Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
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Book Reviews of Into the Wild
Book Review: A Great Lesson in What Not to Do and How Not to Live (and Die)
Summary: 4 Stars
I read Into the Wild in conjunction with reading The Final Frontiersman by James Campbell. Into the Wild is the biography of Chris McCandless, a pathetic and self-centered, and self-destructive screw-up who died trying to be a "supertramp" (his term) in Alaska. The Final Frontiersman, on the other hand, is about the life of Heimo Korth, a successful backcountry trapper and survivalist in ANWR (see my Amazon review). I cannot avoid comparing Korth and McCandless. The main difference is that Korth is planfully competent, whereas McCandless seemed incompetent in every way. Study the life of McCandless to learn what not to do, how not to go wrong.
McCandless was a distinct failure as a human being and his life is not worth a biography except as an example of negative teaching. As a valuable negative lesson Into the Wild is a worthy book and I think superior to The Final Frontiersman. Krakauer is able to probe the depths of his subject and inject it with a sense of angst and wonder that is missing from The Final Frontiersman.
Two passages especially in Into the Wild make it a classic of adventure literature. One is the absolutely definitive statement of the adventure mentality of the young male on pages 56-57 of the paperback edition. This passage from a letter written by McCandless to a friend should be read and studied and critiqued by every young man--and every young woman. It contains the clearest, most gripping statement of a view that is at once exhilarating and dangerous. I will only quote two sentences from a much longer passage. "...in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure." I guess as long as these sentiments lead only to forays into the wild I have no problem with them. It is when they lead to warfare, destruction, rampage, and vandalism, as they most certainly do, that I withdraw assent. I suppose the passion for adventure is selected for by evolution and is thus inevitable. The problem comes when the passion for adventure becomes the passion for violence as it often does; not however with Chris McCandless--except violence towards himself, and perhaps vandalism of cabins in Alaska. Into the Wild is a basic text for studying this most creative, destructive, and seductive "passion for adventure."
The other passage that I especially valued was Krakauer's description of his own attempt at a first ascent of the north face of the Devil's Thumb, a remote peak in Alaska. This also was the result of a young man's "passion for adventure" and Krakauer almost lost his life in the pursuit. Krakauer's lengthy description of his adventure--the dangers, and horrors, and failures--is a brilliant piece of adventure writing. For me, this is the best and most exciting part of the book.
Krakauer also has absorbing discussions of other wilderness adventurers and the entire history of the American "passion for wilderness adventure."
The author of Into the Wild is a more interesting, sensitive, perceptive, and intelligent person than his subject in this biography. I look forward to reading Krakauer's autobiography when he writes it. It will be an even better book than Into the Wild.
Book Review: A Riveting and Informative Book
Summary: 4 Stars
In Jon Krakauer's riveting account of Chris McCandless's odyssey to find himself, the author does an amazing job in collecting evidence and portraying the life of a young man out to get away from society. Into the Wild is set over the course of three years around the country as Krakauer retraces the steps of McCandless's cross country trek. The year is 1991 and young Chris McCandless, a promising young man, is fed up with the materialistic values that framed both he and his emerging generation. Ever the iconoclast, he graduates from Emory with honors and immediately sets out to find his inner self by living off the land while baptizing himself with a new name, "Magic Alex." In response to people who had gone "into the wild" before him, Chris embarks on the journey of a life time, only to be found dead in the wilds of Alaska in an abandoned bus ten miles from a road along the famed Alaskan Stampede Trail. Krakauer takes you on the life and death adventure of McCandless as he pieces together the fascinating journey of this young man who left behind an invaluable diary that forms the basis of Krakauer's research. The people Chris encounter will never forget this astonishing, idealistic young man, an individual so determined and so focused on his goal that he never left the minds of those he impacted. McCandless was not your ordinary hitchhiker, nearly every person he met on his "Great Alaskan Odyssey" noticed how noticeably bright this kid was. One man who picked McCandless up on his final journey to Fairbanks, comments to Krakauer, "`Alex was clean-shaven and had short hair, and I could tell by the language he used that he was a real sharp fella. He wasn't what you'd call a typical hitchhiker. I'm usually leery of'em. I figure there's probably something wrong with a guy if he can't even afford a bus ticket.'" (159). This was what was different about McCandless, he was a smart young man and yet he made some serious blunders in his logic and