Into the Wild in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Jan 05, 2008 Leslie Jones rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: school-suggestions

After a day of contemplation, this is my attempt to verbalize my experience in reading this book:

So I did something yesterday that I haven't done in a very long while...I spent the day reading a book. While this endeavor actually started out as a work task, I soon let that responsibility go and allowed my personal journey take over. I read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer - an account and homage to Christopher McCandless, the young man found dead in Alaska some 15 years ago. This book is powerful; After a day of contemplation, this is my attempt to verbalize my experience in reading this book:

So I did something yesterday that I haven't done in a very long while...I spent the day reading a book. While this endeavor actually started out as a work task, I soon let that responsibility go and allowed my personal journey take over. I read Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer - an account and homage to Christopher McCandless, the young man found dead in Alaska some 15 years ago. This book is powerful; it continually left me speechless, out of breath, and in tears. Chris graduated from college, gave his savings to charity, and set out on a journey to spend time free of the confines of civilization. While part of me absolutely connects with the Transcendental idealism that we as humans find peace and connection with God, or the Oversoul, in nature, I think I like showers too much to actually do what he did. But I get the longing for inner peace; the longing for independence and self-reliance; the longing to be comfortable just being - no expectations; the longing for experiencing visceral moments that challenge the body; the longing for opening the mind to possibilities and opportunities that are unplanned. I long for these myself.

Karakauer is a genius wordsmith. He has a way of describing things with such detachment one minute and then punching you in the gut with overwhelming emotion in the very next line. And the cliche is true... a picture is worth a thousand words. The photo below is the first thing you see when you open the book. It's the smiling face of McCandless, a man who raditiates peace and love. You begin reading and while there's no big secret that McCandless dies, when you read about his death, the picture becomes haunting. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. As I pondered why, I immediatlely thought of the last few lines of A River Runs Through It:

Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs. I am haunted by waters.

While I'm not literally haunted, I am afraid of being haunted by regret. I'm tired of putting off my own desires to fulfill a societal obligation. Why do I let "responsibility" dictate my time? I believe what impacted me the deepest from this book is the idea of being true to self. I've been justifiying my own dreams for those that fit in the expectations of family, friends, employers, neighbors, and even myself. And while I may not be able to verbalize my dreams, I know that my current situtation doesn't cut it. I need to make my dreams a priority, not an afterthought. I need to have my time in the wild...

I don't know what that will look like, or how soon it will happen, but I know that I'll be haunted by some of these words until I do:

It is the experiences, the memories, the great triumphany joy of living to the fullest extent in which real meaning is found. ~ Chris McCandless

Seemed like a kid who was looking for something, looking for something, just didn't know what it was.
~ Charlie, a friend from the road

McCandless went into the wilderness not primarily to ponder nature or the world at large, but rather, to explore the inner country of his own soul. ~ Jon Krakauer

I now walk into the wild. ~ Alex Supertramp - Master of his own destiny.

...more

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Oct 16, 2007 Stacy rated it it was amazing

This is one of my all time favorite books - I cried for days after I finished it. This is a wonderful books and asks great questions about rites of passage, the dream of travelling West, and the need to live in the wild.

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Oct 27, 2008 Melissa rated it it was amazing

Such a sad and compelling story. I was really impressed by the author's attention to detail and how he related Chris' story to those of other explorers and to himself. ...more

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