A Fascinating account of a young man who chose to venture into the wilderness, Krakauer makes an excellent attempt to make sense out of a situation that nobody else has managed to. Other than the little insert of Krakauer's own experience of negotiating with death while attempting to conquer Devil's Thumb as a green lad, which I find intruding, contrary to the author's intent to show that he really does take the matter to heart to investigate what had gone into the head of Christopher McCandless, I find the book very well investigated and presented. There are many many memorable quotes in the book, most of them directly affecting McCandless and revealing a glimpse into his wild journey. Makes me want to read further into the named authors, including the likes of Thoreau, Tolstoy... The excerpts of Walden, by Thoreau, that Krakauer includes in the book are beautiful, and tragic in a way when presented with how they play out literally in McCandless's demise. ( )

Into the Wild was first brought to my attention when it came to film. I watched the movie and was shocked when Chris died at the end (this is not a spoiler, you find this out in the first chapter of the book) because I knew very little history about the story. I was so enthralled I went out and bought the book. Although it did take me a while to actually open the book, once I did I was halfway finished before I took a breath.

Krakauer’s writing is both thoughtful and insightful. I was impressed by the amount of research he was able to sift through and the stories he heard from the people who met Chris. I was also surprised that although it had been over a decade since he initially published the article in “Outsider,” he has obviously not stopped working or thinking about Chris. I was surprised by how much I could relate to Chris as well as how different we were. He did something incredible, and although a few oversights stopped him from walking out of Alaska alive, I don’t think he failed. He lived for 2 years exactly how he wanted to after turning away from everything he had known. He went to Alaska and lived off the land until he was ready to leave. Although he did not leave, he was ready to walk out as what seemed to be a changed man and he never seemed to regret going into the bush.

I really enjoyed this book. It was a great story and left me thinking about it for days after I had finished the last page. ( )

Excellent writing that really connected you with the unknown and mysterious protagonist of Chris McCandles. A great read from cover to cover. ( )

Just because you saw the movie doesn't mean you should pass this book up. It reads like a long news article. The author gives the reader facts about McCandless' character supplemented by the opinions of people he met along the way. This gives the reader the opportunity to make his/her own opinion about McCandless(is he naive or just really passionate?) as opposed to the movie which paints him as a young hero who knows exactly what he's doing. I recommend both the book and the movie for different reasons. This road tripper was one interesting guy. ( )

After seeing the movie, I absolutely have to read this book again. ( )

I absolutely loved this book! It reminded me of the optimistic free spirit of youth. Somewhere along the way responsibilities sneak in and rob you of it. It's sad that the adventure ended so tragically. ( )

From my blog: http://weelittleactress.blogspot.com

"Rather than Love, than Money, than Fame, give me Truth."
— Henry David Thoreau

Recommended Tea: Celestial Seasonings Wild Berry Zinger

When I was in college, all of my best friends were in the hippie fraternity. By this, I mean that most of them majored in Forestry, Geology, Bird Things, etc. Being a theatre major, this was not exactly something that I could understand. I was more interested in human relationships, in emotion, conflict. They found exhilaration in trees, adventure, solitude.

One of my best friends freshman year was like this. I remember the day before summer vacation began, going with him to the grocery store to help him pack up for one of his epic adventures.

"I'll need pasta," he said. "Lots and lots of pasta."

"What else?" I asked him

"I don't know... kit kat bars?"

I found out later that he had decided to bike - alone - from our little college in Tennessee to his home in Florida. That's right - FLORIDA.

"Do you have a place to stay during the nights?" I asked him.

"No. I'll just sleep wherever," was his reply. He ended up sleeping in people's yards after it got dark, and then leaving early in the morning before the sun came up so that they wouldn't know. I think he may have been chased off of a few lawns. But basically, he survived on kit kat bars and packages of Ramen noodles. Later he looked back on that trip and told me that it was the most difficult (and borderline insane) thing that he had ever done. And that was with food, a map, a planned route, and a bike.

That is more preparation than Christopher McCandless had when he decided to go, as the title suggests, Into the Wild. No map, no compass, no money - just a bag of rice, a book about plants, a backpack full of literature, a few supplies, and a new name - Alexander Supertramp. His goal was "to kill the false being within and victoriously conclude the spiritual pilgrimage." Chris ended up starving to death inside of an abandoned bus - a lucky find in the middle of the wilderness that he dubbed "the magic bus."

Now, if you read this book, or have read it already, you will probably fall into one of two categories.

* Category one: The people who think that Chris was a stupid, arrogant kid who deserved his fate (this category includes most of my "outdoorsy" friends who have read it).

* Category two: The people who respect and admire Chris for being committed enough to his dreams to try to accomplish them.

I find myself in the second category. While most of my friends were unable to even get through the book, I found myself TEARING through it, eating it up,
page by page. I finished it in a few hours. I found it completely gripping - partially because of the adventure, but mostly because of Christopher McCandless' heart. Yeah, I'm no Jeremiah Johnson, but I can understand passion, drive, trying to find out who you really are and what this crazy world is all about - especially after finishing college. I can also understand believing that a backpack full of books is more important than a backpack full of food. After graduation, you get this feeling in your gut that tells you, "Do something crazy, do something adventurous. This is the last time for you to find yourself before you officially join the world of adulthood." And joining that world, especially after four years of idealism and the search for truth, is a scary scary idea - because once you go down that road, that "adulthood" road, there's no coming back. It looks like a world full of pretense, hypocrisy, and lies. And after spending four years in the pursuit of truth, who would want to go down that road?

I considered joining a hippie puppet troupe and living in a teepee for a summer after graduation (ME, who found girl scout camp too challenging). Unlike McCandless, I was a little too cautious (some might argue a little too scared) for that. And that is precisely why I loved this book, why I found myself crying at the end of it, why I feel as if Chris is a kindred spirit - because he had the bravery to actually DO that thing that so many people dream about but never do because of practicality, the need for a paycheck, or fear of the unknown. Now, I do wish that he had prepared a little more so that this amazing spirit of his would still be among us, but I love him for doing what scared him, for doing exactly what he knew was right for him, in spite of the criticism he received from others. I think he would have preferred to leave this world the way he did, in the wild, rather than to leave it as an 88 year old in a nursing home. His journey makes my puppet troupe teepee dream seem not so crazy.

There's just something about these post-college years that make you want to see the world, test yourself, test all of the knowledge that you have acquired and see if it's really possible to survive out there, away from your safe cocoon - to see, essentially, if you can truly grow your wings. I think it's something we all feel.

"The sea's only gifts are harsh blows and, occasionally, the chance to feel strong. Now, I don't know much about the sea, but I do know that that's the way it is here. And I also know how important it is in life not necessarily to be strong but to feel strong, to measure yourself at least once, to find yourself at least once in the most ancient of human conditions, facing blind, deaf stone alone, with nothing to help you but your own hands and your own head..."
- Primo Levi (from Bear Meat) ( )

2008 ( )

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. Perhaps the author wanted the reader to know that he was qualified to speculate about Chris's mindset because of similairities in their upbringing, and his own mountaineering feats in comparison with other people's misadventures. Rather I chose to take away 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. ( )