Joyce answers “I haven't read the book yet - I'm waiting...”

A Goodreads user asked this question about Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail:

I haven't read the book yet - I'm waiting for it to come in at the library. She says in the book that she changed her name to Strayed after she divorced her husband. That's very weird. A search on the internet says she has two siblings, both with last names Strayed also. I guess she changed their names too. I've done long distance hiking and on the surface I doubt her integrity. Any comments?

Joyce It is a book. I do not read this as something that has to be a 100 percent truthful account of her journey. I read it as a book that is anchored in a …moreIt is a book. I do not read this as something that has to be a 100 percent truthful account of her journey. I read it as a book that is anchored in a real event. Does it matter if her name wasn't strayed? It's more the idea of the name change that does it: a metaphor that you can turn your life around at any given time, that sometimes a break and an ending is a beginning.(less)

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