Into the Wild (1996)

Far better than film and felt McCandless was a personality that was far easier to come to grips with. Krakauer's persons anecdotes and stories of people that resembled McCandless were fascinating in their own rights. ( )

I listened to this while driving between KC and St. Louis. It was the only Audiobook I could find at my mom's house that wasn't Moby Dick, and I put it on not expecting much. I was back in St. Louis before I realized. A really, really engrossing story about the individualist american spirit and the inescapable reach of all-encompassing global capitalism. I had to sit parked in front of my house for half an hour to hear the end. ( )

As the book went on, I found myself disliking Chris McCandless more and more. The book is great, and I'm a fan of Jon Krakauer.. but, I didn't care for McCandless as a person. I enjoyed reading his story, but was annoyed by him. ( )

I read this for the "A Biography" part of my 2018 reading challenge. I didn't enjoy it, I found it slow and his timeline was too scattered. I also think Chris McCandless was inept and unprepared and shouldn't have been out there in the first place. ( )

interesting story of such a short life. i didn't think i'd like to hear krakauer's insertion of his own story, but it fit well. i especially appreciated the way he framed the adventurous spirit that he had when he was chris mccandless' age, and how it wasn't maybe as foolhardy or unlikely as it might seem to a middle-aged urbanite.

while it seemed ridiculous that he could actually survive a trip like he'd planned, the truth is that he came incredibly close to doing just that, and probably would have if not for a few unlucky turns of events. had he made it out, people would have thought he was a hero. which maybe shows how fine the line is between heroism and idiocy?

usually when i read books like this it makes me want to, at least a little, get out there and do something adventurous in the outdoors. not this time. maybe i'm just older but the living he describes - both in his trekking around the country first and in his "living off the land" in alaska - sound just terrible to me. although i do understand the desire to get away from all the stuff that ties us down in our everyday lives. ( )