Into the wild

by Jon Krakauer

207 pages

English language

Published Nov. 8, 1997 by Anchor Books.

ISBN:: 978-0-385-48680-4

(14 reviews)

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and , unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.

Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interst that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the dries and desires that propelled McCandless. Digging deeply, he takes an inherently compelling mystery and unravels the larger riddles it holds: the profound pull of the American wilderness on our imagination; the allure of high-risk activities to young men of a certain cast of mind; the complex, charged bond between fathers and sons.

When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naivete, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity , and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding--and not an ounce of sentimentality. Mesmerizing, heartbreaking, Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page. From the Trade Paperback edition.

8 editions

Mr Jabroni reviewed Into the wild by Jon Krakauer

Review of 'Into the wild' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Chris McCandless' journey is a complex one in that there's so many things going on fighting to influence the decisions he took to ultimately meet his tragic fate. At a glance it is easy to judge him as stupid, unprepared, and with a death wish but when going deeper into the story I believe there's enough reasons to defend him as Krakauer did.

Last year I was fortunate enough to hike part of the Pacific Crest Trail and doing so met so many people with the same goal of surviving in nature and retreating from the issues current society represents. In them I identified the common motivation that I too possessed without knowing: escaping the routine that our lives had become. I believe this is a sentiment that is growing everywhere around us and that McCandless decided to act upon and change routine for adventure.

Why did he refused help and supplies from people willing to provide them, I will never know or understand, 'adventure' probably means something different for each and every one of us and to him it meant to depend 100% on himself to survive. The calling to adventure also comes differently to everyone so I understand people that have never felt it can call him stupid for even considering such a journey, but I for one can understand his desire to escape even if things didn't went as well for him as he was hoping.

I loved this book and thank Krakauer for including the story of other people, including himself, who felt the call of adventure and went on their own to fulfill it since I could relate to them greatly and inspired me to plan, but be prepared, for my next adventure.