jasperjames's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
5.0
graceks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
3.75
justiceofkalr's review against another edition
3.0
Okay, mixed feelings. Both about this book and about Chris himself.
Let's start with the book. It's a pretty fascinating story and Krakauer has pieced together a ton of bits of information to make a fairly complete picture of Chris's epic journey. On the other hand, the order seems a little muddled and sometimes repetitious and Krakauer seems to have thrown a little bit too much in to this book in order to make it long enough. While interesting in its own right, I could have done without his own mountain climbing story inserted into the middle of Chris's story. It's just kind of disruptive and overall I didn't feel like it added that much. On the other hand I did like some of the short bits on other men who have gone "into the wild" and I'd definitely be interested in reading more about them on their own.
Now Chris. He's kind of a moronic asshole, but with some fascinating ideals that really resonated with me. I really admire his drive and his goals of self-sufficiency, truth, living honestly, etc. I think the goals that he strives for are admirable. But I think how he goes about achieving some of them is not. He cuts off everyone in his life to varying degrees. Anytime anyone tries to help him he almost always refuses. And the way he cut off connections with his family was a total shitbag move. No matter what he thinks of his dad's two marriages, to cut his entire family out of his life, including his sister that he was so close to, so suddenly was such a colossal asshole move. For that alone I kind of hate him. And then there's just something so unbearably cocky about him. From the way he seems to think he can just go at anything semi-unprepared and success purely on determination to how he renames himself "Supertramp" and writes about himself in the third person. He just seems like a huge jerk. So it's kind of baffling how much he affected the people he met and how much he influenced them in the process of just passing through. They obviously didn't view him as an asshole or a jerk. I also was frustrated at how grossly unprepared he was and how he seemed to survive on youth and luck, and when his luck ran out he died. As the book points out, there are lots of small things that could have saved him. Like just having a fucking map of the area as backup so he knew how to get out. Or knowing the area a little better to know that the spring melt was going to create issues. Or talking to more Alaskans who could have better told him how to deal better with the northern wild. So as much as Krakauer points out that he survived a fairly long time and that he made some preparations, I can't help but think of him as kind of a moron for the things he failed to do. A moron with admirable goals.
Let's start with the book. It's a pretty fascinating story and Krakauer has pieced together a ton of bits of information to make a fairly complete picture of Chris's epic journey. On the other hand, the order seems a little muddled and sometimes repetitious and Krakauer seems to have thrown a little bit too much in to this book in order to make it long enough. While interesting in its own right, I could have done without his own mountain climbing story inserted into the middle of Chris's story. It's just kind of disruptive and overall I didn't feel like it added that much. On the other hand I did like some of the short bits on other men who have gone "into the wild" and I'd definitely be interested in reading more about them on their own.
Now Chris. He's kind of a moronic asshole, but with some fascinating ideals that really resonated with me. I really admire his drive and his goals of self-sufficiency, truth, living honestly, etc. I think the goals that he strives for are admirable. But I think how he goes about achieving some of them is not. He cuts off everyone in his life to varying degrees. Anytime anyone tries to help him he almost always refuses. And the way he cut off connections with his family was a total shitbag move. No matter what he thinks of his dad's two marriages, to cut his entire family out of his life, including his sister that he was so close to, so suddenly was such a colossal asshole move. For that alone I kind of hate him. And then there's just something so unbearably cocky about him. From the way he seems to think he can just go at anything semi-unprepared and success purely on determination to how he renames himself "Supertramp" and writes about himself in the third person. He just seems like a huge jerk. So it's kind of baffling how much he affected the people he met and how much he influenced them in the process of just passing through. They obviously didn't view him as an asshole or a jerk. I also was frustrated at how grossly unprepared he was and how he seemed to survive on youth and luck, and when his luck ran out he died. As the book points out, there are lots of small things that could have saved him. Like just having a fucking map of the area as backup so he knew how to get out. Or knowing the area a little better to know that the spring melt was going to create issues. Or talking to more Alaskans who could have better told him how to deal better with the northern wild. So as much as Krakauer points out that he survived a fairly long time and that he made some preparations, I can't help but think of him as kind of a moron for the things he failed to do. A moron with admirable goals.
ioana_cis's review against another edition
5.0
I love Jon's style of having chapters with introductions from books recommended or interviews, you never stop learning. I think you want to discover as much as possible about a topic like this, to understand the calling of nature and maybe prevent others from going that last step.
Alex was right to loose himself those months, to discover people's authenticity and simple life. I just wish the ending was different. I consider that he indeed got to confident in his survivor powers and that got him blocked in the bus.
Definitely a recommended book!
Alex was right to loose himself those months, to discover people's authenticity and simple life. I just wish the ending was different. I consider that he indeed got to confident in his survivor powers and that got him blocked in the bus.
Definitely a recommended book!
theyettiden's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
clair_shaw's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars.
Very interesting read. While I've never felt any desire to live on the fringes of civilization I can absolutely see the draw of it for some people. The need to escape the invisible walls of society and it's definition of achievement and success. There's an emptiness that comes from unauthentic living, from plotting the course of your life by someone else's standard. Chris McCandless felt it, it's possible that everyone at some point feels it, that need to escape and invent a life that is completely their own. Chris isn't every different from most individuals in this regard, what marks him as different is the way he went about it.
Daring is the word. Though many would call it reckless and immature, perhaps it was a little of both.
What happened to Chris is without a doubt a tragedy. But his odyssey wasn't a complete failure, he found exactly what he was looking for in the wild: clarity, adventure, and peace. I believe like the author had events unfolded differently he would have returned to society a changed man or a least attempted to. We'll never know if he would have been able/willing to rebuild his life, or mend the broken relationship with his parents. We only know that he spent the last few moths of his life doing exactly what he'd always dreamed of, and I can think of any number of things far more tragic than that.
Very interesting read. While I've never felt any desire to live on the fringes of civilization I can absolutely see the draw of it for some people. The need to escape the invisible walls of society and it's definition of achievement and success. There's an emptiness that comes from unauthentic living, from plotting the course of your life by someone else's standard. Chris McCandless felt it, it's possible that everyone at some point feels it, that need to escape and invent a life that is completely their own. Chris isn't every different from most individuals in this regard, what marks him as different is the way he went about it.
Daring is the word. Though many would call it reckless and immature, perhaps it was a little of both.
What happened to Chris is without a doubt a tragedy. But his odyssey wasn't a complete failure, he found exactly what he was looking for in the wild: clarity, adventure, and peace. I believe like the author had events unfolded differently he would have returned to society a changed man or a least attempted to. We'll never know if he would have been able/willing to rebuild his life, or mend the broken relationship with his parents. We only know that he spent the last few moths of his life doing exactly what he'd always dreamed of, and I can think of any number of things far more tragic than that.
chrisofferoff's review against another edition
4.0
This wont be for everyone, but if you find interest in fascinating people and philosophy based around nature then you may very well love this book.
riseclare's review against another edition
3.0
I really liked this. I listened to some of it on Audible, and the narration was nice but I finished it up on my Kindle. Well researched, well thought out and wonderfully executed book.