Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Into the Wild
Book Review: A Quest gone Awry
Summary: 4 Stars
Well written account of a young man's quest to commune directly with Nature forsaking the comforts of modern life. Clearly Mr. McCandliss had a psychological break with others which unfortunately affected his ability to gauge the various risks associated with his incursions into the wild, ultimately leading to his death.Book Review: A Riveting and Informative Book
Summary: 4 Stars
In Jon Krakauer's riveting account of Chris McCandless's odyssey to find himself, the author does an amazing job in collecting evidence and portraying the life of a young man out to get away from society. Into the Wild is set over the course of three years around the country as Krakauer retraces the steps of McCandless's cross country trek. The year is 1991 and young Chris McCandless, a promising young man, is fed up with the materialistic values that framed both he and his emerging generation. Ever the iconoclast, he graduates from Emory with honors and immediately sets out to find his inner self by living off the land while baptizing himself with a new name, "Magic Alex." In response to people who had gone "into the wild" before him, Chris embarks on the journey of a life time, only to be found dead in the wilds of Alaska in an abandoned bus ten miles from a road along the famed Alaskan Stampede Trail. Krakauer takes you on the life and death adventure of McCandless as he pieces together the fascinating journey of this young man who left behind an invaluable diary that forms the basis of Krakauer's research. The people Chris encounter will never forget this astonishing, idealistic young man, an individual so determined and so focused on his goal that he never left the minds of those he impacted. McCandless was not your ordinary hitchhiker, nearly every person he met on his "Great Alaskan Odyssey" noticed how noticeably bright this kid was. One man who picked McCandless up on his final journey to Fairbanks, comments to Krakauer, "`Alex was clean-shaven and had short hair, and I could tell by the language he used that he was a real sharp fella. He wasn't what you'd call a typical hitchhiker. I'm usually leery of'em. I figure there's probably something wrong with a guy if he can't even afford a bus ticket.'" (159). This was what was different about McCandless, he was a smart young man and yet he made some serious blunders in his logic and reasoning. Krakauer did his research on this one as he stitched together a web of first-hand encounters and experiences with Chris McCandless, who was hard to follow as he changed his name every place he went. Many people who read Chris's story call him insane and others call him a purist gone too far. Krakauer makes sure that you can come to your own conclusions on the mental state and reasons for Chris's erratic behavior. I see it as this: a boy turned man fed up with society and trying to get away from it all ventures cross-country and tries to survive off the land in the wilderness of Alaska. I do not believe he is crazy, just enormously driven and focus-oriented; in the end, he wants to live off the land in the wilderness and would not take no for an answer, even if it meant endangering himself. Overall, Jon Krakauer fashions a genuine winner with his remembrance, Into the Wild. The tome combines the information of a news article and autobiography with the interesting and enjoyable reading of a novel. I found this tract to be very interesting and an overall great read. I definitely recommend this book as reading Krakauer's account of a young man out to find himself and break free from the norms of society is interesting and overall it is a great volume that is truly hard to put down.Book Review: A Strange Biography and Autobiography
Summary: 4 Stars
This is an early work by Mr. Krakauer. I found the writing more uneven than his personal memoir, "Into Thin Air," which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Mr. Krakauer attempted (but ultimately failed, in my opinion) to get into the head of Mr. McCandless as he tried to answer the question every reader of the book would ask - "Why did McCandless do that?" Unfortunatley, the source material was too thin to adequately answer this question - two pages of Mr. McCandless's terse journal entries over a couple of years, interviews with people who knew him for hours to days to weeks during his wanderings, and pithy statements from family about his life growing up.
As a result, the work lacks the immediacy and intimacy of "Into Thin Air."
To fill this void, Mr. Krakauer stated at the beginning of this book that he was not an objective biographer of a man whose actions and death left many people scratching their heads in bewilderment. Rather, he saw his life and decisions reflected in the choices that Mr. McCandless (and others, whom he presented in short asides) made. I realize that every biographer injects some of themselves into the stories of the people they tell, but Mr. Krakauer's approach was a bit heavy handed for me.
