Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
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Book Reviews of Into the Wild
Book Review: Too Biased
Summary: 3 Stars
A 24 year old nomadic self-described "non conformist" with the ideals of self-preservation as modeled by Thoreau and the fiction of Jack London has died on a trip to live resolutely in Alaska. The book is borne from, Jon Krakauer's fascination with and determination to retrace the tracks of this wanderer and tell as accurately as clues allow how he lived and more importantly, explain how he died. The Introduction warns that his [Krakauer's] opinion on matters will not be hidden, it still is left to the reader to gauge the character and sanity (among other things) of the subject, Chris McCandless.
However, Jon Krakauer holds such a tremendous bias and identification with his subject, that rather than remaining objective, the truth and hard-facts of what happened is distracted by Krakauer's own rememberings of his past. His telling of the McCanless death is skewed and facts blend with what sometimes seems like fiction. Krakauer fails to remain objective to his subject, which makes this telling of the story romanticized. His opinion of the circumstances is so smothering that the reader is not left to figure things out for themselves, but instead backed into a corner where they either agree with everything he has stated, or become a hateful person ignorant to the beauty of passion and finding meaning in one's experiences. A reader who chooses to remain objective thus is also left feeling a bit bullied. Krakouer remains so urgent in his message to think of the event in a specific way that he insults the reader's intelligence by making it clear that in his opinion there is only one "right" way of perceiving what happened.
I must say, though, that Jon Krakauer does not suffer as a writer with pointed intimacy and expressiveness. He is certainly a wonderful writer, and did exactly what he set out to do: he told the facts, as best to his understanding of what happened. However, as a journalist, he failed at the delicate task of objectivity. And, for me, when reading non fiction, the emotional side of the story is most gracefully told with restraint and respect for the subject discussed. I don't doubt that he is respectful of the event, nor do I doubt that he is respectful of the idea of the event. However, in his telling, his own opinions betray this respect, and leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
As a documentation of an event that has greatly moved a man who identifies, this is a splendid masterpiece. As a documentation of an event by someone who has enough history and knowledge and craftmanship to tell the story, this is a literary failing.
That said, I greatly enjoyed the language, the story was more than compelling, and I am definitely glad that I read this. It certainly won't be among any of my "trade for credit at the used book store" books.
Book Review: Sad but predictable story
Summary: 1 Stars
I just finished reading Into The Wild after recognizing I had attended Emory Univ together (I graduated 2 years earlier). Although I find Krakauer to be a very talented writer I also find his descriptive protrayal of Chris very limited much to my chagrin. To say I knew Chris is to say I had a class with him and knew of his editorials in the "Wheel" but my own recollection is not as an outgoing, funny well adjusted guy. Much to the contrary, he seemed to be depressed, reclusive or as some might say, a loner. My opinion doesn't take away from the the seriousness of the book, it just makes me wonder how much literary license Krakauer has used either to sell books or to help comfort his family in grief.
I suspect Chris' lack of close family bonds is likely as result of chronic depression and his rebellious behaviour is manifestation of these thoughts/beliefs. It was noteworthy that none of the pictures supplied to the author by Chris' own sister ever showed him smiling. Indeed, I looked up his picture in my Emory yearbook and again, no smile. In fact it interesting that he is the ONLY person not smiling on the page!
I'm not critical of Chris trying to "find" himself in the wilderness as many young people often search for something similar; however, as many experience survival experts have already pointed out, it was an ill concieved plan by an inexperienced person which eventually led to his tragic death. This cannot be denied. And it is very sad.
However, Krakauer is missing the real tragedy here; Chris was mentally sick and needed serious psychological help which might have prevented this tragic end and it is here that the author fails in my opinion. To compare his climb of Devil's Thumb with Chris is comparing apples and oranges. The author was a very accomplished climber from a young age whereas Chris had no "survival" experience as anyone who knows can tell you(many accomplished guides have pointed this fact out elsewhere). So although Chris espoused the literary ideals of London, Tolstoy and Thoreau, the alaskan wilderness cares not about such things which brings reality and eventually death to the young man.
It is so sad, Chris was very bright and deserved a better life, however I believe his depression drove him to his death. His need for some form of "test" would win him acceptance from his father thus putting an end to a long bitter relationship. Nevertheless, the book is an engaging account of a tragic part of his life and should serve as a reminder for to examine ourselves and those around us with unconditional acceptance, not so as to stop encounters into the wild but to learn from nature as a child learns to walk - carefully, one step at a time until we can run!
