Into the Wild in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 18, 2020 Daina rated it liked it

Shelves: non-fiction

Into the Wild is, as other reviewers have mentioned, a wonderfully written cautionary tale. Krakauer does his best to present an unbiased account of Chris McCandless' journey across the United States, culminating in his demise in the barren Alaskan wilderness. Krakauer includes first-hand accounts of people who interacted with McCandless aka "Alex Supertramp" during his two year adventure, as well as stories of historical vagabonds who may have felt similarly to Chris. Through these accounts and Into the Wild is, as other reviewers have mentioned, a wonderfully written cautionary tale. Krakauer does his best to present an unbiased account of Chris McCandless' journey across the United States, culminating in his demise in the barren Alaskan wilderness. Krakauer includes first-hand accounts of people who interacted with McCandless aka "Alex Supertramp" during his two year adventure, as well as stories of historical vagabonds who may have felt similarly to Chris. Through these accounts and stories, Krakauer hopes to provide a fuller picture of how Chris came to be who he was and why he did what he did.

Regardless of how well-researched and well-written Into the Wild is, I couldn't bring myself to care about the ~internal struggles~ Chris McCandless was facing, or whatever spurred him to drop off the grid in search of the meaning of life. About 60 pages in, I texted- "I don't really care to read about an affluent white boy's problems. It's really well-written, but I just feel bad for everyone who knew and loved this kid."

210 pages and plenty of evidence to prove that McCandless had a comfortable upbringing with every opportunity provided to him. His family life had been messy which would, of course, lead to some teenage rebellion, but leaving home to pursue the tramp lifestyle because your parents are "capitalist idiots" is a little bit dramatic. McCandless idolized naturalists/thinkers such as London, Thoreau, and Tolstoy and he balked at authority, choosing to ignore sage advice regardless if it was actually helpful/pertinent to his goals. Multiple people were quoted as saying that he was stubborn to a fault- if you tried to advise him in any way, he'd ignore your wisdom and let it go in one ear and out the other. He'd proceed to do things the way he wanted to do them.

In summary, Into the Wild is a very well-written cautionary tale. However, in my humble opinion, I don't think most people need to be cautioned against going into the Alaskan wilderness alone with an insufficient amount of supplies/gear to last for the duration of your months-long stay. Not to mention several people tried to advise you and help you and provide for your quest, but you thought you knew best? Welp.

This passage summed up McCandless' intellect/obsession with his quest pretty well: (view spoiler) ...more

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Jun 26, 2014 Rebekah rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: genre-biography, genre-non-fiction, genre-classics, genre-autobiography-memoir, genre-biography-memoir, genre-adventure, genre-travel, setting-us-california, setting-us-virginia, well-read

Krakauer is a talented author, but I almost did not finish this book. I just did not care for, or like, the main character. These stories are always about rich white privileged men (boys, really). He did nothing heroic or brave or anything that contributed to society. He may have had mental illness (some pieces about him and his writing sounds like maybe he had mania with delusions of grandeur). If he did not have a mental illness, he was selfish and narcissistic, immature, and didn't seem parti ...more

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Feb 11, 2012 Ginger rated it liked it

Shelves: cultural-studies

Krakauer's books are always page turners for me.

I enjoyed this, but found his conclusions to be a bit unlikely. I think he saw himself in McCandless too much, and failed to recognize the extreme hubris of this young man who went into the wild, wildly unprepared both in training and supplies.

Since he sees himself in "Alex Supertramp," he comes to unlikely conclusions drawn from the barest bits of evidence to "prove" this young man wasn't as arrogant as speculators claim he was.

Still, the majority ...more

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Mar 08, 2009 Amy rated it it was ok

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May 06, 2010 Stephanie marked it as to-read

Shelves: books-to-movie

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Shelves: z-read-1970-1999

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Jul 06, 2011 Natalie rated it it was amazing

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Jun 02, 2012 Kirsten Barber marked it as to-read-soon

Shelves: own, format-kindle, genre-non-fiction, genre-biography, topic-travel, genre-adventure, setting-alaska, level-adult, setting-usa, setting-california

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