Unprepared for the wild
It has been interesting for me to read the many positive reviews for Cheryl Strayed's new memoir WILD. I agree that the book is well written although I think that the two different narratives, one about her family difficulties in the wake of her mother's death and the other a recollection of her journey hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, don't fit seamlessly together. This was not a major complaint but frustrating and prevented me from enjoying it as much as I have other personal stories. My major complaint however is not one of style but rather substance. I do not understand why readers celebrate so much an author who embarked on an outdoor adventure for which she was patently unprepared and then embrace her lack of preparedness as triumphant. It reminds me all too much of the many [many] readers who lauded Into the Wild for similar reasons and frankly, I just don't get it.
Strayed went on her hike with little experience hiking. She saw some books at REI on the PCT and became captivated with the idea that it would heal her. I'm sure a lot of us can understand the need for a challenge in a time of crisis and I actually appreciate that aspect of her story. But Strayed makes a point of saying she shopped at REI for supplies without talking to anyone who could provide her with solid advice. She did not do any "practice" hikes of shorter more manageable areas. She did not load her pack until the night before she left, in her hotel room near the trailhead. (She actually could not lift it.) She never even bought the right sized boots or wore them before she hiked and when they gave her horrible blisters she ended up chucking one away in anger.
The irony that a boot is in on the book's cover is not lost on me.
Throughout her adventure it is the kindness of strangers that saved the author's life. More than once she was fed by people she met and other hikers helped her repack her supplies, sort through what she carried, discard useless and frivolous items, show her how to even use some of the tools she bought and basically saved her butt. Without those other people I don't see how she would have made it and while I doubt she would have died like Chris McCandless (the PCT is not the total boonies), she certainly would have given up. WILD is what happens when you don't know what you're doing but get saved in time and again by others, and that's the only difference I saw between her experience and his.
Based on reviews, the message readers seem to taking away from the book is that Wild is not a guide but a memoir and as such, the fact that Strayed is so woefully unprepared is not the point. All that matters is she experiences the wilderness; she takes a chance doing something that most people would never attempt and thus faces her own insecurities (and grief) head-on. This, I think, is the crux of her book's appeal. She goes where most folks don't go and she doesn't bother to spend the time to do it well. It doesn't take months for her to get ready for her adventure, there are not lists of things to do and buy and test and try first. WILD is thus not as intimidating as guidebooks or even Backpacker magazine. Strayed is just a woman in a bad place emotionally who does an impulsive thing. At least she doesn't die in the process which is an improvement from the days of McCandless worship but it's very similar to his cavalier attitude of walking into the wilderness with little food. You don't need to know anything is what both stories seems to say; learning beforehand will just diminish your experience.
I wish we idolized as much those individuals who take the time to do their adventures safely and carefully. Think about it - if a teenager wore shoes too small because she was lazy and got blisters we wouldn't regard such behavior heroic. It seems odd that a grown woman does the same thing and we note her bracing honesty in acknowledging the failure to test those boots and her heart-rendering weakness in walking with bloody feet. "At least he chose to live authentically", is what so many readers said about McCandless. The same words can be heard for Strayed as well. I have to wonder why authenticity seems to require committing obvious mistakes though, and why so many readers think you can only be raw and bold if you are also, quite frankly, foolish.