Book Review: Read it in one night. It's a well-written book.
Summary: 3 Stars
Several words come to mind when thinking of Chris McCandless, as reviewers on Amazon and others in Krakauer's book note: rash, impulsive, idealistic, individualistic, selfish, histrionic, foolhardy. Indeed, the book had the trappings of apologia for the young man's destructive nature. Contrary to many reviewers, though, I believe Krakauer gave a fair assessment of Chris.
Krakauer attempts to salvage the good name of Chris, primarily because he saw much of his subject's characteristics in himself as a young man. The renunciation of a comfortable, secure environment for the aesthetic, ascetic, and the existential does not make sense to some. However, Krakauer admits that these are the same attitudes on which countries capitalize to recruit men into battle. In one of his more eloquent writings, Chris declares that nothing is more destructive to a man's adventurous spirit than a secure future. Some who have always had security--a life without hardship--begin to look at it with contempt; it becomes something shameful. Giving 25,000 dollars to OXFAM and feeding homeless on K Street was just as charitable as it was self-serving. As is most philanthropy. I admit character portrayal does border on romanticization, but ultimately Krakauer is more sober. Understanding McCandless's flaws, Krakauer still manages to upon McCandless with empathy
But, all this is beside the point. It would be unfair to attack or support a book solely on a personal judgment about the characters. Let Chris be scorned, but I think Jon Krakauer told a good story, and attempted to fully understand the motivation, emotion, and conflict among his characters. Krakauer's deviation from the plot to stories of other brash (even psychotic) adventurers and the author's own experiences does not take away from the text. Even Melville interrupted what would be an excellent adventure story of conquest with encyclopedic entries. Into the Wild is no Moby Dick, but Krakauer's literary decisions serve the same purpose; to reconcile the speaker's internal conflict, and to personally comprehend the enigma of human nature. Krakauer tries to show us that the Chris's characteristic thirst for experience--even a bit of danger--are not idiosyncratic. Rather, they are common to all mankind; latent in many (society inherently discourages wandering into the threatening unknown while encouraging the sanctuary of its uniformity).
The story of Chris McCandless serves as medium for contemplation of our will to live, our insatiable desire for risk, and the choices we make. You don't have to agree with the decisions of the character to find fulfillment in understanding. Overall, well-written.
Book Review: Wildly Unforgettable
Summary: 5 Stars
"...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.
Book Review: We would have learned far less if Krakauer had been "impartial"
Summary: 4 Stars
Jon Krakauer warns us in the "Author's Note" that he's not "an impartial biographer" but that he makes a good faith effort to "minimize" his "authorial presence" in "Into the Wild" in spite of himself. Usually, I'd applaud such an effort, but one of the most fascinating things about "Into the Wild" is Krakauer. He confesses to being "haunted by the particulars of the boy's starvation and by vague, unsettling parallels" to his own life, and this haunting is as compelling as any ghost story you will ever read. Throughout the book, it seems that Krakauer discovers more than a kindred spirit in Chris, he discovers his doppelganger. His skillful reconstruction of Chris' adventures and dogged investigation into his death reminds one at times of an amnesiac trying desperately to discover his own identity.
Krakauer and McCandless are souls moved by ideals. Words aren't "merely" words for them. Words are transubstantiated upon utterance or transcription into the reality they represent. This has always been a rare belief but it is almost unheard of today. Unfortunately, about the only folks these days who truly seem to "take words to heart" and make the evening news are religious zealots bent on others' destruction. Chris was zealous, but for the most part his doctrines touched people's lives in positive ways. His family, of course suffered horribly both when he disappeared and when he was found dead, and Krakauer does not shy away from this reality. He illuminates the damage McCandless did to his family with as many gut-wrenching details as his testimony of McCandless' salvation of Ron Franz.
Idealism by definition isn't practical. So it's not surprising that McCandless entered the wilderness ill prepared for survival. It's not surprising that he lit a stack of cash on fire or that he spent so much time intently labeling what he saw in nature and in life like some 19th-century explorer. Krakauer understands this and summons the ghosts of explorers, hermits, climbers and adventurers to stand by McCandless' side, proving to the reader that Chris' actions, while brash and in the end disastrous, were not unprecedented or without context. He opens McCandless' books and shows us the notes in the margins. He allows us to watch Chris' mom gently lift a patched pair of jeans and breathe in the memory of her son. It is this extra work, this extra effort that makes "Into the Wild" so valuable. We are fortunate that Krakauer could not distance himself from this story. Only Shot At A Good Tombstone