From the Bookshelf of Ashe Library Winter Reading Challenge…

Into the Wild

Jon Krakauer

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Jan 28, 2018 J rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, 2018

This murky genre of book—parts biography, adventure, history and eco-history—shares something in common with true crime, and while I can understand (on a certain morbid level) the mass appeal of murder stories, I'm made uncomfortable by how consumed so many people can become with the facts of a single tragic life. [Free-associative memory: I once frequented a online sports forum that had a bizarre surfeit of members with microscopic knowledge of the JonBenét Ramsey case. How do people get to tha This murky genre of book—parts biography, adventure, history and eco-history—shares something in common with true crime, and while I can understand (on a certain morbid level) the mass appeal of murder stories, I'm made uncomfortable by how consumed so many people can become with the facts of a single tragic life. [Free-associative memory: I once frequented a online sports forum that had a bizarre surfeit of members with microscopic knowledge of the JonBenét Ramsey case. How do people get to that point?] Into the Wild also seems to have anticipated the tragic-domestic-memoir genre and the general commercialization of dysfunctional families which has become so popular of late, spearheaded by authors such as Mary Karr, Jeannette Walls, and Augusten Burroughs.

I feel a similar kind of hesitation regarding the Chris McCandless story. He was a bright 22-year-old man obviously afflicted with severe psychological crises. Dying of starvation in an abandoned van in the Alaskan wilderness is a sensational way to go, but how does such a misfortune become fodder not just for a wildly successful book, but also a documentary, Hollywood film, and spin-off memoirs?

As always, I admire the clarity of Jon Krakauer's writing, and there's no doubt Into the Wild is a good, fluent read. But does the story really contain enough content for a book-length study? I can't decide if Krakauer was authentically inspired to draw comparisons between his life and McCandless's by writing bits of his own memoir into the narrative, or if that weren't simply a means of fleshing out the pages. It's clear that Krakauer felt guilty over some of the inaccuracies in his essay (e.g., that McCandless mistook a felled caribou for a moose), which caused many readers to judge McCandless harshly as a neophyte outdoorsman, and he uses the book to set certain facts straight. He also changes his theory on how McCandless died, suggesting that McCandless did not eat a poisonous pea plant, but rather that he accelerated his death only when, in utter starvation, he consumed the toxic seed pods of an otherwise edible potato plant.

I understand that in 2015 Chris McCandless's sister, Carine, released her own memoir in which she claims that she and her brother were raised in an abusive home by two personality disordered parents. There are hints of domestic tension and a harsh father in Krakauer's narrative, but he maintains a respectful distance from the McCandless family (possibly because he became close to Walt and Billie McCandless, with whom he surveys the fateful van in the book's afterword). But again I return to my opening thought to this rambling review: What do readers gain from these stories of ruined families and grim deaths other than another momentary high for tragedy junkies? ...more

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Mar 15, 2009 Suzanne Moore rated it it was amazing

Shelves: adventure-nonfiction, ashe-winter-challenge

Chris was one that admired the beauty of nature, a thoughtful and relective soul. His study of literature made me fall in love with his mind(the way it worked that is). I admired this boy's pilgrimage to discover the wild, and be a part of nature, but I was deeply saddened by his demise. ...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Sarah added it

Apr 17, 2017 Lynn rated it really liked it

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