictable way of life to be immersed in nature and his personal ideals. Leaving behind family, his few friends, and his own name, McCandless or Alexander Supertramp was, "a man of means, by no means...king of the road." However Into the Wild is not chronological fiction-esque novel, but more of a scavenger hunt jumbled with Krakauer's personal and historical anecdotes. Into the Wild is not only informative on the life of Chris McCandless, but also of other figures with similar stories, and some of Krakauer's past as well.
This novel, as it follows a young boy through his journey, is not just a memoir, but more of a warning and source of inspiration. If I would take anything away from this story it would be the need for personal experiences. McCandless warns against a stationary life, not only physically but mentally and to perpetually change. The story begins as Chris road trips across the US in a run down old car, and ends in a run down old bus in semi-Alaskan wilderness. And between those two circumstances lay hippie camps, encounters with southwestern farmers, danger on the railroad, kayaking on the Mexican border, bonding with strangers, and a final trek into the Alaskan wilderness. Chris heeds all to find themselves in nature and to travel by ever-changing scenery
McCandless, stated in Into the Wild, was criticized as a young naïve radical, without the common sense to take on an adventure of this proportion. However, McCandless was an extremely intelligent young man, not only a college graduate, but always earning high marks in all courses, an avid reader of philosophy and a follower of Thoreau. The novel doesn't really focus on Chris's life before his cross-country adventure, so its hard to see if his experiences we read about really affected him as a person, or if he was the same way his entire time.
This story was an eye-opening experience. As Chris wandered around the American continent I wandered my own mind. Chris's attitude and way of life melted through the pages of this novel and into my own fingertips. His individual character, and never-ending love of nature and his charismatic way of drawing in the people he met in his life. I can only offer my sincere recommendation for this novel as the story gives so much to you.

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A book I can't wait to read

I bought this for le' fiance as one of her birthday gifts after recently watching the film based on it. She can't stop talking about how great it is, so it has become one of those books I am dying to read, and will be after I finish "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda, which is another great one.

A heartbreaking story

I wanted to read this book before I saw the movie and I actually regret that decision. A compelling and mysterious story, it's well told by Krakauer, who is wise enough to warn you about his non-objective slant on the subject matter right in the introduction.

The book really was 'hard to put down', except in chapters 14 and 15 where Chris McCandless is scarcely mentioned and Krakauer instead dissolves into a memoir about his own time spent trekking the Alaskan wilderness.

To his credit, this is the author's attempt at giving the reader a comparable viewpoint into the mind of an adventure-seeking young man, but he tended to delve too far into his own experiences leaving me wondering if I was ever going to hear the rest of Chris' story.

Overall, a good read, especially if you're a fan of travel/adventure books. To be frank, however, I think the movie might be (a) more exciting and (b) stick to the subject at hand better.

I'll let you know once I see it :)

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter....

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