Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Mar 30, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it

Shelves: memoir-and-autobiographical-essays, book-club-read, walk

I can summarize this book in three words: "Cheryl was hungry."

It's more than that, of course. It was good. A blurb on the back put it pretty well (I paraphrase): "a big break your heart and put it back together memoir."

But in the end, I'm left with two main impressions:
1. Cheryl was hungry.
2. Cheryl's life up to that point was really really fucked up. In many cases, her lack of coping skills startled me. I was also surprised that she was willing to be so open about this. The openness & honesty I can summarize this book in three words: "Cheryl was hungry."

It's more than that, of course. It was good. A blurb on the back put it pretty well (I paraphrase): "a big break your heart and put it back together memoir."

But in the end, I'm left with two main impressions:
1. Cheryl was hungry.
2. Cheryl's life up to that point was really really fucked up. In many cases, her lack of coping skills startled me. I was also surprised that she was willing to be so open about this. The openness & honesty is required for a good memoir, of course, but I'm not sure if I could manage it. I think I wouldn't want everyone who knows me to know all these things about me, and I always wonder how memoirists handle this.

And yes, the chapters about her mother dying were heart breaking, and hard to read.

It was interesting to realize that Strayed was not the name she was born with, but, rather, she chose it for the symbolism of being a stray in this world. If I were to choose any name for myself, I don't know what I would choose.

After reading some of the other reviews, I'm left with the following thoughts:
* This book is not for avid hikers, because Strayed did not start out as a "real" hiker. She didn't know what she was doing. She was honest about that. I found her self-deprecating attitude to be charming and engaging, but I think serious hikers are repelled by it, they seem to have almost a "how dare she?" attitude.
* This book isn't for people who like to follow conventional rules (rules such as "don't have sex with strangers") - I'm fairly conventional myself, but I enjoy reading about people who are not.
* This book isn't for people wanting to read about nature. I often felt anxious that Strayed was so exhausted and so overwhelmed that she seemed to be missing the amazing and awesome beauty that she was hiking through. After I closed the book, I decided she probably didn't miss it at all, and in fact she may well have a lovely photo album from her trip, but that wasn't the point of writing this book, so she didn't talk about it very much.

It's a very thoughtful book written by a very thoughtful person, but she carefully edits her thoughts. Even though I found many passages to be alarmingly confessional (yes, the mother in me, the conventional person in me, frequently cried: "what will her sons think when they read this??? What will her ex-husband think???" ... But that's me.), I still was left with a feeling of being outside. We are only allowed in now and then. And that lack of complete engagement is what left me feeling that this book is just good, but not amazing. ...more

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Jan 08, 2013 Morgan rated it liked it

good, not great for me. I had a hard time connecting with the main character; I was just not that interested in alllllllll of her issues. I was also turned off by the very raw and extensive details of her mothers passing (not spoiling anything. she leads with this, which is another reason I couldn't love this book. Too much for me).

finally, this was a book about a woman who chose to walk twenty miles a day, through the wilderness, under the shelter of only a tent for three months. This concept i ...more

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Mar 18, 2013 Ann rated it liked it

Shelves: memoir

Popular memoirs all have a few things in common - traumatic childhoods, drug use, and bad relationships. This memoir stays true to the genre, but the writer uses her backpacking adventure to do some healing and soul- searching. If you can get past Cheryl Strayed's bad decision-making and how ill-prepared she was to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, it's a good story. I'm inspired to go hiking. ...more

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