Into the Wild

Rating:
Summary: I'm still in awe
Review: This book wasn't just a regular book to me. An intelligent kid from VA burns his money, leaves his car and goes. I think it is very inspiring and amazing that someone is able to live in that way. I cried many times while reading Into the Wild because of the joy and pain McCandless endured. I wish I could be like Chris McCandless and get up and go. However, I wish he had lived to share with more people his exact thoughts throughout the trip.

Rating:
Summary: Krakauer does it again.
Review: Krakauer claims he is a journalist. Don't let him fool you. He may be a journalist, but he writes with the touch of a great novelist. Taking a difficult topic (tragic death of a young man) he presents all sides of the story, from the young mans perspective to that of his parents. Krakauer allows his own experience to blend (not overpower) with his story and draws great insight from the two. Highly recommended for adults who dont understand their kids, and for kids who just cannot fathom their parents. This book may well save a life or two.

Rating:
Summary: A long magazine article about stupid human climbing tricks.
Review: If this book serves any purpose it will stop people from taking the foolish risks these people did in the name of . . . um. . . I don't know. Professional guides take $25,000 to lead people to the summit of Everest where the oxygen is low, the winds high and common sense absent. What a waste of human life there is in this book. If you want to read adventure that examines the human condition try Joseph Conrad or Jack London. I recommend you spare yourself this indulgent, overgrown magazine article about supposedly intelligent people who climb to 28,000 feet and find out why there is no sign of life way up there.

Rating:
Summary: Tragic
Review: Chris McCandless graduated two years ahead of me from my high school, and he grew up several blocks away from my house in Virgina. I did not know him, but I come from the same place. For that reason, I found this book disturbing, for he could have been anyone I knew, or even myself. This book is emotional and gripping - well written, and well worth the read. What did Chris McCandless' short life teach us? That life sometimes isn't as bad as it seems, that family, despite each one's inperfections, should be treasured for those of us that are fortunate enough to have one, that one should always be prepared, and that dumb luck is usually not enough to get you through life. It is a sincere tragedy that such a smart young man died so young - one can only guess what his contributions to this world might have been.

Rating:
Summary: Hauntingly familiar and hard to put down
Review: I bought this book because of the stark black and white photo of the abandoned bus and the words on the cover. From the moment I saw this book, I was drawn to this story. The story could reflect my brothers life, who chose to live his life as Chris did and like Chris, my brother died alone in an abandon bus. Both had above average intelligence, which I think made them question life and life's course in general. The only difference being the location of death and cause of death. I gave this book to other family members to read, simply because all of us felt like "if only". But after reading this book, I realize..it wouldn't have mattered what we did. People do this kind of thing because of something within themselves. The point of this book is not that he could afford to buy whatever equipment he would need to survive. The point was to prove to himself that he could survive and live without all that was familiar to him, including his family. I feel for Chris's family and share their pain and sense of loss. The author did an excellent job of telling the story and trying to understand Chris. A must read for all young people.

Rating:
Summary: What an incredible story
Review: I thought the book was amazing. A guy who gives up everything to follow his dream. He sees things he's always wanted to, he encounters people and touches their lives. Krakauer does an excellent job sharing the accounts of his friends and family, comparing him to other travelers, and expresses McCandless' character in a very personal way. An inspiring story in my opinion.

Rating:
Summary: heart wrenching
Review: I read this novel after reading 'Into thin Air'. 'Thin air was a book i couldnt put down Into the Wild on the other hand is somewhat more disturbing to me for some reason. It maybe a sense of familiarity with McCandles that makes me feel this way. Im sorry to say that i was oblivious to the Chris McCandles story when the event was at hand...had i the insight i now have on Chris's tragic journey my prayers for Chris and his family would have begun long ago... Many thanks John Krauer for your compassion.

Rating:
Summary: Show me the way to Alaska!!!!!
Review: After reading this wonderfull book I felt the sudden urge to pack up my sleeping bag, some rice and hit the road. I am 22 years old and like Chris I just don't understand people or anything going on in today's society and I wish I had the guts to just pick up everything and escape the chaos that we have created in this rapidily deteriorating world( I won't however be eating any seeds=). His actions may have been ridicules to the average person who lives by everyone else's rules, but I see Chris as being someone that was not afraid to take a chance and experience something that most people are to dictated to try. This book is a wonderful outlook on life itself and makes one want to hit the road and experience life anew..." Anyone heading North???" END

Rating:
Summary: It's A White Man's World - But Mine Too
Review: Alexander Supertramp to me is an example of a well-to-do boy who has everything and has never faced adversity and therefore, had to create it himself, to the extreme. It shows me how failures in school, life, etc. can actually be beneficial learning and growth opportunities. As much as I felt contempt for his assumption of success in everything he did, I have to admit to admiring his tenaciousness to his ideals. And I also found a sad irony in Krakauer's portrayal of his stubborn ignorance of his ideals - the fact that Jack London was an alcoholic who never left his house. I identify with Krakauer's ironic description of his final, "wild" encampment: an abandoned school bus near some shelters made wilder by a deliberate lack of common sense. While I do feel the deviations from the story to descriptions of similar, as well as his own account were fillers to what might have been otherwise a very long magazine article, I found them nonetheless interesting and worthy in reflecting our relationship to our environment. Being a photographer, what captivated me most was the photograph on the front cover (sorry-I do tend to judge a book by its cover!) and Krakauer's touching description of the personal articles left behind in the bus. I remember being a kid living in New Jersey and getting up early to walk in the woods, alone, to be away from my family. It was, exhilerating, poetic and peaceful, then, inevitably I would run into a polluted stream and a sign saying NO TRESPASSING. This book reminded me of the many times I ran away from family and relationships with long, soulful forays into the woods only to be faced with the fact that there was no escape from the human beings we are.

Rating:
Summary: A tremendous work of journalism
Review: Powerful, objective reporting about a blip in the news. Behind the headline of a dead young man in Alaska is a deeply moving tale about youth, dreams, and alienation. Here is a person unwilling to melt into the workings of capitalism--here is a man determined to live for a nobler cause.