Book Synopsis:
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, a party of moose hunters found his decomposed body. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.
Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw away the maps. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.
My Review:
3/5 stars. I had to read this book in school, and I wouldn't have read this book on my own otherwise. This book was interesting, but I didn't really enjoy it that much. The way it was presented took me out of the story sometimes and made things confusing.
Chris was an interesting person - and definitely complicated. He made a lot of big mistakes and unwise decisions, and there were some less-than-favorable aspects of his personality, but he also seemed like a nice guy who had a good heart and sharp mind. He was intelligent and sociable, but also overconfident to a fault and held a grudge. That made him interesting to read about. Sometimes, I would like him, and other times I would roll my eyes at his attitude or actions.
What I didn't really like about this book was the way that all the information was put together. I liked that it was kind of an investigative journalism style, but I didn't like how unorganized everything was. It wasn't always chronological - it would go from the moment Chris left town all the way to 2 years into his trip one chapter later.
There were so many people interviewed for this book, and it was difficult to keep track of all of them. They were introduced at various times, all giving their perspective on Chris/Alex. Some of the people in the book I don't remember anything about because they didn't contribute much.
Another thing that made this book unorganized was the amount of other stories told. There were some chapters that were dedicated to talking about a person besides Chris - whether that was another failed adventurer or the author himself - and it took you out of the narrative. I understand the point of it was to help readers make their own opinions of Chris by comparing and contrasting him with others, but it was kind of jarring.
Content Warnings:
There was way more language in the book that I was expecting. There were a lot of F-bombs and other words. All of the bad words were part of quotes from people, but I didn't like it. There wasn't any violence, just descriptions of life in the wilderness and the dangers Chris was facing (starvation, hypothermia, etc.) There also wasn't any romance. The only bad content in this book was the excessive language.
Comments