Into the Wild
by Jon Krakauer
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jon KrakauerBrand: Krakauer
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-08-21
ISBN: 0307387178
Number of pages: 207
Publisher: Anchor
Book Reviews of Into the Wild
Book Review: "God it's great to be alive! Thank you. Thank you."
Summary: 5 Stars
What a sad tale. Having first seen the movie, I wanted to know more and so read Krakauer's book. The book, of course, gives many more essential details the movie never goes into, such as the devious behavior of Chris McCandless's father, and perhaps the real cause of Chris' tragic death.
I haven't read any of the over 1000 reviews posted here. I get the sense, though, that some people find this story unworthy of being told, or that Krakauer is somehow biased in the telling of it. I disagree completely. This story is one that is happening every day. At some turning point in our lives, we faced a decision: to join up with society and seek success within it or to rush into the great unknown, for whatever reason. In Chris' case, he turned his inner turmoil into a spiritual quest for the new, the beautiful, the extraordinary, and the natural world which would somehow remove him from the corruption of his own existence, as polluted by his father and mother.
I think Krakauer does a fantastic job in immersing us in Chris' passionate life. Almost no detail is spared. And parallels to Chris are given with others who have attempted to live in the wild, away from society's soft pleasures and easy ways. Yet no one was quite like this kid. One cannot help but think what he might have become: a fanatic Obama supporter? A deeply religious monk? A great social worker? A devoted father? A Green Peace leader? It's almost a certainty, however, that whatever he would have done, he would have thrown his heart and soul into it.
There's no doubt that his sad, lonely death was an accident. As a father myself, I look on this book as a cautionary tale and a warning. Our children certainly are beyond our control at some point down the line, so all one can do as a parent is just be there for them, as nonjudgmentally as is humanly possible. No one was able to stop Chris from his path to Alaska, but one senses he was gaining much-needed wisdom out there in the wilderness. He was on his way back. That is the overwhelming tragedy here: the finality of his frivolous death.
We are reminded again and again in this book of "the soul-flights of the adolescent" and the glorious ideals harbored within his or her uncompromising being. Extraordinary quotes from the works of Thoreau, Pasternak, Jack London, and others are intermingled with the overwrought writings of Chris himself. How can we not feel empathy for his troubled spirit and his longing heart? Ironically, one of the last stories he read was Tolstoy's "Family Matters." Perhaps that title holds more meaning for all of us than we realize.
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