Though interesting, I did not read this book to find out why some people decide to walk into the wilderness, nor why Mr. Krakauer nearly did so. I read this book to find out why Mr. McCandless did. A question that cannot be answered does not make a compelling book unless the fact that it is unanswerable is itself compelling, which it was not.
As a result, I found this book to be an interesting read, and deservig of four stars, but I would recommend "Into Thin Air" as a better book.
Book Review: A True Journey
Summary: 4 Stars
Into the wild; back into your mind and spirit.
This emotional and compelling narrative story is forcefully written by Jon Krakauer. Into the Wild, published in 1996, tells the relationship between one "wild" inspired boy against nature. Chris McCandless went missing on a cross country trip during the summer of 1990. Driven by a strained relationship with his parents, and turning his back on the successful path after graduating with honors from Emory University, McCandless began a two year continental odyssey through dozens of major cities and three countries. This was not a conventional excursion--it was a new beginning for McCandless. Beginning by donating $24,000 of his savings to a charity, McCandless began to separate from normal society. He changed his name, his goals, and his perception of people. He adopted a new morality and most importantly, he removed himself from the established norm.
Krakauer acts as a journalist, retracing and explaining all of these experiences by interviewing many of those who ran into Chris McCandless on his journey. This writing style, although quite different from the norm, enabling the reader to vividly understand and feel the character from many different view points. The effect is captivating, because McCandless' character is one of a loner driven by his desire to experience life in a completely unconventional way. There are no illustrations in this true story, but none are needed. Jon Krakauer is able to convey a meaningful journey that society would regard as idiotic. One finally recognizes that McCandless (in Krakauer's words) was not a "wacko" or "a narcissist", but it is still up to each reader to form ones' own opinion of Chris McCandless.
The fascinating interviews Krakauer obtains from people that McCandless met along the way, offers deep insights into this young man's nature. Krakauer relies on McCandless' own writing, whether it is in his diary or his letters, to explain his character to the reader. A letter Chris McCandless wrote to a man, Ron Franz, he met in Salton City, California is used to show what McCandless thought is the basic meaning of life. Trying to motivate this man to change his life, McCandless writes,
"...The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. If you want to get more out of life, Ron, you must lose you inclination for monotonous security and adapt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. But once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty. And so, Ron, in short, get out of Salton City and hit the Road. I guarantee you will be very glad you did. But I fear that you will ignore my advice...you are wrong if you think Joy emanates only or principally from human relationships. God has placed it all around us. It is in everything and anything we might experience. We just have to have the courage to turn against our habitual lifestyle and engage in unconventional living. My point is that you do not need me or anyone else around to bring this new kind of light in your life. It is simply waiting out for you there for you to grasp it, and all you have to do is reach. The only person you are fighting is yourself."
I will not reveal what ultimately befalls Chris McCandless on his journey to a new person. I will tell that the insights and motivations that are revealed in this compelling and eloquent book will make you challenge your pre-conceived notions about life. Be prepared to challenge your own assumptions about life.
Book Review: A True Story About a Very Disturbed Young Man
Summary: 4 Stars
Let me preface this by saying that I live in Fairbanks, Alaska and am very familiar with Stampede Trail where Christopher McCandless died. I am a Clinical Social Worker/Marriage and Family Therapist who provided therapy for residents of the town of Healy, adjacent to Stampede Trail.
This is a very well-written book about Chris McCandless (self-named Alexander Supertramp) who traveled off the Stampede Trail near Healy, Alaska and died - though a a safe river crossing and 3 cabins were less than 6 miles away. He wandered into the wild without any preparation - not enough food, gear, or clothes to see him through any length of time.
Krakauer analyzes McCandless's family of origin, his intent to live by Emersonian and Thoreau-like ideals. However, what he fails to take stock of is the fact that McCandless was likely mentally ill and quite possibly delusional. This was not merely some adolescent adventure but a series of poor decisions by somebody who had lost sight of what is rational.
I recommend the book because it makes for such good reading but I encourage the reader to challenger Mr. Krakauer's outcome by analyzing the evidence for themselves.
Two great books about Alaska that I recommend for anyone who is interested in Alaska are Cold Starry Night (New Edition) by Claire Fejes and Ordinary Wolves: A Novel by Seth Kantner.