The true story of a young man, Christopher McCandless, who hitchhiked into the Alaskan wilderness, intent on living off the land, and was found starved to death four months later, Krakauer pieces together a thoughtful and personal examination of McCandless' short life from journal entries, interviews with his family and friends, and from his own experiences as a young man seeking to prove himself and to live at one with nature. ( )

The unknown circumstances surrounding the death of this tragic figure is captivating. The book is filled with hypothesis from strangers who attempt to dissect Chris's mental attitude, as well as quotes about naturisms, adventurisms, spiritualisms and idealisms. The chronology of events in the book jumps back and forth in time, therefore some recounts are repeated. Two chapters deviate from Chris's story, and becomes the author's own bio. This was odd and didn't really work for me. I guess the author wanted the reader to know that he was qualified to speculate about Chris's mindset because of similairities in their upbringing, and because of his own mountaineering feats in comparison with other people's misadventures. Nothing is definitive and I do not glorify this book. Rather I chose to take away from it the fact that Chris was much admired and touched the hearts of those he encountered on his sojourn, the fact that he penned his last note with his birth name, and getting the message out to other adventurers and meaning-of-life-seekers about the importance of calling home. ( )

I think to really appreciate this book you'd have to be a certain type of person. You have to have a little part inside of you that wishes it could let go of everything you own, everything society has put on you, and just go -- somewhere, anywhere, it doesn't matter -- because that's what this true story is about. ( )

A beautifully tragic account of young Chris McCandless's journey (and subsequent death) in the wilds of Alaska. Using diary entries, interviews with people who knew McCandless, and some similar historical endeavors, Krakauer attempts to uncover the motivations and thought processes behind the urge to experience nature in unbelievably dangerous situations. I have never had such an urge in my life, so the description of such an alien frame of mind enthralled me. I have mixed feelings about McCandless himself; I think he mistreated a lot of people who cared about him, but it sounded like he was on the brink of turning his life around there at the end. This story would not have worked as a novel - the premise is just too unbelievable and the timeline far too jumpy - but knowing it was true kept me turning pages until the very end. I agree with the review in the Washington Post, printed on the back cover: "Anyone who ever fancied wandering off to face nature on its own harsh terms should give a look." ( )

it was great! captivating and easy to read! ( )

This was an interesting book about not only Chris McCandless's tragic and unnecessary death, but about how someone's romantic view of nature can blind them to its harsh reality. ( )

Chris was one that admired the beauty of nature, a thoughtful and relective soul. His study of literature made me fall in love with his mind(the way it worked that is). I admired this boy's pilgrimage to discover the wild, and be a part of nature, but I was deeply saddened by his demise. ( )

Interesting, involving but non-judgmental account of Christopher McCandless and other wilderness explorers. Well written but the left turn into the authors own trip at one point seems to appear from a different book. ( )

The unnecessary sojourns and interjection of the author's own experiences were redeemed only by the fact that the actual story of Christopher McCandless is a good one. Admittedly, the book would have been much shorter if Krakauer had focused only on McCandless, but it may have been richer for it. The other stories, albeit mildly interesting, were not very relevant, nor were the comparisons between McCandless and his predecessors really necessary.
McCandless' story needs no more elaboration or analysis provided by an additional reporter -- it is fascinating and lingers in the readers' minds even without the brooding commentary of an obviously narcissistic author.

The book gets 3 and a half stars from me, but only out of respect for the story hidden between the lines of what seems to be a nightmarishly long and terribly edited high school paper. ( )

I was incredibly frustrated by this book. I really wanted to like it--I had heard so many great things about it--and I enjoyed the main plot and found McCandless intriguing as well as annoying, but overall I was extremely disappointed. Mainly, I am appalled that this manuscript went through an editor without being cut by about 50-70 pages. The random musings about other adventurers similar to McCandless (pp. 72-97) were an unnecessary distraction to say the least, and could have been condensed to a brief paragraph pointing out the parallels between Chris and his precedents. I found those asides annoying enough, but when Krakauer suddenly and forcefully places himself into the narrative (pp. 133-156), kicking off his not-so-brief memoir with his "brooding on a Colorado barstool, picking unhappily at [his] existential scabs," I wanted to gag. Isn't the number one rule of reporting keeping yourself out of the story? What editor lets an author stray from the narrative for TWENTY pages for no other reason than to ramble about how he is also an adventurer, albeit a more prepared one, and to draw weak parallels between himself and McCandless based on their mutual "daddy issues?"

And don't even get me started on the epigraphs... Krakauer just couldn't leave it alone after the lengthy excerpts of novels underlined by McCandless (which, although long, were appropriate to reveal aspects of his character). It was almost as though he was engaged in a one-upmanship with McCandless... "OK, Chris quoted Tolstoy here...how on earth can I prove I'm smarter than he is through this epigraph.. Oh! I know! I'll quote Joyce!" UGH.

In my opinion, this book started as a long magazine feature, and should have remained a long magazine feature. Yet another story that did not deserve to be a book. ( )

Interesting. I'm curious enough to see the movie someday. ( )

My only complaint about this book is that you know the ending the whole time you read the book. Krakauer tells you the ending in the begging then goes about telling you how the story gets to that point. I don't really enjoy that style. This is just my opinion though.... ( )

Casting off his inherited value system, along with his inheritance itself, Christopher McCandless set off to experience life at its most basic. Desperately seeking an elemental oneness with nature, he unfortunately did not have the experience to survive a single winter in the wilderness of Alaska. All his good intentions weren't worth the life-skills that a juvenile native would have had. His grand adventure ended so unfortunately.

