Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Into the Wild
Book Review: "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Summary: 5 Stars
"Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer is a well-written non-fiction book, thoroughly researched, 207 pages long, 18 chapters plus epilogue. It is a National Best Seller by a man who specializes in outdoor life. After graduating from high school, the protagonist, only to please his father, studies at Emory University and graduates. Then he becomes a vagabond, wishing to prove that he can survive on his own without friends or civilization. The story explains what happens to him.Book Review: A Beautiful, True Story Of The Human Spirit
Summary: 5 Stars
The power of the human spirit is none more inspiring and striking as it is in Jon Krakauer's Into The Wild. A young man abandons a well-to-do life to find himself through an adventure that concludes in Alaska. Based on the true story of Christopher McCandless, the book is retold from Krakauer as he interviews McCandless's family members, friends and the people he encountered on his journey. Krakauer paints the arresting picture of life that was Christopher McCandless effortlessly.
Originally written by Krakauer as an in-depth article for Outsider magazine, the article was extended and more extensively researched for it's 1996 publication as a nonfiction book.
Shortly after graduating Emory University, McCandless set off. He burned the dollar bills in his wallet, donated his $25,000 worth of savings to OXFAM and mapped out his adventure to Alaska. A big fan of author Jack London, McCandless wanted more out of life. He saw a hollowness in a typical post-college future. Krakauer paints McCandless as a young man on a solitary quest to enlightenment. By living off the wild, McCandless thought he would reach a sort of independent, spiritual apex in his life. Bumming rides, money, jobs on his cross-country adventure to land in Alaska, McCandless crossed into the lives of a handful of people, who were all seemingly touched by McCandless.
The book is noteworthy, chronicled by Krakauer in a reporter-like style. Christopher McCandless's great Alaskan adventure is one proving the remarkable nature and beauty of the human essence, proving Into The Wild a modern masterpiece.
Book Review: A Celebration of Courage
Summary: 5 Stars
WC Fields was 18 when, according to legend, he concealed himself in the rafters of the family barn to have it out with his father. Fields beaned the old man with a fruit crate and took off, never to return. Evidently the discussion did not go as hoped.
Eugene O'Neill spent several of his early years roaming the seas on tramp steamers. When he was 13 or so Jack London started life on his own as an oyster pirate. Upon graduating college, Chris McCandless embarked on his own hero's journey.
I wish I had known McCandless or someone like him. How inspiring it must be to be swept into the vortex of a fervent idealist. I wouldn't know because I have never known such a person unless it was myself for a fleeting instant before I caved to convention. This is why McCandless's story resonates so strongly. The courage of his convictions was both his glory and his undoing.
Establishing one's own distinct identity, apart from family, friends, and familiar surroundings is a coming-of-age ritual we are all too familair with. Take the story of Dead Poets Society. One protagonist winds up commiting suicide rather than stand up to his father, who demands conformity. This is how serious it gets for young idealists.
At least the character in Dead Poets Society didn't go off to Alaska and starve to death in the woods! For me, the story of Chris McCandless is worth a million Hollywood coming-of-age stories. The credit goes to Krakauer. This is the only work of his that I have read but I believe him to be a master. I came across the book at my local Barnes & Noble. I settled down to read a few pages. After what seemed like a short time, I was half-way through. It is absolutely riveting. I could have just finished the book on the spot but I'm still enough of an idealist that I paid for the book.
This is a story that is highly relevant for the times. We are witnessing a generation (or a fragment thereof) that puts themselves on the line for their beliefs in Iraq. Those kids may have entirely different motives and beliefs than Chris McCandless but we need to celebrate their courage.
Book Review: A Great Lesson in What Not to Do and How Not to Live (and Die)
Summary: 4 Stars
I read Into the Wild in conjunction with reading The Final Frontiersman by James Campbell. Into the Wild is the biography of Chris McCandless, a pathetic and self-centered, and self-destructive screw-up who died trying to be a "supertramp" (his term) in Alaska. The Final Frontiersman, on the other hand, is about the life of Heimo Korth, a successful backcountry trapper and survivalist in ANWR (see my Amazon review). I cannot avoid comparing Korth and McCandless. The main difference is that Korth is planfully competent, whereas McCandless seemed incompetent in every way. Study the life of McCandless to learn what not to do, how not to go wrong.
McCandless was a distinct failure as a human being and his life is not worth a biography except as an example of negative teaching. As a valuable negative lesson Into the Wild is a worthy book and I think superior to The Final Frontiersman. Krakauer is able to probe the depths of his subject and inject it with a sense of angst and wonder that is missing from The Final Frontiersman.
Two passages especially in Into the Wild make it a classic of adventure literature. One is the absolutely definitive statement of the adventure mentality of the young male on pages 56-57 of the paperback edition. This passage from a letter written by McCandless to a friend should be read and studied and critiqued by every young man--and every young woman. It contains the clearest, most gripping statement of a view that is at once exhilarating and dangerous. I will only quote two sentences from a much longer passage. "...in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure." I guess as long as these sentiments lead only to forays into the wild I have no problem with them. It is when they lead to warfare, destruction, rampage, and vandalism, as they most certainly do, that I withdraw assent. I suppose the passion for adventure is selected for by evolution and is thus inevitable. The problem comes when the passion for adventure becomes the passion for violence as it often does; not however with Chris McCandless--except violence towards himself, and perhaps vandalism of cabins in Alaska. Into the Wild is a basic text for studying this most creative, destructive, and seductive "passion for adventure."
The other passage that I especially valued was Krakauer's description of his own attempt at a first ascent of the north face of the Devil's Thumb, a remote peak in Alaska. This also was the result of a young man's "passion for adventure" and Krakauer almost lost his life in the pursuit. Krakauer's lengthy description of his adventure--the dangers, and horrors, and failures--is a brilliant piece of adventure writing. For me, this is the best and most exciting part of the book.
Krakauer also has absorbing discussions of other wilderness adventurers and the entire history of the American "passion for wilderness adventure."
The author of Into the Wild is a more interesting, sensitive, perceptive, and intelligent person than his subject in this biography. I look forward to reading Krakauer's autobiography when he writes it. It will be an even better book than Into the Wild.
Book Review: A Great Study in the Human Spirit
Summary: 4 Stars
This incredible story really needs to be read in conjunction with "Let's roll!" [ordinary people, extraordinary courage] / Lisa Beamer with Ken Abraham.
No two people are the same for we are all unique individuals. But both of these stories involve very bright people, surrounded by very supportive friends and systems. Both of the main characters and people around them came face to face with incredible tragedy. Some chose to rely on philosophy. Some became stronger and some went into a destructible tailspin. In my opinion, these two fantastic books illustrate that it all comes down to faith, character and personal choices.