Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail in The Book Vipers

Aug 08, 2015 Ellie M rated it really liked it

Shelves: non-fiction, 2015, 2015-grc, 2015-17-uk-genre-challenge

It's well documented in reviews that Cheryl Strayed embarked on her Pacific Crest Trail after the death of her mother, and her own dabblings heroin, a failed marriage and abortion. This walk was her way of finding herself again.

Whilst I didn't always like Cheryl I have to admire her strength of character and bravery to embark on this journey. Having visited Yosemite and Mojave desert, and having been on short walks in Yosemite, I was only too aware how harsh, yet beautiful, this environment can ...more

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Jan 11, 2015 Kelly Furniss rated it really liked it

I chose this book after it repeatedly being mentioned by some of my book club pals. It's a memoir about a young female adult of 22yrs old who looses her Mother, cheats on her Husband (who she loves dearly), starts taking heroin, has an abortion, notices her once close family are now scattered then on a whim and and with with no hiking experience decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone, more than one thousand miles through the Desert, California, Oregon and Washington State in order to get I chose this book after it repeatedly being mentioned by some of my book club pals. It's a memoir about a young female adult of 22yrs old who looses her Mother, cheats on her Husband (who she loves dearly), starts taking heroin, has an abortion, notices her once close family are now scattered then on a whim and and with with no hiking experience decides to hike the Pacific Crest Trail alone, more than one thousand miles through the Desert, California, Oregon and Washington State in order to get her head straight.
Cheryl our character's background and history is covered well and I warmed to her as she took responsibility for a lot of the crazy decisions she had made in her life so far. I could relate to some of the issues Cheryl faced and this is where the book won it for me as she openly explored the feelings and frustrations of dealing with the grief of her mother, this issue is still very raw for me and I could completely sympathise and found myself emotionally choked a few times in recognition of my own experience.
The author is not shy in sharing the grim details of her journey, the loss of toenails, dehydration, sore skin, huge weight of her backpack, aching joints and the physical effects on her body this is the main concern of narrative, we can really feel the daily struggles and fears she is facing and as a women alone this is no mean feat. I enjoyed meeting all the different characters as Cheryl met other people along the way on the trail which all added to her experience in one way or another. I admired her and am very glad she ultimately felt she had spiritually 'found herself' in the end but am glad she decided to share the story with us.
For me this book nearly had it all, I only didn't reward it the five 5 stars because the overuse of sexual references frustrated me but it's an adventure, tragedy, it's got lust, infidelity, drugs, family dynamics, friendships, soul searching and brilliant humour. This novel had me crying one minute, fearing for her the next then laughing out loud at scenes and if a book can get you doing all that then what is not to like?.

* Goodreads Book Challenge 2015- Book 6
* Pop Sugar Challenge 2015- A book that made you cry
* Bibliotheque Challenge 2015- A book that became a movie ...more

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Jan 31, 2015 Ruth rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: autobiography-memoir, full-deck-book-vipers-challenge, 2015-books-read, kindle, travel-holidays-on-the-road, adventure

The only reason it took me so long to read this is because it was the first book I ever read on Kindle and maybe because I had seen the film first, so I knew what was going to happen. I love it though and definitely will read it again. Top marks !

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Jan 09, 2014 Melissa marked it as to-read

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Jan 13, 2014 Christine added it

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