Rating: 
Summary: Interesting
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: FINDING CHRIS MCCANDLESS
Review: As the mother of sons and a writer for whom reading is the greatest pleasure, I found "Into the Wild" to be one of the finest and most unexpectedly beautiful books I have read in a very long time. It is the harrowing story of the death and short life of Chris McCandless, a bright, charming, adventurous young man whose mysterious travels and untimely death left a legacy of heartbreak and confusion to those who loved him. In returning to the scene of his own admittedly incomplete reportage of the story for :"Outside" magazine, Jon Krakauer reveals his own honesty and decency as a writer and a man. The book is as beautifully written as it is fascinating. Krakauer and his readers come to know Chris McCandless as our own youthful hopes made flesh. We also come to know this boy -- and love him -- as everyone's son, perhaps even our own. Late in his troubled adolescence, Chris set out into the American "wilderness" on a journey to adulthood. He did not return. He didn't return, that is, until Krakauer, who recognized in this story aspects of his own difficult youth, embarked on an odyssey of his own in McCandless' footsteps. . With almost unbearable detail he pieces together the last year of this young man's life and derives from it a compelling pilgrim's tale of anger, fear and courage. Through those who knew him during his "lost" days, we move from dissatisfaction and yearning to spiritual rebirth that arrives gratefully, but late and despite terrible twists of fate .Chris McCandless tunneled through Peer Gynt's mountain, punted across the Slough of Despond and into the dark and icy forest. He received boons and encountered spirit guides; listened and learned from scouts and story-tellers All of them later helped the auther piece together the real story, heretofore untold, of a boy who found himself and death in the same process and in the same place. Free at last, he quietly, and even joyously, welcomed the arrival of both with valor and uncommon grace.
Rating:
Summary: A celebration of life, though ending in tragedy.
Review: read Into the Wild for the first time over four years ago after I had read Into Thin Air (also by author Jon Krakauer).
The argument has been made that having read the blurb on the back cover of the book (listed above) that there is now no reason to read Into the Wild in its entirety. What more could they tell you? You know how the story ends, don't you? Christopher Johnson McCandless died at the end of his journey. What you do not know is how he got from Emory University in Atlanta, GA to Alaska. The synopsis above does not tell you how many lives he touched, and how deeply, along the way.
Chris McCandless, or "Alexander Supertramp" to a few, was not the first to bid farewell to society and try his hand at living off the land, being at one with nature. He is, however, arguably the most unique individual to do so. Krakauer has pursued extensive interviews with not only Chris' family, but also friends who met him on the road and know him only as "Alex".
How deeply do you think you can be touched by a hitchhiker as you drive him a few hundred miles down the road? Did you ever think you would wish he would not get out of the car when it comes time? I am not sure the people who did Chris a favor ever thought they would either, however in their accounts they try to put into words what was so special about this particular young man.
Chris was a very gifted athlete. He was an above average student throughout his entire academic career at one point with aspirations of Harvard Law and the grades to match. He had an entrepreneurial spirit that had made him a good deal of money and earned him a lot of respect growing up.
Why would someone with this background give it all up and walk into the woods? Jon Krakauer takes us along the path to California, South Dakota, into Mexico, eventually to Alaska and many places in between to find out.
The author seems to approach this book as if he were trying to solve the mystery of Chris' death and in essence he was doing just that. He really tells us why Chris was unable to survive his journey and in the process we find out why he began the journey in the first place. The depth of the research is remarkable. Krakauer in this, and all of his books, really goes the extra mile to talk to anyone and everyone involved and find out as many details as possible. I have the highest level of respect for the work that Jon Krakauer does for his books.
In the Acknowledgements section at the end, the author thanks those he interviewed for helping him put the book together. If you read this book I am sure you will, like I do, want to thank them as well. Less than a year has passed from the time you find out a loved one has passed away; a loved one about whom you have worried everyday since he last contacted you which was two years ago. Along comes a journalist who wants to get to know him through you. How forthcoming would you...or could you be?
If you like this, another Krakauer book I cannot recommend enough is Under the Banner of Heaven.
Rating:
Summary: Crazy or Brave
Review:
Into the Wild is a story of Chris McCandless and his adventures across North America. Chris despises his family for good reason and one day after college he decides he is just going to take off across the country with nothing but the bare essentials. He meets all sorts of interesting people such as Ronald Franz and Wayne Westerberg. Chris is a free spirit and never stays put for more than a month or so. He carries only a small backpack and hitchhikes all over the west side of the Untied States. Everyone that met Chris would say he was really a smart nice young man. Chris liked people but couldn't stand mainstream America. After traveling all over the west he decides it is time to head north to Alaska. He wants to live off the land and just be alone in the woods away from everything and everyone. Four months after Chris heads into the Alaskan back woods moose hunters find his decomposing body...
This book I thought was a tale of a very brave man living off the land against the elements. Jon Krakauer did a great job of keeping the reader enticed. I couldn't set the book down. Jon had such good description of Chris' adventures that t made me feel like I was there with him. This book inspired me to want to go on a great journey across America. It sounded like so much excitement. I loved this book and I would suggest it to anyone that loves going on adventures.
