It simply must.Īfter all, life is not what happens to you, but how you react to it. If you lose a person in your life or a friendship turns sour, life goes on. But he always kept people at arms length and in contrast for me, I find beauty in vulnerability and opening yourself up to relationships/friendships to let them take their course. I suppose for me the book described everything I would not like to be: detached, in complete solitude and perhaps even ungrateful (?)įor me solo travel is about the relationships you form for the long term, so in that regard I could relate to Christopher McCandless, who seemed intent with keeping some of the relationships he formed alive (albeit via postcards). The book puzzled me to some degree but I finished it feeling thankful for my own life – the relationships I have with people at home and how I am able to upkeep them whilst travelling. As someone who is close with my family and friends and would never close the door to an old life to start a new one, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around his decision making and with so much of the book and public information surrounding McCandless being speculation, I’m not sure I ever will. I personally don’t relate to Christopher McCandless in many ways, but I did find his story intriguing. This book was a way to understand that on a deeper level, based on McCandless’ unrelenting desire to “live off the land”, belong to nowhere and no one. I didn’t find the story uncomfortable or confronting, but rather it forced me to question my own path and the reason why we travel.įor me, travel is a way to understand the world in which we live, to educate myself based on first hand experiences, and to open my eyes to new sights, sounds, tastes and experiences. I was a lot younger then and found the story slightly uncomfortable, as it made me question my reality, society, and the purpose of my own life.īut reading the book struck a different cord for me. It was a couple of years ago when I first saw the film adaption of Into the Wild and in complete honesty, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it then. I also knew instantly that the story would not suit everyone, but I found the book so engaging and intriguing that I thought at the very least, it was a good read that would keep you engaged and interested to find out how the story ends.
#Into the wild book full
I read this book on a full day bus trip through Japan recently and instantly knew it was a story I wanted to share with WOW readers and the WOW Book Clubbers. McCandless as depicted in the film adaption, “Into the Wild”. While I know this book won’t be for everyone (critics were rife when this book was released in 1996), I know that for me, I found this book hard to put down and it certainly sparked a few thoughts towards my own travels. And if you’re looking for another reason to read the book or watch the film, let me share some of my thoughts. Reading into the wild is a bit of a pilgrimage for us travellers. (Jan.Unexpected, unusual, compelling… are the first three words that come to mind from my personal experience with Jon Krakauer’s telling of the story of Christopher McCandless. In a moving narrative, Krakauer probes the mystery of McCandless's death, which he attributes to logistical blunders and to accidental poisoning from eating toxic seed pods. Krakauer also draws parallels to his own reckless youthful exploit in 1977 when he climbed Devils Thumb, a mountain on the Alaska-British Columbia border, partly as a symbolic act of rebellion against his autocratic father.
Krakauer, a contributing editor to Outside and Men's Journal, retraces McCandless's ill-fated antagonism toward his father, Walt, an eminent aerospace engineer. They also reflect the posturing of a confused young man, raised in affluent Annandale, Va., who self-consciously adopted a Tolstoyan renunciation of wealth and return to nature. His diary, letters and two notes found at a remote campsite tell of his desperate effort to survive, apparently stranded by an injury and slowly starving. After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska, where he went to live in the wilderness.
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