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Summary: Into the Wild was a boring and worthless book to read.
Review: Into the Wild was based on a selfish, young, and brilliant man named Chris McCandless. He decided to one day rebel against his parents, and go live on his own, in the wilderness. But, he sure did not go out there with the proper requirements. He only brought with him a rifle and a bag of rice. He did not even totally live on his own. He relied on others for food and warmth. Chris was not even a gun-ho outdoorsman. Chris ended up traveling all over the United States, without making it far away from humans. He never even tried to make it on his own in the U.S. One day, he finally works up the courage to go to Alaska. This was a crazy idea for Chris, considering that he couldn't even make it in the U.S.! He was not in Alaska that long before he froze and starved to death. He pretty much had no common sense of the outdoors. I thought that it was pointless to write an entire book about Chris. Another aspect I did not like of the book was how Jon Krakauer had his own memoir. He is just trying to make himself more powerful, yet it doesn't. I also didn't like the stories of others. Why would I care? Personally, I do not recommend this book to others. It was a waste of my time.
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Summary: A Well-Written Tale of Youthful Hubris Gone Wrong
Review: Early on in Karkauer's account I disliked Chris McCandless immensely. He displayed a selfish and unjustified lack of respect for his parents, his government and his society. Yet his nomadic lifestyle would have been impossible without the generosity of strangers living in the "conventional world" he so despised. And in the very last days of his life, he was forced to plea for help from the same "conventional world" from which he so readily withdrew. While reading the second half of the book, however, may views began to change. Mr. Krakauer does a fine job of explaining the drive behind such men as McCandless (and himself). Contrary to other readers, I found these sections immensely helpful in trying to understand McCandless, and I came to gain more respect for the main character. In the end, Into the Wild is most interesting because it tells a biographical tale of the author himself and others like him. As the author explains, Krakauer undertook similar solo journies in Alaska at around the same age. He too could have died. To portray McCandless as selfish or sophomoric meant indicting himself. Nevertheless, Krakauer's well-written prose does not shy from such self-flaggelation. He reflects honestly on the dangerous risks such young men (including himself) have taken, does not seek to justify them but to explain them, and leaves the reader with the knowledge the losing yourself in the vastness of nature is unlikely to cure troubles that may exist within.
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Summary: To be read or not?
Review: When I first picked up the novel Into The Wild, I thought it looked pretty interesting. It's a true story about a real person, one who believed in an ideal world, and was not afraid to risk everything to find it. Christopher McCandless, or Alex Supertramp (I feel that better describes him), left for the ultimate journey, to be one with nature and discover who he was and what his abilities were. Some people may believe Alex was crazy, or just plain ignorant, but I find in the world that sometimes those of us who are crazy eventually become the smartest, bravest, or most looked up to (i.e. Albert Einstein, Leonardo Da Vinci) I admire Alex's will power and determination. His stamina was surpassed only by his love for life and his quest for happiness and purity. My only qualm with this novel is, would Alex have wanted his life story to be told to millions? Or have it become a book studied in a high school english class? From the knowledge I gleaned about his personality and character, I would have to make the conjecture that he would rather that his life remain his, not whoever's that happens to read the book. I applaud Krakauer for his intense and comprehensive research to help us understand the enigma of Alex Supertramp. Despite whether Alex would have appreciated it also, I would have to recommend this book to anyone who has ever questioned whether there was a purpose to life and once found never had the courage to explore it. Go ahead and do your best. Life is but a journey, so make the most of it.
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Summary: Chris McCandless- Life and Death
Review: Into the Wild.........Author- Jon Krakaue............Review- Michelle A. Chris McCandless is one of those people who always knew he was different. He didn't feel he fit in with society and he never liked his parents. To feel at home Chris left everything and walked Into The Wild. Author Jon Krakauer in his Nation Bestseller tells the story of his life, and death. Chris seemed to be running away from something. On his journey he met several people, all of whom think highly of him. Each person would become close to Chris, but none of them could ever get him to talk about his family. The mention of it, and Chris's reaction, made it seem as though he came from a broken home. This might have been what Chris felt but in reality it was quite different. He was raised in a comfortable, upper-middle class enviroment in Annandale, Virginia. His father, Walt, used to work for NASA until opening a law firm with his wife, Billie. Both of them loved Chris very much, even though sometimes they didn't understand him. When Chris disappeared, they hired people to find him. When that didn't work, all they could do was hope he was alright. Chris decided to wait until he graduated from college to disappear. Before leaving he gave $25,000 in saving away (to a charity to stop hunger) and, shortly into his trip, he abandoned his car and burned all the money in his wallet. Chris took up hitchhiking and worked small jobs when he needed money. He traveled from Atlanta, to Houston, to parts of Mexico, then to the Pacific Ocean, Seattle, North Dakota, through Canada, and to his final destination Alaska. Chris went from Fairbanks, Alaska to Stamped Trail. There he found the landmark bus 142 and camped out for over 100 days. He hunted small game for food and when the animals started to migrate, Chris started to eat some of the plants around him. The roots of these plants are not poisonous but are in fact good for you. They have a nice taste also, but at the end of July they turn too rough to eat. It was at this point that Chris started to eat the seeds of the plant. This turned out to be a fatal mistake. The seeds are poisonous and made Chris very weak, to weak to go look for food or try to make his way back to civilization. He met his death because of a mistake that anyone could make. Many people think that Chris was stupid for walking into the Barrens of Alaska with nothing but a small rifle, a ten-pound bag of rice, and a change of clothes. The fact is that he was able to last in the wilderness for over 100 days and that is a lot more then most people can. The seeds that killed him were never written as being poisonous. Chris researched what to eat and what not to and the fact that nothing was ever said about this plant's seeds caused his death.