A young man, presumably fuelled by his sense of anger and alienation from the values of his parents; leaves college and all the promise of a great intellect and possible future to wander the America's as a vagabond. He gives away his savings and severs all contact with his family pursuing his belief that he will find a higher truth in being free from the trappings of society, by living raw as it is with nature.

He travels for more than 2 years, his many talents, his sharp intellect, given over to subsistence living to surviving in harsh environments, to taking hard manual labour. Some how proving something to himself, some sense of being better than the example of his father. He relishes the sense of being close to nature, of being in danger, at risk but somehow surviving, as if it he has entrusted his fate and his worth to the nature gods.

He journeyed the deserts, the rivers in a canoe and out to sea and survived and sought to take on the Alaskan wilderness. The story is told as if his pride was abating, and he was going to be able to concede his own faults and those of his fathers; but a little known fungal toxin in the potato seeds he is surviving on in the end sap him of his life.

Just so many questions; how can you ever reach a young and angry man like this; and the many others that the author suggests are also affected in these ways. The hurt and anguish as a parent to lose a child in this way. ( )

I got around to reading this right before the movie came out, and I am sure glad that I did. The book painted a wonderful portrait of the adventures of Chris and his trek through the wilderness to find himself and peace. The book was wonderfully done, sadly the movie was not so up to par. ( )

What started out as an article for Outside magazine on the puzzling death of Chris McCandless, in the Alaskan wilderness, grew to a highly acclaimed book and feature film
based on this young man's odyssey through the Southwest and Alaska. With access to McCandless' journals, pictorial records, postcards, and interviews with people who befriended and worked with Chris during his two year sojourn until his tragic death in the summer of 1992, the author, Jon K rakauer brilliantly weaves a story of this young man's experiences and philosophical stance that informed much of his determination and actions to pursue an adventurer's life.

Each chapter begins with either a map, or passage, some underlined from one of McCandless' many books found at his campsite, or telling of the mind set of an adventurer. The passages are from authors as varied as Thoreau, Mark Twain, Jack London, Boris Pasternak or naturalists and adventurers who scaled mountains and forged trails through the wilderness. . Each passage and the book it is from gives an insight into the thought process of Chris and helps explain why he might have chosen the path for himself: London's Call of the Wild and White Fang, Thoreau's Walden, or Life in the Woods, Roderick Nash's Wilderness and the American Mind.

Krakauer , an outdoorman himself, does not so much judge Chris as try to explain the cultural rite of passage which McCandless engaged in: risky behavior which pits a young man against nature among its harshest elements. While this is a biography, McCandless as an adventurer, makes for a thrilling read for high school students, especially boys, who admire a free spirt, an altruistic fellow ready to follow his passions yet fullfill his parents concerns for a college education. ( )

It's a well-written, journalistic account of one young man's tragic adventure. I particularly appreciate the author's revelation of the story by thorough treatment of the sequence of events. The selection is especially appropriate for young men, from middle shcool to adulthood, who contemplate their role in polite society. ( )

Twenty-four year old Christopher McCandless walked into the Alaskan wilderness in the Spring, ready to experience a life off the grid. Four months later, he was dead of starvation. Krakauer interviews as many acquaintances of McCandless’s as he can in order to solve the puzzle of why this young man ended up dead in the Alaskan wilderness. However, this book is not a mystery in the traditional sense, since the ending is revealed on the first pages. What drives the plot is the conflict of man vs. both nature and society, as McCandless attempts to find a place in the world that feels morally unambiguous.
I thought this book was long and sad. Their was not exciting parts to it.
I would not read this book in class. It think that it might disengage readers and they would lose their interest.

Twenty-four year old Christopher McCandless walked into the Alaskan wilderness in the Spring, ready to experience a life off the grid. Four months later, he was dead of starvation. Krakauer interviews as many acquaintances of McCandless’s as he can in order to solve the puzzle of why this young man ended up dead in the Alaskan wilderness. However, this book is not a mystery in the traditional sense, since the ending is revealed on the first pages. What drives the plot is the conflict of man vs. both nature and society, as McCandless attempts to find a place in the world that feels morally unambiguous. The most compelling character, naturally, is Christopher McCandless. Krakauer examines his motivations and actions in detail. Through this young man’s experiences, themes of growing up, industrialization, family relationships and the power of nature are explored. ( )

This is one of my favorite books. I still have yet to find a story that affected me as much as this one. ( )

This is one of my favourite books; it's a sad story but so compelling. Some people might find it hard to sympathize with Chris McCandless - he didn't seem to care much about his own safety; but at the same time many people will admire his bravery. I think a lot of people would love to just disappear and go on adventures across the states but would never actually do it. The author does write about himself a bit too much, but the rest of the book had me gripped. ( )

Read this before the movie and found it very compelling. To follow this young man on his fated trek to find something solely his was like living it myself. I knew that kind of thing when I was young. Actually I know it now. To find himself alone and trapped in an abandoned bus in Alaska dying of something he ate was surely a grueling was to go. This tale is the closest I've come to my youth in a long time, one I could easily have had. Trouble was, this boy died looking for himself. But then, that's how it usually works when we're very old. ( )

2 The book was somewhat effective for the Teen Problem Book project.
5 The book was excellent. I enjoyed it.
I would use the book for your project, but it is a very in depth book and all problems are linked to one single problem. Maybe confusing for some people to use for their project. ( )

Pretty good, though I just skimmed some bits. A very fast read. And so sad to see such potential wasted - that Chris was so smart and yet so dim about certain things. And clearly very charismatic - he seems to have made life-altering impressions on everyone he met. ( )

So far, very engaging and thought provoking. As an educator, it raises a lot of questions about students who are really bright. ( )