Into the Wild in Around the Year in 52 Books

Oct 07, 2012 Kathryn rated it really liked it

Shelves: reading-list-2015, 4-stars, non-fiction, added-because-of-movie-tv

Jon Krakauer is a good non-fiction author. I often feel disappointed with non-fiction when the story is a great story, but is written in such a disjointed fashion that makes it difficult to follow. Into The Wild is not like that. It explores the lead-up to Christopher McCandless’ time in Alaska during the summer of 1992 and which ended in his tragic death.

Krakauer explored the lives of other people who ventured into hostile territories to live Survivor-like existences as a way of trying to disco ...more

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Jul 03, 2018 Tania rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Into the Wild is the story of a young man who rejected his family and society at larger, ultimately abandoning everything and everyone to search for some missing part of his soul. Whether he found it or not is up for conjecture, but to say he followed his dream until he could follow no more is very accurate.

Krakauer has revised this book several times since first writing it in 1996, and has made every effort to uncover the smallest details of what is known about Chris McCandless and why he was Into the Wild is the story of a young man who rejected his family and society at larger, ultimately abandoning everything and everyone to search for some missing part of his soul. Whether he found it or not is up for conjecture, but to say he followed his dream until he could follow no more is very accurate.

Krakauer has revised this book several times since first writing it in 1996, and has made every effort to uncover the smallest details of what is known about Chris McCandless and why he was driven by the need to escape - more specifically what drove him to the wilderness of Alaska and why it cost him his life. There are no easy answers, but Krakauer as always digs as deep as he can go to bring to us the truth as he knows it. This book is peppered with his own memories, feelings, and opinions, and yet that doesn't overshadow his investigative reporting into the mystery of McCandless and his, some would say, fruitless journey.

Take Into the Wild as a cautionary tale, or get mad at McCandless for being wasteful with the opportunities and privileges that were at his fingertips, or mourn for his family and their loss - Kraukauer allow his readers to take the information that he presents and do with it what they will. He defends McCandless, sure, but he never asks his reader to do the same. That is what I love about his books, because he can present all sides of the story, even inject himself into the story, and yet I never feel led or pushed into an opinion of my own. Still, you can't help but form an opinion as you learn the circumstances of McCandless life before and after his sojourn into the wilderness.

Part scientific study, part investigative reporting, and part narrative, Into the Wild makes a story about a young man who loses his way both figuratively and literally into a thoroughly readable volume. Facts and figures, evidence and anecdotes are all combined to exhaustively examine what started as a news blurb about another amateur who pitted himself against nature and found nature to be much crueler than he imagined. I was riveted. Sure, I can easily and in hindsight criticize Chris McCandless for where he went wrong, but truthfully none of us can say we haven't made mistakes that have or could have cost us more than we realized at the time. I do feel for his family, and I'm simply hopeful that having such a complete picture of Chris' experiences gave them some sort of closure. ...more

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Feb 05, 2018 Jim Townsend rated it really liked it

The riveting, tragic story of Chris McCandless, who hitchhiked to Alaska, walked into the woods north of Mount McKinley (Denali), and whose remains were found four months later.

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