Customer Reviews

Into the Wild

5 star:		(326)
4 star:		(257)
3 star:		(105)
2 star:		(51)
1 star:		(37)

 

 

Last Christmas I gave this book to my father. I thought he might enjoy the adventures of Alex (though you know from the start his life will end badly), and thought if things went well I might use this to try to explain to him why it is that I spend all my extra money on travel and why I do illogical things in pursuit of my dreams. His reaction, though, was nothing but frustration with Alex's "idiocy."

The difference between my response to the book - that Chris/Alex lived an extreme form of the longing I and many others feel - and my father's response is the same gulf that this story seeks to bridge. Jon Krakauer, who has also sacrificed a great deal and risked his life in pursuit of his dreams, clearly feels some sympathy for Alex's wild decisions. But the result of Alex's tramping is his own death and the heartbreak that ensues, which seems to outweigh any selfish satisfaction Alex may have received from his experiences.

When people create great art or invent something remarkable, society celebrates their achievements in spite of any collateral damage. But Alex is an example of someone whose idealism was far greater than his accomplishments. The art he left behind in his notebooks is unremarkable, and the few friends he made in his travels have not been catalysts for improvement in the world. His one success (or failure) was that he was able to unbind himself from his expected, normal life and give himself wholly to his ideals. So many of us secretly wish that we had the courage to do something similar, and this book forces us to confront that desire. Is the pursuit of a dream a worthwhile end, in and of itself?

There are no clear answers, in this book or in life, but the question is worth asking, no matter whether you see Alex as someone to be admired or throttled.

This is a very haunting book. Krakauer does an excellent job writing it. It we all got back to being humans, to living as we formally did, tragedies like this would not occur. Civilization is killing us all. McCandless was fulfilling who he was. It is too bad he didn't make it

How does a young man leave a comfortable life with an education and well to do parents and just wander into the wild? This is one of the questions that Jon Krakauer tries to answer. At first the reader is given the idea that Chris McCandless read one too many books like "On the Road" or "White Fang", but as the story develops, he becomes more complex a character. This young man was looking for adventure and decided to leave "normal" life behind. Unfortanuatly for him. it cost him his life.

Krakauer does an amazing job of bringing McCandless back to life by trying to show what he was thinking. Krakauer used personal notes, interviews with family and friends and historical experiences to flesh out this person. When the personal notes run out and speculation starts, Krakauer gives a personal tale to explain why McCandless was not an idiot and just had some bad luck. This book is a very good read and is time well spent.

I would first rate this book 4 * from an objective point of view because I've found that Krakauer's personal mountain-climbing story breaks the flow. It was like interrupting your reading of one book and starting to read a completely different one on a similar subject matter. However the
book is so well written, you can't put it down.

I personally give it 5 stars because I find that it was important to bring out this tragic story to light. This book is not just about a troubled young man who died on his journey mainly by his own fault. It is also about a young person's soul-searching quest, reaching for higher ideals, finding your place in what is becoming an overly unjust world.

Krakauer is a wonderful writer - His style is similar to Tino Georgiou. I've just blown through this book as well as The Fates (Tino's novel), and for me - their writing is the kind of stuff that makes for late nights and tired workdays. I can't pay him a higher compliment. This one was a bit different than his other efforts in that Krakuer plays more the role of detective/sociologist rather than an an insightful expedition biographer. However, the story was as rivetting and perhaps even more powerful. I'm anxiously awaiting his next one! Also, if you're one of the few who missed Tino's masterpiece, go and get yourself a copy.

I just finished this book even though it's been on my shelf for years. Unfortunately, I found this to be one of the worst books I've read in a while. First off, the story of Chris and his life is extremely skimpy--basically, he was excruciatingly average. Therefore, the author pads the story with entire chapters about himself! Secondly, the writing is atrocious. Krakauer creates whole passages of melodrama, too ridiculous to cite here. Finally, my biggest problem with the book was the lack of conclusions it draws: "Was Chris nuts? Was he sane? No one will ever know..." erases all the previous efforts the author described to get to the 'soul' of this young man. Bottom line for those curious about Chris and his travels is to look for the OUTSIDE magazine article about him because it offers as much info as the book does and is a lot cheaper and quicker to read.

When I was asked to read Into the Wild for a class, I tried to approach it with an even perspective. Though I have never been a fan of biographies, this one blew me away. No, not because it was good, because it belonged in the fantasy section. John Krakauer has held up a half-witted coward as a symbol of Alaska, and frankly, Alaska is dissapointed. Krakauer claims he is the ideal adventurer, then let me ask, why did he DIE!? Right from the beginning, I could find mistake that McCandless made, big ones! I have never been out in the wilderness of Alaksa by myself, but the knowledge I have from spending my life in Alaska gives me more smarts than that junkie. Another thing that irked me was the way McCandless was held up as so smart. Those of you in the other 49 states have absolutely no idea how many crazy mountain men or avante garde californians come up here and try to live of the wild. It's disgraceful to us. Just a few years ago, a man like McCandless decided to live on the hill that I live on. Now mind you, this is a nice neighborhood outside of town, not a bunch of cabins. This man proceeded to set up a tent on the edge of our neighbor's back lawn. He didn't think that someone might own the land that he was on, and that just because this Alaska, it doesn't been you can just go wherever you want! Many people have come up and asked the government to give them large land grants on prime property for free. Some don't even ask the government, they just move in. Nowhere else in America is this tolerated, so why should you think it doesn't apply up here?! McCandless was a fool, and a fool does not deserve to be glorified.

I was disappointed in this book. It was as much about other people's misadventures, including the author's. There was very little about the key character's experiences in Alaska, despite what the title of the book insinuates.

I look on this book with skepticism. Krakauer has made a name for himself writing the postmortem of tragic events. In other cases (Into thin Air, Under the Banner of Heaven) he has been criticized for inaccuracy and altering facts to fit his narrative. In this book he goes too far. He does explain from the outset that he is biased, and identified with his subject, perhaps too much. But his need to canonize this foolish young man is hard to stomach.

The book follows a familiar but effective pattern, used in Krakauer's other books. He chronologically reconstructs events using interviews and the writings of the protagonist. He uses a technique that is quickly annoying my in today's nonfiction. He does a sentence or two of description of the interviewee creating a caricature rather than a character, then tells us what they said. It reads like a movie treatment. Then he retells a few similar stories of lost souls in the wilderness.

Krakauer gives Chris McCandless the biggest, and least deserved, posthumous reach around in literary history. It is amazing that Krakauer can diagnose the young man's mental health without meeting the living person. But he makes a point of saying McCandless was not insane, mentally ill, crazy several times. How does he do it? Well, this lad that chose the name "Alexander Supertramp." ignored warnings of numerous people, wrote about himself in third person, and was described as strange, odd, weird, by pretty much everyone that met him was kinda like a young Krakauer.

What Chris McCandless did was stupid, selfish, crazy, immature despite him being charismatic and friendly. There is only so much lipstick you can put on a crazy, spoiled dumbass pig that kills itself.

I had read "Into Thin Air" and it is one of my favorite books so was looking forward to reading this book as well. Really disappointed however. I just couldn't get interested in this book at all. I didn't care what happened to the guy.

A rich kid with all the advantages rebels against that and claims he wants to survive on his own. However, he runs into a lot of people along the way that help him constantly. I couldn't feel sympathy at all. Right till the end.