Rating:
Summary: It's Excellent
Review: The kid was perceptive and knew how screwed up this superficial society is. Wandered all over the country but with purpose. Learned a lot and met a lot of people. Had great stories to tell. Lawrence Block said determination and luck are the two strongest forces there are. This kid had a lot of good luck and little bad luck but he sure as hell didn't lack determination. Krakauer does an excellent job of giving it life. Compelling bits here to say the least. Awesome book.
Rating:
Summary: Great reporting and even better writing
Review: The author does a marvelous job showing us a man's life by retracing his mysterious footsteps _ from the desert where he burned his car and rafted to the pacific _ the Alaskan outback.
The authors details are authentic and well placed and timed.
This is Krakauer's best work, although Into Thin Air is more exciting.
Rating:
Summary: This book is an insight to how some feel about the world
Review: I initially started to read this book because i was intrigued with its plot; a young man hitches across north america and lives off the land in Alaska only to be found dead. The author uses exciting events found in McCandless' journal to catch the readers attention, but gradually moves the focus to something much deeper. He tries to reveal McCandless' intentions to the reader without polluting it with his own opinions. By the end of the book, i was less concerned with the story of Chris McCandless, and more concerned with what was driving this person to his actions. After i read this book, i didnt feel like someone told me why McCandless did what he did. I felt like i had enough information and curiosity to decide for myself.
Rating:
Summary: The scary thing is ...
Review: ... I *do* understand why McCandless would walk away from his whole life, society, everything, and go off into the wilderness to see if he could make it on his own. It's a powerful draw for some people. And it's not like he went straight from Suburbia to inner Alaska. He was on his own for two years before that, and for much of those two years he was, really, out in the wilderness, making it on his own. He survived alone in Alaska for several months. He died because he made two mistakes, one small and one large, neither of which would have been fatal separately.
I thought this was a great book. There were a few chapters that dragged (NOT Krakauer's personal stories) but overall, definitely a worthwhile read. It's well-written, well-researched, and compassionate without romaticizing McCandless's foolishness or trying to justify his self-righteousness. It's a terribly sad story, but I think the reviewers who are still angry at the kid after reading it (for his stupidity or whatever) completely missed the point. Or perhaps they just read the first three chapters.
Rating: 
Summary: OK, so I just read the article
Review: ..so I have no right to rate the book. It's probably very well written, since Krakauer's article was.
I guess the one-star rating above is for the subject, Chris McCandless. I'm afraid I side with the native Alaskans on their evaluation of him - another "nut case" trying to prove something. So maybe he wasn't a psychopath, but I'd bet money he was bi-polar. He showed the signs - high intelligence, idealism, self-involvement, and alternating gregariousness and anti-social tendencies. Plus absolutely no common sense. These people can be the life of the party, very successful and charming beyond belief, and then turn around and get angry, moody, contemptuous, and may lapse into a depression so deep you think they'll die in their sleep. They're completely unpredictable. He was heartbroken at killing an animal for food, but ignored his family's understandable desire to have HIM remain alive. I don't fault Krakauer for admiring him - I think Krakauer is just naive as to what made the guy tick. He wasn't "better" than anyone else; he just thought he was. If he had been life-smart as well as book-smart, he'd still be alive today. And his poor family wouldn't be grieving. This book (OK, the article) almost glorifies McCandless's naive foolishness. If he'd tramped into the forest after intensive wildnerness training, much reading & research about Denali, and fully prepared with map, compass, waterproof clothing and all, I would have called it an adventure. As it was, it was no more admirable than lip-piercing and slam-dancing. "Nyah! I don't like this society! I'm dropping out!"
I'm afraid I have no sympathy for McCandless. I'd rather read a book about a more productive character. Someone who rescued slaves, maybe, or worked with battered children. Or who discovered fossils somewhere. Even the adventures of Jon Krakauer are more interesting - an author who slogs along through life, confronting demons here and there, but manages to publish best-selling books and make a pretty healthy living. I like reading about someone who really made a positive difference. Not a precocious child of 24, like McCandless.
Rating:
Summary: A subtle mystery, wonderfully pieced together
Review: In August 1992, a lone, unidentified man was found starved to death inside an abandoned bus, miles from the nearest road, deep in the Alaskan bush. This spawned a small media blitz that eventually identified the man as Christopher McCandless. However this left a bigger mystery of who Christopher McCandless was.
For those who are familiar with Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, this is a different book from the start. Into Thin Air was a white-knuckled ride with Krakauer as he attempts to survive Everest. This book is more of a subtle mystery as Krakauer tries to piece together the evidence of the months that led up to the discovery of McCandless' body. The tragedy of his death is established but the suspense is in discovering who Christopher was.
What Krakauer does in this book is fill in the picture by talking to the people who encountered Christopher in his last months. The image that comes out is not a genius or a messiah, but an intelligent young man who is at odds with the society he was raised in. And at the same time Krakauer describes a tribe of men who just don't seem to fit into our society and look for life on the fringes and beyond. The book is brilliant in capturing this spirit, I'm sure in large part because this spirit is shared by the author.
It's not an action adventure like Into Thin Air, but it is just as hard to put down. If you haven't read this one, do yourself and favor and get a copy. Mine is well dog-eared from being passed around.
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