Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
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Book Reviews of Into the Wild
Book Review: A good novel for advanturous types
Summary: 3 Stars
Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer is a powerful piece of literature about a young man, Christopher McCandless, who abandons his possessions and goes into the wilderness of both the Western United States and Alaska in 1992. He wanted an adventure in the wilderness even if it meant certain demise. The book retraces his steps by starting out describing his death and then it goes back to all the people that met him along his journey while sometimes going back further to when he was a young man. The book pieces together his motivation from when he started out to when he was found dead in an abandon bus in the Alcslean wilderness.
When Christopher is hitchhiking in Alaska, he gets picked up by a truck driver. They talk and Alex says he is exploring the Alaskan Wilderness and that he only has a ten pound rice bag for food and nearly no navigational equipment. The truck driver offers to buy him some new gear, but McCandless refuses. While in the truck, Alex later revels that he hasn't spoken to his family in two years. Alex also reveals that he has a hatred for modern society. The truck driver drops him off in the wilderness and he has to fend for himself with nearly no navigational equipment and little food. Three months later, McCandless is found dead in a bus. The book later goes back to all the people he got in touch with along his journey.
The book pieces together its information from a journal that he kept and letters he wrote to the people he met. I didn't enjoy this particular writing style because every chapter would either discuss a different person or go back to his life when he was younger. This seemed very disjointed; however, it did pull you in to the investigation of what happened. Although it was interesting to hear how he touched people's lives and to hear their stories, I felt that it was just a bunch of short stories put together. I also didn't like how the book started out with his death. I would have liked it better if I figured that out later on in the book. Although it has some minor flaws, saying it was a bad book would be wrong. I enjoyed hearing about his travels hitchhiking around the country and how he ultimately makes it up to Alaska. I also enjoyed hearing about his life and why he gave up all his money, car, and other possessions to go out into the wild. The book is filled with adventure and excitement, and I recommend anyone to read this book. I will end with part of a letter Christopher sent to a man along his journey. "So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun." (56-57)
Book Review: Krakauer Takes Care
Summary: 5 Stars
When I read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer, as I have twice now, I find myself criticizing the subject rather than the writer. The book is the story of Chris McCandless, a twenty-four year old man from a well-to-do family who hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the bush. He died there, leaving behind a family he hadn't spoken to in more than two years and bewildered friends and acquaintances he met along his travels.
The book chronicles his approximately two-year hike across the United States. He hitchhiked, tented, slept in the desert, and somehow settled on the idea that a summer in the Alaska bush would--if not change it--give his life a deeper meaning. In his mind, he was following the path of the writers he loved, most notably Jack London. But he also emulated Tolstoy in his lofty ideals: McCandless was one who seemed to believe, as his father put it, "that you should own nothing but what you can carry on your back at a dead run." Chris reveled in scrounging for the next meal.
To me, as someone who has been poor and will be poor for the foreseeable future, McCandless's endless romanticization of the hobo lifestyle smacked of unbelievable self-absorption and hypocrisy. Here was the son of a man who had top-secret security clearance and a mother who worked alongside her husband to create a successful business. He had excelled academically all through school and could have the job of his choice or create his own business fairly easily. Only someone as well-to-do with such an easy path paved before him could believe he was a better person than the "plastic people" with whom he was forced to share breathing space (such as the people with whom he briefly worked at McDonald's--many who were not financially much above poverty) by hoboing around the country.
But perhaps I am being harsh; McCandless was young and no more hypocritical than I was at his age. And Krakauer, by telling his own story of his relationship with his father, which led to his harrowing climb of Alaska's Devil's Thumb, brings the reader to a more compassionate view of McCandless: he was young and brash and ill-prepared and perhaps even foolish, but he was not stupid, and his death was the result not of his dramatically heeding a "call of the wild," but of two small errors that turned out to be pivotal and irreversible.
At any rate, Krakauer is a fine, fine writer, and he tells McCandless's story as only a young man who had a similar relationship with his father as Chris did to his can. Yet in the book he is gentle with Chris's parents, writing about them as non-judgmentally as he does about Chris. It's clear that the wisdom he came to in his own life somewhere along the line parallels that of Chris's, only there's a point where Chris's line stops and Krakauer's keeps going. Krakauer was lucky to have survived his own brush with death and not only live to tell the tale, but forgive his father--something McCandless will now never have the opportunity to do.
Book Review: Tragedy and beauty collide to give us tragic beauty
Summary: 4 Stars
Do not read if you're about to see the film - Unless you already know the ending. Prospective readers of the book carry on... Reason being that the book tells all on the first page, whereas the film alludes nothing as to the conclusion.
Into The Wild is surprisingly succinct in its description of Chris/Alex's background, although it comprehensively postulates and details - based on evidence - his motivations and the most salient reason for his decisions and travels.
From page one there are no doubts as to the tragic and ultimately heartbreaking resolution to the young man's travels, which seems unfortunate at first given that we're all lovers of suspense, but this is an account of true events and to dramatise it in that way would be trite and tantamount to exploitative.
From there on out this is a beautifully told, meandering story of Chris/Alex's travels, in his search for a nihilistic escape from property ownership, commercialism, societal and personal anchors, and, most importantly, the restrictions of human relationships.
Whether you believe he was foolhardy, arrogant, naïve, or justified in his exploits - opinions aired by many, in either direction, following Krakauer's published first article in Outside Magazine - there is simply no escaping the fact that his actions were those of a truly free spirit.
