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Wild ~ September 1, 2012
Discussion Questions ( may contain spoilers)READING GUIDE
1. “The Pacific Crest Trail wasn’t a world to me then. It was an idea, vague and outlandish, full of promise and mystery. Something bloomed inside me as I traced its jagged line with my finger on a map” (p. 4). Why did the PCT capture Strayed’s imagination at that point in her life?
2. Each section of the book opens with a literary quote or two. What do they tell you about what’s to come in the pages that follow? How does Strayed’s pairing of, say, Adrienne Rich and Joni Mitchell (p. 45) provide insight into her way of thinking?
3. Strayed is quite forthright in her description of her own transgressions, and while she’s remorseful, she never seems ashamed. Is this a sign of strength or a character flaw?
4. “I knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told” (p. 51). Fear is a major theme in the book. Do you think Strayed was too afraid, or not afraid enough? When were you most afraid for her?
5. Strayed chose her own last name: “Nothing fit until one day when the word strayed came into my mind. Immediately, I looked it up in the dictionary and knew it was mine . . . : to wander from the proper path, to deviate from the direct course, to be lost, to become wild, to be without a mother or father, to be without a home, to move about aimlessly in search of something, to diverge or digress” (p. 96). Did she choose well? What did you think when you learned she had assigned this word to herself—that it was no coincidence?
6. On the trail, Strayed encounters mostly men. How does this work in her favor? What role does gender play when removed from the usual structure of society?
7. What does the reader learn from the horrific episode in which Strayed and her brother put down their mother’s horse?
8. Strayed writes that the point of the PCT “had only to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles for no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets” (p. 207). How does this sensation help Strayed to find her way back into the world beyond the wilderness?
9. On her journey, Strayed carries several totems. What does the black feather mean to her? And the POW bracelet? Why does she find its loss (p. 238) symbolic?
10. Does the hike help Strayed to get over Paul? If so, how? And if not, why?
11. Strayed says her mother’s death “had obliterated me. . . . I was trapped by her but utterly alone. She would always be the empty bowl that no one could fill” (p 267). How did being on the PCT on her mother’s fiftieth birthday help Strayed to heal this wound?
12. What was it about Strayed that inspired the generosity of so many strangers on the PCT?
13. “There’s no way to know what makes one thing happen and not another. . . . But I was pretty certain as I sat there that night that if it hadn’t been for Eddie, I wouldn’t have found myself on the PCT” (p. 304). How does this realization change Strayed’s attitude towards her stepfather?
14. To lighten her load, Strayed burns each book as she reads it. Why doesn’t she burn the Adrienne Rich collection?
15. What role do books and reading play in this often solitary journey?
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Did anyone watch the two hour Oprah show on the book this morning?I did. I thought it was very good. I can hardly wait until Sept. to read the book ! It looks like it will give us a lot to discuss.
If you want to see it, the show will be repeated on 7/29 at 10 AM eastern.
I didn't see it but will try to record the rerun. I'd like to see it after we read the book, or if i find myself not liking it. Two hours seems like a long time, did it seem long?deb
No, it wasn't long at all. There are a ton of commercials. If you can record and skip those, I would say it is probably 1 hour.
Well I am now on hold and frozen at #1. It moved me from 7 to 1 while frozen but it seemed to move much slower than it should have, considering all the copies always listed as "recently returned". Very odd. But anyway, I'll have the book when I am ready to start.
Great ! We will begin reading Sept. 1The author was on NPR's Leonard Lopate show today.
You can hear the interview at this link.
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2012...
Lucky you, Julie. I'm number 20 & there are still only 2 copies at my library. (They've had a 3rd listed for over a month but it still hasn't arrived.) At this rate, with a 3-week lending period, i may have to pass on reading the book with the group. That's alright, i just wanted to let everyone know.deb
Since I could not hook up with Arcadia, I got the ebook from the library and started it. I was shocked it only took 2 days to get. I'll jot down my notes for the discussions.
I see the book is in transit to me from the library. I'll probably start it in the next week or two. There are zillion holds, so I will not be able to renew it.
I'll take notes so I can discuss it when you all get it.
I am going to unfreeze my hold in the next few days and I am at #1. I have less than 100 pages in the fiction book I am reading now and then a fairly short book to read and then I will be ready.
I was number 2 and I thought it would be a few days before it went to transfer to me. Instead it flipped to transfer right away.