reasoning. Krakauer did his research on this one as he stitched together a web of first-hand encounters and experiences with Chris McCandless, who was hard to follow as he changed his name every place he went. Many people who read Chris's story call him insane and others call him a purist gone too far. Krakauer makes sure that you can come to your own conclusions on the mental state and reasons for Chris's erratic behavior. I see it as this: a boy turned man fed up with society and trying to get away from it all ventures cross-country and tries to survive off the land in the wilderness of Alaska. I do not believe he is crazy, just enormously driven and focus-oriented; in the end, he wants to live off the land in the wilderness and would not take no for an answer, even if it meant endangering himself. Overall, Jon Krakauer fashions a genuine winner with his remembrance, Into the Wild. The tome combines the information of a news article and autobiography with the interesting and enjoyable reading of a novel. I found this tract to be very interesting and an overall great read. I definitely recommend this book as reading Krakauer's account of a young man out to find himself and break free from the norms of society is interesting and overall it is a great volume that is truly hard to put down.Book Review: Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
Summary: 4 Stars
This is the story of Chris McCandless, a young man from an affluent family who graduated with honors from Emory University in Atlanta. In April, 1992, Chris set off into the Alaska wilderness with a rifle and meager supplies to "live off the land." He headed north of Denali National Park. He was idealistic and strongly influenced by the writings of Tolstoy. Four months later, he was found dead by a party of moose hunters in an abandoned Fairbanks city bus. He had starved to death.
Jon Krakauer traces Chris' odyssey across the west. Chris' parents had assumed their son would go to law school with a major in history. Instead, he donated his college fund to charity and left with no word. He changed his name to Alex Supertramp, abandoned his car and took to hitchhiking. He traipsed through Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington. He lived off rice. He was liked by the people he met. He worked for a man named Wayne Westerberg in South Dakota. He befriended an 80-year-old veteran.
Chris kept a journal in which he wrote about himself in the third person. He saw himself as a modern Thoreau. He camped in the Grand Canyon. He worked in a restaurant in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, his parents were worried sick.
Krakauer identifies with Chris and portrays him as different from others who wander off in the wilderness. Chris' story and Krakauer's merge. Krakauer grew up in Oregon and learned mountain climbing from his father. He spent time in Alaska as a young man and climbed a peak known as Devils Thumb. He writes about it in detail, relating his mistakes and the unforgiving nature of mountains, ice and freezing temperatures. He questions why he survived Alaska while Chris perished.
It got out of hand with Chris. His disregard for his parents and contempt for the rules of society are hard to defend. His asceticism and high-mindedness were extreme. He became an aimless drifter, a selfish nonconformist.
We are shown the source of Chris' resentment toward his father. His father had another family by a first marriage. Krakauer exposes the gap between him and his own father.
As Chris' wanderlust grew, he thought more and more of Alaska. He hitched a ride from Dawson Creek in Canada along the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks. He bought a rifle and hitched on the George Parks Highway toward the wilderness. He wanted to escape all civilization. He saw Mt. McKinley in the distance. He found the bus and made it his home. For awhile, he was able to live off birds, squirrels and other small game. Krakauer's theory that Chris was poisoned by wild potato seeds proved untrue. Krakauer did not want to believe Chris had a death wish as critics have proposed. Still, Chris was not that deep into the bush and might have saved himself had he the will to do so.
"Into the Wild" became a movie in 2007 starring Emile Hirsch and Vince Vaughn. Jon Krakauer went on to climb Mt. Everest, an expedition during which several of his party perished. The disaster produced another bestseller, "Into Thin Air."
Book Review: Every Page is an Adventure
Summary: 5 Stars
"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...Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter."
Although the author, Jon Krakauer, starts off the story with the protagonist, Chris McCandless, who has taken an adventure into Alaska and never returns, Into the Wild is a compelling story that can be read and enjoyed by all ages. Krakauer tries to give the readers the conclusion and makes them understand how it happened. It allows the readers to figure out and understand the actions that lead up to the finding of McCandless's body in an abandoned bus in the wilderness. Krakauer really wants the reader to be able to recount on McCandless' journeys and understand his reasoning behind all of them. As this is a true story, Krakauer was able to accurately recount the adventures of Chris through talking and hearing of stories by other people who met him along the way.
