Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail in Reader with a Cause

Dec 15, 2014 Anna rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: read-2015

Cheryl Strayed's emotional journey back to herself may be the framework for much of Wild’s popularity, but watching the recently released movie, then re-reading the book itself reminded me of one of the less talked about reasons that this book is amazing: it's a radically feminist challenge to male domination of the wilderness story.

I think I see this more clearly now because since first reading Wild in April 2012, I've moved from Chicago back to Northern California, and I now live in the shadow Cheryl Strayed's emotional journey back to herself may be the framework for much of Wild’s popularity, but watching the recently released movie, then re-reading the book itself reminded me of one of the less talked about reasons that this book is amazing: it's a radically feminist challenge to male domination of the wilderness story.

I think I see this more clearly now because since first reading Wild in April 2012, I've moved from Chicago back to Northern California, and I now live in the shadow of Mt. Shasta, not far from the PCT itself. Strayed's wonderful descriptions of the natural beauty of the trail are a much bigger part of her book than I remembered from my first time reading, and they resonate that much more now that I myself have hiked Castle Crags and spent time in Ashland, camped at Lassen National Park and begun planning my own (much shorter) PCT hike.

In some small way, I've been healed and nurtured by the same natural power that helped Cheryl almost 20 years ago, and I'm not sure that would have happened had I not been inspired by her book and its descriptions of the West's incredible beauty to finally just come home.

At the same time, I'm more aware than ever of the concerted effort to deny Wild it's nature writing cred: I've met current PCT hikers who dismiss Strayed's hiking because "she didn't know what she was doing" (never mind that she still did it) and Northern Californians who worry that Wild will make other inexperienced hikers to attempt a similar adventure (oh, the horror!), and I've read more than one disparaging review that summarizes Strayed's book as "she was sad, so she walked a lot" or "she focuses too much on her grief and not enough on her hike," which frankly make me wonder if we're all reading the same book.

I also find myself wondering if any of these people have voiced similar opinions about, for example, Into the Wild and Christopher McCandless, who also didn't know what he was doing, but never really took advice as it was offered, and—spoiler alert!—died as a result.

Sure, Cheryl Strayed didn't know what she was doing when she started her 1,000 mile hike, no one would dispute this (least of all her), but she accepted the help and knowledge of others as she went, and by the end, she actually did know what she was doing. She turns to the wild for solace in a time of need and strife, and she grows as a person and as a hiker as a result, thus following the path of so many would-be outdoorsmen of the past—and yet, she's critiqued for not planning enough, and for feeling too much.

Anyway. Wild is an incredible book, and I'll probably re-read it again someday, and until then, I'll continue to recommend it to everyone, everywhere, forever. Please read it. The end. ...more

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Mar 02, 2015 Niecy rated it really liked it

Beautifully written. Beautiful story. I found myself thinking of a conversation I had with someone, only to realize it was actually something I had read in this book. The sign of a good author.

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