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Summary: Angry in Minnesota
Review: this book kept me turning the pages, even though we know the outcome. i thought the author did a good research job-even if we will never quite understand why a person seems compelled to go to such extreme measures to find him themselves. i also thought it completely stupid, and kinda egotistical to think you can go into the wild totally unprepared and survive. i think he got what he was asking for.
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Summary: Great!
Review: This book had a great plot and a good author. I thought it was too short. It was a great book.
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Summary: Into the Wild
Review: I finished the book in 2 days and loved it. The man wasn't crazy but he sure was unprepared. I don't think I'm THAT adventurous!
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Summary: Krakauer Gets It Right
Review: Jon Krakauer could not resist this story. As a seasoned adventurer (who has, among other feats, scaled Everest) with a journalist's instinct, Krakauer learns what little there is to know about a man in his early twenties who spent the last two years of his life wandering the United States and staying almost completely out of touch.Krakauer takes his time describing the adventures of Chris McAndless, aka Supertramp, interspersing his own experiences in chasing that thing that some of us cannot resist, that thing that makes some people challenge all practical limits. McAndless chose one of the most romantic of all fantasies, roughing an Alaska winter. Krakauer describes, in fascinating detail, how McAndless found himself lodging in an abandoned bus in Denali National Park; how McAndless used his knowledge and experience to survive difficult feeding conditions; how McAndless forayed deeper into the wild, extending his adventure to stare into the face of death every day and survive. And survive McAndless did. When spring came he was still in good condition and good spirits. However, he had made one fatal miscalculation: What are streams in winter are raging torrents in spring. McAndless' final weeks are a study in frustration. Krakauer wrote this book in large part to refute some loud critics who assailed McAndless as an "amateur." While acknowleding this, Krakauer also patiently defends McAndless' behavior and decision making. One can say he fell in love with his subject, as a father might a son. One can say that Krakauer saw a lot of himself in Chris McAndless, an adventurer who paid the ultimate price.
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Summary: Morbidly Interesting
Review: My second Krakauer book (after Into Thin Air) prooved to be an interesting tale about teenage angst gone terribly awry. This book is more morbidly fascinating than anything else. It is a journey into the psyche of a young man who, with seemingly all of the advantages that late Twentiety Century America can arm one with, decides to disappear into the flotsam of the country playing the part of an enlightened hobo (he takes the moniker 'supertramp' as a way to christen his new identity). The reader will continually wonder "why" and it is difficult not to blame the supertramp for the fate that awaits him. Still, the book provides an interesting look at Americans and American life not usually written about. I found the stories of the supertramps friends and companions, and how they went about living as interesting as the subject's story. The final few chapters dealing with the young man's final foray into the Alaskan wilderness are particularly intersting. It is tough though, to be sympathetic to one who ignores all of the warning signs of danger and refuses to make any moves that serve his long-term interests (being simple survival). The reader becomes aware that he is watching what could be described as a protracted suicide disguised as noble adventure in the mind of the supertramp. This is a combined tale of adventure and folly. Interesting, but a very different adventure than presented in Krakauer's previous book "Into Thin Air."
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Summary: Into the Wild
Review: Great interspection on relationships in and outside family and the youthful wunderlust that affects a lot of post-adolescent men. I saw Chris McCandless as a smart yet unlucky and ill-prepared adventurer that had found what he was looking for but stretched the envelope to far to get back into society and put into practice the wisdom that he achieved on his trek. Great book...
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Summary: A worthwhile read
Review: This was a great book that provided insight into the mind of a compasssionate man who had the itch to travel. If you ever wanted to just get up and go then this book is for you... Even if you never felt this way, it's a book to see how much a wonderful person can effect each and every person he meets. It's a great book and a fast read, and very hard to put down. I highly recommend it.
