From the Bookshelf of Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge…

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Cheryl Strayed,

Bernadette Dunne (Reading)

Finish date: January 24, 2015

Discussion: 2015 Challenge Prompts

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2015 Challenge Prompts

Prompt 25: A book you were supposed to read in school but didn't
By Ann · 67 posts · 992 views

last updated Jan 17, 2023 03:51PM

Prompt 39: A book with magic
By Ann · 48 posts · 446 views

last updated Jan 02, 2019 05:46AM

What Members Thought

Mar 16, 2014 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: travel, memoir-bio-autobio, did-not-finish

I tried. I really did. I just can't go any further. I tried this a year or so ago, on my own, and couldn't get past the first few chapters. this time it was for the local library bookclub, and so I soldiered through a bit further, more than one-third of the way. Then I just choked. I couldn't do it.
the basic thing is that I just didn't LIKE Cheryl Strayed. I didn't relate to her in any way, and I thought that she, as represented in this book, was (is?) a pretty reprehensibly irresponsible, self I tried. I really did. I just can't go any further. I tried this a year or so ago, on my own, and couldn't get past the first few chapters. this time it was for the local library bookclub, and so I soldiered through a bit further, more than one-third of the way. Then I just choked. I couldn't do it.
the basic thing is that I just didn't LIKE Cheryl Strayed. I didn't relate to her in any way, and I thought that she, as represented in this book, was (is?) a pretty reprehensibly irresponsible, selfish, weak hot mess of a person. I get that her life had been tough, and we all respond differently to grief, but it's hard to feel sorry for someone whose response to grief is wanton infidelity and illegal drug use. The passages about the PCT itself were interesting, but I disliked the narrator so much I simply couldn't go on.
For one thing, she was super irresponsible. I have never done backpacking, but even I know that you try on gear before you leave. You pack a weight you can reasonably carry. you break in your equipment prior to your big trip. you don't start off on an incredibly taxing trip on your own, and expect that other people are going to pick up the slack for you when you put yourself in danger or in need. Maybe she gets past that point as the story goes on. I couldn't get there.
The passage where it really went downhill for me was where she discusses her unwanted pregnancy. Her comment that 'of course' she would have an abortion--it was so obvious it wasn't even worth discussing--really threw me. I'm not trying to get into politics here, but even as someone who assumes women have the right to control their own body, I found it repugnant that the author seemingly spent more time and detail writing about her first bowel movement on the trail than she did about having an abortion. Maybe it's all the same to her. But it doesn't seem like a light decision to me, regardless of the freedom to do so. I might think it was just something private that she didn't want to discuss, but considering the extreme detail and extended hand wringing she went into over other topics, like her repeated, flagrant infidelity and cavalier use of dangerous illegal drugs, she doesn't seem like a private person.
What it all boils down to is that it's very difficult to read a memoir if you detest the narrator, and I did. I wish I could have gotten through and read more about the Pacific Crest Trail. I wish I could have seen what so many other readers thought made this an excellent book. but I couldn't and I didn't, and it's time I give up trying to force my way through this and just focus on some books I actually want to read. ...more

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Nov 04, 2013 Stacy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I tried to read this book 2, 3 times? I finally received the book on CD and listened to it. I absolutely loved this book. The beginning was hard - listening to Cheryl describe her sad life with her heroin use, her marriage fell apart and her mother passed away. However, i kept listening and what a joy this book turned in to. I loved listning to Cheryl's adventure on the Pacific Coast Trail and the people she met. I loved the insight she gained - from being along for months on the trail and the c ...more

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