The title, Into the Wild, is extremely fitting for this book, as he just seemingly vanishes into the wild without a trace. He leaves behind his previous life, burns his cash, loses his car, and takes no maps or anything for himself into the wilderness. McCandless is ready to endure nature and whatever it throws at him. He wants to be able to rely on his surroundings and be able to survive on nature, rather to rely on material objects for him to be able to survive.
Along with the narrative, Into Thin Air, about an expedition to Everest, Krakauer has a large amount of experience in writing about the dangerous side of the wilderness, a skill that is prominently portrayed in this book. Krakauer has a large amount of experience in the wilderness that is similar to McCandless, and he recounts pieces of his own experiences throughout the Into the Wild.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who loves to read about adventures in the wilderness and a story of a boy who wanted to turn his life in a completely different direction. Although, Krakauer had already told me the ending, and there would be no surprise for me at the end, like many books. Every page I found there was a surprise for me. This book caught my attention from the beginning and held my attention until the end, turning every page into an adventure for me. From my personal opinion, I usually never liked finding out the conclusion in the beginning of the book. But in this example, Krakauer tries to give the conclusion in the beginning to give the reader a feeling of confusion, making the reader want to figure out what happened to this young kid. It gave me a motivation to find out the events that led up to his death in an abandoned bus in the wilderness, and causing me to read the book in about two sessions.
As a fifteen-year-old, I can completely relate to the feeling of wanting to be out in the wilderness surviving on your instincts. After all, every kid wishes they could be a free soul and be able to wonder off into the distance.
Book Review: I Want to Go On An Adventure
Summary: 4 Stars
The story is fascinating. The organization of the story is perfect. Outside magazine definitely choose the right writer for this story, even though it could provide a premise of bias. This premise of bias, however, is eradicated by Krakauer's meticulous research on the story, particularly for the last few chapters that involved lots of scientific literature and research. This book is controversial because of its central character, Chris McCandless. Krakauer makes sure to mention several times the letters and criticisms he received for portraying McCandless in anything but a negative light (although critics would rather word it, "He portrayed McCandless as someone that should be considered honorable"). But, the thing is that McCandless was someone that was admirable. Disregarding the negative parts (what led to his death, although Krakauer does an effective job of showing that McCandless wasn't as immature as what his critics claimed), his longing to discover truth and life outside of conventional living in a materialistic, busy society is something that McCandless not only fantasized about, but it was something he manifested with his nomadic lifestyle--it became a reality.
What makes me lean to giving this book a 4-star review instead of a 5-star is that there were some confusing parts earlier on. Krakauer screws around with quoting people as they are talking in the present rather than in the past. He tries too hard to make the book flow like a piece of fiction (and at times it appropriately does). And what makes this particularly confusing (although I made sense of it as the story progressed) is that this is the point where Krakauer throws himself into the story...talking in the present and past, while quoting different people in the present. Yes, this seems very technical, but it screwed with my head a little bit, leaving me a bit irritated. Another thing that reduces this book from 5-star to 4-star is that Krakauer inserts a couple of chapters about his own journeys in the wild. I personally enjoyed them, but it does help critics to formulate their opinion that Krakauer is biased. I, as noted earlier, think that Krakauer did an efficient job in eradicating his presumingly established bias. But I will acknowledge that critics do have grounds for their opinions.
Overall, I loved the book. It has truly been a long time since I have delved into a wilderness novel. Even though the story is a tragedy, it is also a story of hope, a story of inspiration and aspiration; it makes me want to experience a life outside familiarity.
I would also like to add that the quotes at the beginning of each chapter are inspiring and help to shed a better, more unbiased light on McCandless.
Suggestion: for those who enjoy these types of books, I would highly suggest reading Through Painted Deserts by Donald Miller. It is a book about religion and spirituality (and I think that that case could also be made for Into The Wild), but more importantly about adventure and finding a life outside of familiarity.