I started to read a few pages today. So far I like it.
If I can read the last 50 or so pages of my current book tonight before falling asleep, I will start tommorrow.
Julie wrote: "If I can read the last 50 or so pages of my current book tonight before falling asleep, I will start tommorrow."============
Cool !
Chapter 1Chapter 1 was a difficult read for me. Both my parents are deceased. At times the pain from that realization hits me like a punch to my gut.
I was glad that chapter 2 start her journey on the PCT.
I have a question. I was unclear as to how long she hiked. She says she hiked 3 month. But how long was the trail that she actually hiked? Was it 1000 miles or 2000 miles?
If it is 1000 she did 11.11 miles each day
If it is 2000 she did 22.22 miles each day
http://www.pcta.org/about_trail/overv...Over the past decade the PCT has become a favorite target of thru-hikers and thru-riders (the hearty souls who attempt to hike or ride an entire long-distance trail in one "season"). Each year, in fact, an average of 300 hikers attempt to cover the full length of the PCT (thru-riders are more rare but increasing in number).
Wiki on the PCThttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_...
The Pacific Crest Trail is 2,663 mi (4,286 km) long[1] and ranges in elevation from just above sea level at the Oregon-Washington border to 13,153 feet (4,009 m)[5] at Forester Pass in the Sierra Nevada. The route passes through 25 national forests and 7 national parks.[7
Alias Reader wrote: "Chapter 1Chapter 1 was a difficult read for me. Both my parents are deceased. At times the pain from that realization hits me like a punch to my gut.
I was glad that chapter 2 start her jour..."
She did not hike the entire trail. Because the snow had not melted in some areas, it was too dangerous to hike in some mountainous regions of California. She stopped the hike at the Oregon/Washington border. It was still an amazing accomplishment for someone who had never done any long distance hiking before this.
I read the book several months ago. I've got the book on hold at the library so I can participate in this discussion, but they only have one copy and there are still two people ahead of me.
Thanks for the explanation, Connie. She wasn't clear on this point in chapter 1.
Here is a list of the books she carried. I would take the guide books and the compass book. I've read The Best Am. Essay's book. I'm not sure what year. I've read the Faulkner book, I am not a fan of his books. I've tried Lolita and could get past a few chapters. What do you think of her reading choices? What books would you take?
The Dream of a Common Language: Poems 1974-1977~~Adrienne Rich
As I Lay Dying~~William Faulkner
Staying Found: The Complete Map and Compass Handbook~~June Fleming
The Complete Stories~Flannery O'Connor
The Novel~James A. Michener
A Summer Bird Cage~Margaret Drabble
Lolita~Vladimir Nabokov
Dubliners~James Joyce
Waiting for the Barbarians~J.M. Coetzee
The Best American Essays 1991~Joyce Carol OatesThe Ten Thousand Things~Maria Dermoût
She took different editions of the guide books.
The Pacific Crest Trail: California~Ben Schifrin
The Pacific Crest Trail~Thomas Winnett
Flannery O'Connor!I haven't read any of the others. I intend to try Lolita some day...and some Faulkner. But I am not sure I would take either of those two with me on such a trip.
Well, it's pretty clear i'm not getting the book this month, but will keep up with the discussion. With that in mind, she carried all these books? Am i wrong in thinking they were in ebook form? Several of the books listed which are on my TBR are ones i'd take, thinking i would at last read them, particularly the Joyce.
I am wondering the same deb. I am only to the point where she is about to start the trip and she hasn't mentioned books yet.
No. I've only read a few chapters. She starts with around 4. I think she later rips the pages out as she reads. I am guessing she acquires the rest at the post office where she picks up packages of supplies along the way.
She mails herself supplies / stuff on designated stops she makes on the trail. On those stops she picks up supplies,food,cash and she also leaves things behind (for other hikers). Hikers have a box where the leave things behind so that other hikers if they find it useful pick it up.
She burns the pages of the books that she has read to lighten the load that she is carrying. The only book that she loves too much to burn is her book of poetry.
I just got past the point where she couldn't pick up her pack. This woman is nuts! :-)
Julie wrote: "I just got past the point where she couldn't pick up her pack. This woman is nuts! :-)"=============
p66
I was stunned that she did heroin just 48 hours before she started the hike.
p74 I thought this quote was so sad.