As a battle weary and stoic fighter of a hard life lived, the prospect of dread at a harder life yet to be lived, and the experience/knowledge of tragedy and human affliction beyond compare, I'm rarely moved or emotional by the harrowing tableau of others these days, but I was genuinely affected by Into The Wild. In particular the chapter concerning Ron Franz, the eighty year old with no remaining family, is difficult to not feel saddened by.
Also extremely enjoyable are the two chapters in which Krakauer details his own exploits in the wilderness. His attempt to establish his subject's motives in a context we'd understand through the re-telling of his own story in no way comes across as self-indulgent, but rather an exceptionally interesting account of his own experience and the subsequent reason for the interest, empathy and compassion he feels towards what became of Chris/Alex.
Chris/Alex's journey ends in Alaska, and in a heartbreaking deathbed epiphany he writes one final tragic line that really stuns with its gravity at his painful realisation, that happiness is best shared.
This is a beautiful and inspiring read, extremely well researched and written.
Off-the-beaten-track recommended reading (aside from those books which inspired Chris/Alex) would be: The Mosquito Coast (Paul Theroux, fiction) any of the "Extremes" by Nick Middleton (factual), and How De Body (Teun Voeten - factual, but infinitely more tragic in its examination of Man's Inhumanity to Man, as the great Burns put it.)
Book Review: A book review for into the wild
Summary: 4 Stars
The national bestseller, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer tells the true t=story of a daring boy who throws away his entire life to live alone in the wilderness. Christopher Johnson McCandless, otherwise known as Alex, graduated from Emory University with high honors and then abandoned his family and friends to take on a new life. Chris gave away all his movey to a donation and left his hometown to discover his new life. Chris traveled all over the United States only occasionally coming out of the wilderness and into civilization. He made many friends and acquaintances during his travels all of whom tell their stories of how they met Chris in Into the Wild. A few months after Chris Johnson McCandless sets off into Alaska, his body is discovered by a traveling couple. They find a note on an abandoned bus desperately asking for help. The note is signed by Chris. The couple is too nervous to explore the bus but when the forest ranger comes across the worried pair he bravely searches the bus. Chris McCandless' body is found frozen to death in the back of the bus. Chris had already been dead for two months.
For the most part, this book was interesting and well written; however, some of the chapters were dry and unentertaining. There were few parts where I couldn't put the book down. For example, Jon Krakauer tells other explorers unfortunate experiences which were not as attention-grabbing as Chris's.
My largest complaint about Krakauer's Into the Wild was that the story skipped around a lot and we were told some key details before others. For example, I do not like how we found out Chris McCandless' destiny in the first chapter (and for some copies of the book, on the cover). It is not until later on when we realize McCandless' motivation for leaving the civilized world.
In a way, the story is similar to the book The Glass Castle, by Jeannette Walls. In both book the characters choose to live a non-materilized life and they only kepp their absolutely essential possessions. They are both happy with their lifestyles. Both Christ and the parents in The Glass Castle intentionally dispose of their matierals and replace them with resrouces that they found and cannot live without.
Into the Wild is a book that forces the reader to reflect on their lifestyle and the way in which htey are living. Chris seemed happy during his entire journey which makes readers realize that they do not need material items to be happy. It also teaches people to take risks while still being precautious so that they do not end up in situations such as Chris'.
In the end, I give this book four stars, because while I believe that the story was tragic and heartbreaking, I think that the way it was told and the order in which it was told could have been better and more interesting. Other than the order however, I thought that Into the Wild was a good book that tells a sad yet inspiring story.
Book Review: Man and Author Fall Short
Summary: 2 Stars
This is an odd book to review because it is difficult to separate my feelings toward the actions of Chris McCandless and the writing of the book. Normally, strong feelings about the main character would say something about the writing, but this story is a biography, so any reaction I had toward the main character's actions was more of a statement about the person and not about the writing.
For those that do not know the story of Chris McCandless, he was a young man who hitchhiked his way to Alaska to live off the land. I heard about him in an English class. I pictured a daring young man. Someone who was not afraid to take chances and who lived the dream many people have had. There have been times that I was tempted to drop everything and just start walking. No phones, no television, no computers. It sounds wonderful, but then I would receive a call from my husband. I would be reminded of those that love me and my responsibilities towards them. This is where my issues with Chris McCandless begin. Yes, he was daring and brave, but he was also selfish and cruel. He left without a word to any of his family about his plans. For years they did not know what happened to him or where he was. He never called to say, "Hey mom! I'm okay and having the time of my life. Don't worry." His lack of regard towards his responsibilities as a son and brother effected me the most. Other people may be more irritated by his lack of planning before going into the wilds of Alaska, and others still may empathize with his wondering spirit. Regardless of your personal views and situations, there is something in Chris McCandless's story to which you will react strongly.
As for the writing, it was average. The author did illustrate the good and the bad of McCandless, but it was not a secret that the author saw him as a bit of a hero. I did not care for the way the story's time line was told in a circle. He told the story from beginning to end, but did not provide the full story. After reaching the end he then returned to the beginning of the story to fill in the holes. I think this was done so that the reader would have a better understanding of McCandless's thoughts and feelings that drove his actions, but the method fell short. I just found it annoying. The author also included some personal experiences, so that the reader would be more likely to sympathize than to judge. Again, I felt the method fell short. They slowed down the story.
The tale of Chris McCandless is almost a cliche. A young man leaves home to find himself by wandering the country and living in the wilds. It is a coming of age and survival story that everyone has heard before. The book Into the Wild does not offer anything new to this kind of tale. If someone is interested in reading specifically about Chris McCandless, they would get just as much information and save time by reading the news release.