Into the Wild

Product Details

Author : Jon Krakauer
Binding : Paperback
EAN : 9780307387172
Edition : Reissue
Number of Pages : 224
Product Group : Book
Publication Date : 2007-08-21
Publisher : Anchor
Release Date : 2007-08-21

ASIN : 0307387178

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Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com

"God, he was a smart kid..." So why did Christopher McCandless trade a bright future--a college education, material comfort, uncommon ability and charm--for death by starvation in an abandoned bus in the woods of Alaska? This is the question that Jon Krakauer's book tries to answer. While it doesn't—cannot—answer the question with certainty, Into the Wild does shed considerable light along the way. Not only about McCandless's "Alaskan odyssey," but also the forces that drive people to drop out of society and test themselves in other ways. Krakauer quotes Wallace Stegner's writing on a young man who similarly disappeared in the Utah desert in the 1930s: "At 18, in a dream, he saw himself ... wandering through the romantic waste places of the world. No man with any of the juices of boyhood in him has forgotten those dreams." Into the Wild shows that McCandless, while extreme, was hardly unique; the author makes the hermit into one of us, something McCandless himself could never pull off. By book's end, McCandless isn't merely a newspaper clipping, but a sympathetic, oddly magnetic personality. Whether he was "a courageous idealist, or a reckless idiot," you won't soon forget Christopher McCandless.

Customer Reviews

amazing (2008-10-05)

I loved how this book was an eplenation of how things can go wrong and the wild is wild!!

Into the wild ... fatal romanticism (2008-08-22)

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.

Great Reading! (2008-07-06)

I thoroughly enjoyed this well-written book, but still can't make up my mind about what to think about Christopher McCandless himself. He is not really too young to forgive him all the blunders he made and all the contradictions in his views. I'm only sorry that he did not live through this to learn his lesson. I'm looking forward to read the next book by Krakauer, "Into This Air". I love his style of writing and the richness of his vocabulary.

Loved every minute! (2008-05-29)

I read this book before I saw the movie...and of course got a much better appreciation for the story because of that. The first half of the book is primarily focused on Chris's journey as well as his Alaskan adventure, while the second half has more interviews from family members and friends. I really enjoyed how Jon personalized the story by adding in one of his own adventures...showing readers how he completely understood how Chris felt. I loved this book, and the end made me cry.

boring waste of time (2008-04-29)

This is possibly the most boring book I've ever read. I'll tell you the story so you can spend your money elsewhere. Chris is bored with society. He rebels and decides to go to Alaska and live in the wild. But first we have to suffer through chapter after chapter about him traveling here and there finding odd jobs.Then in the middle of the "story" the author rambles on in excruciating detail about his own adventure climbing a mountain in Alaska. Finally after about 150 pages of drivel Chris (who has renamed himself Alexander Supertramp)is finally in Alaska, but because he is a moron, he is not truly prepared to live in the wild. He doesn't bring the necessary supplies to truly survive, however, he conveniently finds a bus in the wilderness to live in. So even though his intent was to live entirely in the wild and off the land he's camping in a bus which has a mattress, a stove, and several other amenities. He eats berries and small game, but then shoots a moose and realizes he has no way to preserve the meat - duh? so we have to hear about that ordeal. Then after Chris's death the author theorizes about how he died. Despite the obvious reasons of basic starvation and lack of nutrition we have to suffer through pages of details about moldy seeds Chris ate. This book is boring, poorly written, choppy and reads like a grade 8 term paper only with bigger words. The only good thing about it is that twenty percent of the royalties go to a scholarship so that at least someone benefits from this idiot's rant.

Look for similar items by category

• Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S.
• Subjects > Biographies & Memoirs
• Subjects > Outdoors & Nature > Travel > Adventure
• Subjects > Travel > Specialty Travel > Adventure
• Subjects > Travel > United States > States > Alaska
• Subjects > Travel

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