Into the Wild

A deeply disturbing book. Although it would be easy to judge this idealistic young man as foolhardy, I know that I cannot venture there. As human beings, we are often driven to explore the sacred, the sublime, the untouched. This was his journey, may he rest in peace.

I just saw the movie version of this last night and read the book years ago. I remember really liking the book when I read it so I initially gave it a four star rating, but after doing some research online, I am downgrading it to 2 stars. Apparently they tested the seeds that supposedly poisoned him, and it turns out they were not poisionous. Krakauer has acknowledged this to be true on NPR but still has not updated this book in subsequent editions. The movie shows that he was poisoned by a different plant which has also been proven to contain no toxins as well. It seems like Krakauer and Sean Penn both didn't want facts to get in the way of a romantic, sympathetic, Christ-like character and that bothers me. McCandless was probably schizophrenic and needed help. If Krakauer or Penn would have brought this up, it would have been a different story granted, but maybe it would have helped the mental health community by bringing awareness and empathy for the mentally ill.

I really liked this, although I really hated Mr. McCandless/Supertramp at times. What really stayed with me was the stories of all the people who remembered him fondly, and how he touched their lives.

I loved the movie Into the Wild (which I saw first), and I really enjoyed the book as well. They work well as companion pieces, as they have different focuses. The movie focuses on Chris's journey to Alaska, the people he meets, and his brief stay in the wild before perishing. It is absorbing and emotionally powerful. The book covers that too, but it focuses more on WHY he did what he did, and why he refused to communicate with his family. I found it more intellectual and less emotional as compared to the movie. As the book progresses, the author appears from behind the curtain, so to speak, eventually providing his own perspectives directly and even entering the story by interviewing his family, visiting the bus locale in Alaska, and relating stories of others who perished or nearly perished in the wild (including the author himself). While he ultimately provides no simple explanations for Chris' behavior, you gain at least a little insight into what might have motivated him. The author also makes more of a sympathetic case for Chris than you might expect or be inclined toward initially.

Prose is decent and fairly fast paced - only occasionally does the author get overly bogged in technical details such as plant species that slow your reading pace.

The main weakness of the book is that it jumps around chronologically almost constantly. It's very hard to keep straight which parts of Chris' journey to Alaska happen when. It's fairly disconcerting; the movie simplified Chris's journey and used the Alaska portion as a framing story, so it was more linear and easier to follow. Since this aspect is not the main focus of the book, it's not a huge fault.

This book disturbed me on a deep level...I guess because it made me realize how helpless we really are when up against Mother Nature... I definitely have a new respect for our adaptations as a species and feel lucky that I don't have the (albeit understandable) urge to put myself to the test that the central character (and many others of his mindset) endured.

Not an action/adventure book...not supposed to be. Extremely effective as a modern-day philosophical journey however. I found the book very similar to Siddartha in a lot of ways, as it is up to the reader to supply the meaning to the story. Just a great, inspiring book!

read during one of most emotionally difficult periods of my life, gave me an entirely new perception on life and what my goals should be.

Very well written and beautiful descriptions.
The final chapters of this book were haunting. At first I couldn't understand *why* he chose this journey but as I progressed, knowing how it would end, I was still hopeful something would change. The book sits on my shelf, deserving to be read, but I can't bear to pick it up again.

I believe taking transcendentalism to the extreme has never worked out well for anyone, not even the founders could do it. For McCandless it was good for a time, but the candle that burns twice as bright...

Both my 16-year old grandson and I thoroughly enjoyed yet another of Jon Krakauer's works. He knows how to turn non-fiction into page-turners. This story helps explain the angst of many young men.