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Summary: This book was a good read, however it dragged on a little.
Review: Reading this non-fiction book written by Jon Krakauer to show the lifeof theinteresting Christopher McCandless was surprisingly more interesting than I would have imagined. McCandless, who, to become more in touch with the world around him, went out with no money and few personal belongings to the wilderness. Why McCandless decided to do what he did turned the book into a mystery, my favorite type of story. This young man, wasn't like the average young man; he cared about the world around him, and about people who not as well off as he was. When he was in high school, McCandless would spend his Friday nights walking the streets with food for the homeless. This pureness in his heart explained why he left his family. The disturbing news that he found out about his father's past caused him to look at his father in a new light, and he didn't like what he saw. The way Krakauer used people who knew McCandless to reveal McCandless's personality was very interesting. However this was also a flaw in the book. Some parts of the book were a little boring, because they dragged on about the people an didn't say much about McCandless. When Krakauer used his experiences in his life to explain certain actions that McCandless took, I wanted to put the book away and stop reading. The book was supposed to be about McCandless, not Krakauer. Krakauer orginally did the story in a magazine, so it wasn't very long. I could see that story being very interesting, however, two hundred pages made the story drag on a little.
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Summary: Adventure + Rebellion = An Exciting & Intersting Story
Review: "Into the Wild" was a book that I found to be entertaining and intellectually stimulating at the same time. It is obvious that Chris, the main character is rebelling against society. It is the way he rebells, however, that sets him apart from the rest of society. There are not many people in today's world that have the kind of convictions that Chris did. As a matter of fact I personally don't know even one person that would make the ultimate sacrifice in order to express him or herself the way Chris did. I found myself being swept into the story and at times I could genuinely sympathize with Chris's cause. Despite what i feared might happen to him I wanted him to succeed. I found it hard to put the book down because I was often curious where Chris was going next or even how he was goining to get there. Overall I feel that it was an excellent story, especially since it was a true account of actuall events. If we were all as dedicated as Chris was the world would be a much better place, we would stop doing things "good enough" and follow them through completely just as Chris followed his dream out completely.
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Summary: A true story about a knoble but careless journey.
Review: Into the Wild was about Chirs McCandless's removal from society and journey to prove to himself that he can survive on his own. I think that he was knoble with his choice but rather careless. His intentions were strong. Throughout his journeys he met some incredible people. I feel that his parents may have been one of the reasons he chose to exclude himself from society. Their relationship was not on a good level as you can plainly see by how he doesn't stay in touch with them. But, on his journey he findspeople who may make up for the loss of a parent/child relationship. Chris becomes very close with a couple of the people he encounters in his wanderings. I think that Chris really did care about some of them and I'm suprised that he didn't stay with them. But, I guess that Chris's desire to prove he could survive was greater than anything else. But at the end of his life he let his morals go because he asked for "help". If he didn't need society why did he need help? I think it's sad that right before he died he let go of his belief. I think that Chris was right that society is messed up, but in the end we as people need it.
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Summary: If you've ever wanted to just pack up and go...
Review: this book is fufilling if you'eve ever had feelings of disatisfation with your life and the need to drop everything and find out what life is really like. If you havent had these feelings, dont read it.
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Summary: i love your book
Review: i had a lot of fun reading Jon Krakauer's book (into the wild). when i first started reading this book, i couldn't believe that some like that can happen to anybody. i was for what happened to crhis, but i was also happy to be reading a great book like into the wild. i love reading your book and i think u did a good job with most of them. i would love to talk to you in person, you are a very interesting person to read about, and i hope you would be an interesting person to talk to. please write me back, i can't wait until i talk to you.
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Summary: Another fine book from Krakauer
Review: I read the original article in OUTSIDE magazine and finally read the book version. Very well done. I can see myself being caught up in the reading of WALDEN and such in college and wanting to go off into the wild to live. It is sobering to see what happens to Chris & tragic to know it was probably preventable - though the book's ending still leaves you with some questions. I also like how the author goes into his own "into the wild' (climbing in Alaska) experience as a way of understanding Chris' experience.
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