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Summary: Sublime examination of those who seek deeper fulfilment
Review: This is an excellent true story about a part of our existance which has not been investigated all that much in modern literature. Into the Wild is a story of a young man (Chris McCandless) who wished to embark on some thoroughly testing and meaningful adventures in the North American wilderness, which is what any average backpacker wishes to do, except that Chris McCandless wished to take this adventurous reckless abandon to its strongest possible extreme. It is a most remarkable story, meticulously researched, full of mystery and intrigue, and a must for adventurers of the wilderness, both young and old. There are also several other thoroughly intriguing true stories of 'wilderness seekers' in the book. What is it which motivates those who abandon 'normal life' and seek to obtain a deeper fulfilment in such things as the wildness of nature? Are those who seek a deeper understanding of their own natures and yearnings to be seen as 'foolish idealistic wanderers' and such like? Where is the line between reckless abandonment and truely testing adventure? A life unexamined is not worth living Socrates said, and some would argue that we can't have truly examined ourselves unless we have thoroughly tested ourselves amongst such things as the wildness of nature. This book is a timely examination of these ideas, and a must for all those who are touched by wilderness, for all those adventerous in spirit and in heart, and for those who wish to obtain a deeper understanding of their own natures, the wilderness, and their place within it.
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Summary: depressing but worth reading
Review: Since I didn't read all the other reviews, I don't know if anybody else noticed that one big, if not the main, motivation for McCandless' journey was to exact a kind of 'I'll show you' revenge on his parents, especially his father. At the same time I wondered about parents that would allow their son to disappear without making a concerted effort to find out what had happened to him, especially when they seemed financially able to do so (or did I miss that part? -- for a contrast, read Gone boy : a walkabout, by Gregory Gibson -- talk about a father who loved his son). In some respects his parents seemed like materialistic workaholics so I don't completely blame him for turning his back on them, but in a way he was playing right into their game. If he'd wanted to live in the wilderness and discover himself, he could have done it without being so egotistical and foolhardy (granted, some of that may have been due to his youth and personality-type) and he could and should have been more appreciative of the genuine concern and help offered by the strangers he met along his way. Maybe he was too young and self-absorbed to see that they were travellers in life's journey just as much as he was. Had he valued his own life more (and deep-down I don't think he did), he might have survived and then spent his time helping kids or others less fortunate than himself or trying to save the wilderness that he claimed to love so much. In a way this story shows how someone can be overwhelmed by their own ego and that can have tragic consequences. In any case, it was an intriguing albeit depressing book, but definitely worth reading.
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Summary: A Dramatic Psychological Thriller
Review: "Into The Wild" is Krakauer's disturbing narrative of a privileged young man named Christopher McClandiss. McClandiss forsakes his society and dies of starvation in the Alaskan wilderness. This is yet another book expressing the author's interest in pristine and inexplicable issues. "Into the Wild" is a novel in which Krakauer sets a compelling psychological back drop similar to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness." The reader is shown another slant to the idea of the quest for the Holy Grail, a decent into hell, the fall and a personal epiphany. The unforgiving harshness and persuit into the darkness of the Alaskan forest is similar to Conrad's Congo River journey. No one knows if McClandiss's search produces a personal revelation or total insanity. McClandiss is thought by some to be an idealistic reckless youth. He seems to be searching for the truth and reality of his humanity, "to kill the false beast within." McClandiss's descisions are based on his revolt against the excessiveness of American Society. He is a later version of what the Hippies attempted when they left middle class society to live off the land. McClandiss said that he hoped to, "fix all that was wrong with my life." When he is found frozen to death in an old bus no one is certain if his death was intentional or a mistake. Krakauers' account of McClandiss's life and death is an excellent book for those who have a curiosity about what drove a young man's quest for self awareness. This intriguing story is about the personal emptiness often found when the American dream is realized. This account is another compelling example by an author who asks the questions about life and death that many of us avoid. After reading "Into The Wild" the reader might want to re-evaluate their initial critisms about Christopher McClandiss personal choices. Although, some chapters are very detailed and slows the action, I would highly recommend Krakauers novel to anyone who wishes to live in a higher realm of consciousness and compassion.
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