"The people in my life were like Band-Aids that had blown away in the desert wind that first day on the trail. They scattered and then they were gone. No one expected me to even so much as call when I reached my first stop. Or the second or third."
p51 I like this.
Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I choose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told.
Thanks to all who answered my query about toting books on the trail. Clever way to pick things up.
I loved this book. She is such a great writer, I could see, smell, and feel the things and emotions she did.
I love hiking and this book has reminded me that I haven't done if much lately and is making me want to go badly. Not in the same conditions as her though!
"Wild" almost made me want to set out with a back pack ... the key word here is "almost" because I do love the comforts of home! ;o)
Julie wrote: "I just got past the point where she couldn't pick up her pack. This woman is nuts! :-)"This made me LOL ... I could picture her trying to back up to the pack, get her arms in the shoulder straps, and trying to get it off the floor! I guess at this point I would have lightened the load a bit ... ;o)
Liz wrote: ""Wild" almost made me want to set out with a back pack ... the key word here is "almost" because I do love the comforts of home! ;o)"I also enjoy hiking (something I've not done in years) I enjoy the silence (from city sounds) and solitude. But I think I am a day hiker kind of person. I guess I could do one night out in the woods, but I enjoy creature comforts like showers ( or at least hot water), nice comfy bed, etc. But on another note it would be a great way of losing some excess lbs.
Jeanne wrote: "I loved this book. She is such a great writer, I could see, smell, and feel the things and emotions she did."====================
Welcome to book nook cafe, Jeanne ! Thanks for joining our group and participating in the book discussion.
Liz wrote: ""Wild" almost made me want to set out with a back pack ... the key word here is "almost" because I do love the comforts of home! ;o)"==================
liz, I know I couldn't do this. A day hike would be fun, however.
Jorge, I'm with you on the shower.
We have a camper now but I can do tent camping as long as it is not cold. My biggest issue would be the toilet. The animals where she is would scare me though.
It would also be scary hiking alone, especially in the icy regions of the Sierras. It's so easy to twist an ankle, or fall, or have some other kind of medical emergency. There was no cell phone reception to call 911.Although I guess being alone did give her lots of time to think about where her life was going.
Connie wrote: "It would also be scary hiking alone, especially in the icy regions of the Sierras. It's so easy to twist an ankle, or fall, or have some other kind of medical emergency. There was no cell phone r..."==========================
She's lucky she wasn't killed. It makes me think of books like
Into Thin Air
Into the Wild
She didn't seem to be thinking of the consequences of a lot of her actions at that point in her life. Examples are her drug use, casual sex, hurting her husband, hiking alone, and an overly heavy backpack. But I do admire her grit and determination, her strength, her devotion to her mother, and how she turned her life around.
I'm up to chapter 7 and she still hasn't lessened the load of the backpack. Even though many have told her it is way too heavy for backpacking. It seems to me, on some unconscious level, she is using the heavy load to punish herself.
I think the whole thing is a way to make her feel a different kind of pain (physical) in order to forget her emotional pain.She does allow someone to help her lighten her pack later.
Alias / Julie I agree with both of you. I'm thinking maybe subconsciously or consciously she was in a way punishing herself or maybe going through this alone was a sort of cleansing. Possibly thinking to herself if she survived this she can deal with anything. I'ts a fantastic accomplishment even if you don't hike the whole thing just a part of it. Out in the wilderness alone you only have your mind and yourself, no distractions of any kind, its' a good way to clear your mind and maybe straighten your life.
Alias, Julie, and Jorge--good thoughts. She does write about forgiving herself later in the book.(I wish I had the actual book for quotes. Some of the passages in the book were quite beautiful, and I felt like the reader was going on the journey with her.)
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June Fleming (other topics)
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Book:
Author:
Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayed is the author of Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar and the novel Torch. Her stories and essays have appeared in numerous magazines and journals, including The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Vogue, The Rumpus, Self, The Missouri Review, The Sun, and The Best American Essays. She lives in Portland, Oregon.
When: We will begin the discussion Sept. 1, 2012.
You don't have to finiah the book by then, just start it by Sept. 1.
Where: The discussion will take place in this thread.
Spoiler Etiquette: If giving away a major plot element please put the chapter # and write SPOILER at top of your post.
Book Details:
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Knopf; First Edition first Printing edition (March 20, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307592731
Synopsis: Oprah's Book Club 2.0 selection.
A powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an eleven-hundred-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe—and built her back up again.
At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State—and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.
Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Found-Paci...