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Into the Wild
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die.
"It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order." —Entertainment Weekly
McCandess had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention.
Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.
Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless.
When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding—and not an ounce of sentimentality. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.
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Reviews
Great stories and Krakauer explains them so well
By martinezadler
Incredible, truly renders the spirit of young people who go for it with great risk. His climbing escapade in the middle also awesome. Chis was like us and we all could have died had we made one miss step. It could have been us.
By Buffalo Bill The Berzerker
The story of Chris McCandless is an intriguing one and the book explores the passions of a young man who seemed lost, had mental issues, and was searching for something more. The author seems to be somewhat obsessed with the story and short life of McCandless particularly with determining how he died. I found the book to be too grandiose and self-centered by the author at times; the story steers from McCandless to the author’s own tales which I found very distracting and in poor taste.
By ChrisK In MD
Not at all I hat I was expecting, but a captivating read that kept me thinking about it as I moved throughout my day.
By ADefendorf
The book is well written and the story of Chris M speaks to you on many levels. Feelings of being subdued to truly breaking free. In the end Chris M paid the ultimate price for the ultimate freedom. Great Read!
By pounghi