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

Jan 15, 2015 Sam rated it did not like it · review of another edition

People said the beginning of the book would tear me up. While I could sympathize with her grief (and she did write about well), I did not empathize with her. It felt like the book was all very 'poor me', my siblings aren't around, no one cares for me guess I'll go do some heroine. The parts o that could have had the most impact were brushed over and all of a sudden she was embarking on a hike that seemed under planned.

I know that's the point - that this person undertook a fool's errand and came ...more

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Aug 27, 2015 Kristin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I found more of a connection with this book than I expected. Anyone who knows me would not consider me the rugged outdoors type, but I'd heard such great reviews that I figured I would give the book a chance. Strayed and I both lost our moms to lung cancer at too young an age, and while I stayed the course and tried my best to turn our old normal into the new normal, Strayed's life essentially fell apart. She lost contact with her siblings, her stepfather moved on to a new life, and she betrayed I found more of a connection with this book than I expected. Anyone who knows me would not consider me the rugged outdoors type, but I'd heard such great reviews that I figured I would give the book a chance. Strayed and I both lost our moms to lung cancer at too young an age, and while I stayed the course and tried my best to turn our old normal into the new normal, Strayed's life essentially fell apart. She lost contact with her siblings, her stepfather moved on to a new life, and she betrayed her marital vows, the last of which also leading to a heroin addiction, all before her 30th birthday. Upon her divorce, at which point she adopted the last name of Strayed, having no connection to any other surname from earlier in her life, she had nowhere to go and nowhere to be, but a chance encounter with a book about hiking the Pacific Coast Trail inspired her to give it a try.
A complete novice to hiking, Strayed followed the advice of the book and some other hiking literature (this was in the pre-internet days), only to find that her backpack was somewhere around half her weight, her boots were too small, and she lacked important tools like a hiking pole. As a solo woman on the trail, she met up with many people who brought her up when she was fighting the lowest of lows and gave her advice as more experienced hikers. Overall though, she was determined to finish the goal she set forth, even without knowing what the future held at the end of the hike, as she would still be divorced, estranged from her family, and broke.
Were I to set out on such a hike, I imagine I would find myself in her shoes. Certainly without the heroin addiction, and with a lot of family members to tell me I was crazy, but otherwise much the same. I wouldn't even know where to start, and much of my learning would come purely from experience. Not even sure I would have thought ahead enough to send supply boxes to post offices along the trail, but that is probably in the books she read. Apparently, a woman hiking alone on the trail is unusual, and Strayed gained some friends who wanted to look out for her, yet she rarely mentioned these same strangers befriending lone male hikers along the trail, and I believe I would certainly attract the same attention, not for being particularly attractive, but because I'm sure I'd be struggling and in need of the wisdom fellow hikers could offer.
Definitely a book worth the read, because there is more to it than just a woman going hiking. Instead, I saw it as a woman devastated by the loss of the greatest 'rock' in her life needing to conquer some other rocks on a path that is almost entirely forged as a means to figure out the next few miles of her own path. ...more

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Oct 01, 2014 Susan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I now want to hike the PCT but Cheryl irritated me quite a bit thorough out the book. Good book and a great experience!

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Mar 27, 2015 Megan rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: memoirs, bookclub-ish, nonficadu, finished-2015

In addition to telling a great descriptive story, Cheryl shared many beautiful descriptions of the PCT. It made me long to embark on a similar adventure someday.

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