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Into the Wild
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • 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. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die.
"It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order." —Entertainment Weekly
McCandess 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. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention.
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 the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.
Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless.
When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding—and not an ounce of sentimentality. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.
"It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order." —Entertainment Weekly
McCandess 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. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention.
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 the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.
Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless.
When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding—and not an ounce of sentimentality. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.
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Community Reviews
Could not recommend this more. My best friend gave it to me for my birthday, absolutely praising it. I love the way the author delivers the story of Chris McCandless â there is no bias to his writing, just the exploration of how and why the boy met his end. I found McCandless's vision so inspiring, and the author's anecdotes and narration indulge in the boy's ideals, whilst also explaining the ways in which those visions were flawed. I found it a really compelling and thought-provoking read.
I disliked this book not so much because of the writing (which was just fine) or Krakauer's message (which I felt was pretty ambivalent) but how people normally take this story. Most people see it as a wonderful story about a heroic figure who went against the grain of the mind-numbing American society and really lived. The only problem is that's he's dead. Really, really dead. And why is he dead? Because of his own stupidity. This is my problem. I see this book as glorifying stupidity. And then they made it into a movie, further glorifying stupidity with its own Hollywood twist. That and movies like 127 Hours make me just want to scream. There are plenty of ways to really live without throwing your life away with both hands. And for those of us who still use money and take showers, it doesn't mean our lives are meaningless or that we actually buy into the dominant paradigm of our culture. It just means that our methods of rebellion are less self-destructive and dramatic. We don't feel the need to go live by ourselves in the Alaskan wilderness or paddle our way alone down the Colorado River. As an Arizonan, I can't think of an easier way to die, except maybe to wander around the desert off the trail alone and unprepared. It's like asking for Death to come by and pick you off. What I want to know is this: how is his death constructive? How is this book constructive? How can we use this story in a positive way? So far, except for encouraging me to always bring a buddy, snacks, water, and proper equipment on a hike, I really can't say this book has affected me in a positive way. Try again, Krakauer.
It's interesting. I have not seen the film.
I wish there was less of the author and more of Chris.
I also wish there was more of Chris' actual journal and copies of his photos.
That would be fascinating.
I don't really care about the authors hiking endeavours.
I wish there was less of the author and more of Chris.
I also wish there was more of Chris' actual journal and copies of his photos.
That would be fascinating.
I don't really care about the authors hiking endeavours.
“Curiously, Chris didn’t hold everyone to the same exacting standards. One of the individuals he professed to admire greatly over the last two years of his life was a heavy drinker and incorrigible philanderer who regularly beat up his girlfriends. Chris was well aware of this man’s faults yet managed to forgive them. He was also able to forgive, or overlook, the shortcomings of his literary heroes: Jack London was a notorious drunk; Tolstoy, despite his famous advocacy of celibacy, had been an enthusiastic sexual adventurer as young man and went on to father at least thirteen children, some of whom were conceived at the same time the censorious count was thundering in print against the evils of sex.”
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It was a very good book. Some parts were slow only because it was a constant going back and forth or the author's biography and the protagonist's tragic life story. If you ever need to be inspired to explore the wild, I would recommend this book. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and it wasn't that long of a book, which took me twice as long to finish because I was in school.
If you're the kind of person that can sit down for hours and read a book through cover to cover, I would highly suggest reading this one. What I liked about this book is the fact that the author doesn't set out to criticize the protagonist for what he did and the outcome of such, but he tried to understand why he did what he did by retracing his steps and writing about it.
When I started the book, I felt sorrow for what had happened, but interestingly enough, by the end of the book I got a sense of closure.
In short, loved the book, good read!
If you're the kind of person that can sit down for hours and read a book through cover to cover, I would highly suggest reading this one. What I liked about this book is the fact that the author doesn't set out to criticize the protagonist for what he did and the outcome of such, but he tried to understand why he did what he did by retracing his steps and writing about it.
When I started the book, I felt sorrow for what had happened, but interestingly enough, by the end of the book I got a sense of closure.
In short, loved the book, good read!
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