Reviews with content warning for Alcohol - Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed

25 reviews

asurasantosha's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

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parasolcrafter's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

5.0

this is a memoir where all i can really say is that im so glad cheryl was so open with her life in this book, giving us readers such an intimate look into her story as she took us all along with her on the pacific crest trail.

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readingrainbowroad's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

Book: 3.5 stars. This book is at its heart one about immense grief and how people process it differently. I've heard this book compared to Eat, Pray, Love (which I've never read but heard the criticisms of) and I think if you view this book as another travel memoir, it misses a lot of the main heart of the story and what Cheryl Strayed was going through at the time. I think having gone through a very similar thing (mom dying suddenly of cancer) made this book incredibly more relatable and understandable.

Audiobook narrator: 5 stars. Would listen to Bernadette Dunne read 100 more books in a heartbeat.

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kelleykamanda's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

3.5

A cautionary tale to what it means to be young and naive. Good writing, sad but moving story, a series of very dumb and dangerous choices.

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ruthypoo2's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

5.0

There's a lot of heart and vulnerability woven throughout this story of one woman's personal adventure hiking the entire Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). The author, Cheryl Strayed, coming off an amicable but heartbreaking divorce, decides to step far outside her comfort zone and challenge herself to take on what initially seems like a formidable but reasonable challenge of hiking solo over a well-known trail that traverses the entire west coast of the United States.

The story begins with Cheryl's back story and the hardships she's experienced over the previous few years of her life. This really allows the reader to get a good idea of who the author is and sets up how she, as a person, will evolve over the course of the book. The book presents a map at the beginning to familiarize the reader with the full length and varied terrain of the PCT. The book is broken up into five parts, with multiple chapters in each part. Each chapter relays the author's most memorable experiences from different sections of the trail. The experiences shared could be about equipment, the hiking experience, people met, camping sites, etc. It's very easy to feel like a hitchhiker on this hike and relate to the various highs and lows that took place, as well as the insights shared.

Alone had always felt like an actual place to me, as if it weren't a state of being but rather a room where I could retreat to be who I really was. The radical aloneness of the PCT had altered that sense. Alone wasn't a room anymore, but the whole wide world. And now, I was alone in that world, occupying it in a way I never had before. Living at large like this, without even a roof over my head, made the world feel both bigger and smaller to me. Until now I hadn't really understood the world's vastness, hadn't even understood how vast a mile could be until each mile was beheld at walking speed.

By the end of the story, the reader feels like a veteran of the PCT and intimately aware of what works and what doesn't work for a first-time long-distance hiker. It's also heartwarming to share in the tales of comradery that occurs between hikers sharing the trail and people who live along the trail, welcoming the hikers into their communities and servicing their needs. Ms. Strayed tells her story with a sense of humor and humility, admitting freely when she realizes her miscalculations and shortcomings as a hiker. But overall, I was impressed with the level of research and preparation completed before she set out on the hike, and how she managed to survive in a very sparing way at times.

This is a well written, informative, and entertaining book. I'd say it's inspiring, and while reading it you wonder if hiking the PCT could be in the cards for you... then reality sets in and you find you're satisfied to have just been given the opportunity to be a voyeur to someone else's bravery in taking on this historical hiking trail. I loved the quotes and song lyrics included at the beginning of each part of the book, and appreciate the extras included in the book: a list of books read and referenced by the author while on her hike and a Reading Group Guide.

I listened to the audiobook and enjoyed the narrator, Bernadette Dunne. Ms. Dunne brought an energy and lightness to her reading of the story that it was even more relatable and like listening to the author share difficult memories and special new experiences as her life expands and evolves.

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merylas's review against another edition

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adventurous informative reflective medium-paced

3.5

While I’m not sure I would be friends with Cheryl in real life, I understand some of her mindset and (lack of) logical thinking. I have also been someone in their 20’s who lost a parent, no, their beacon, which set you in a path of bad choices endlessly reaching to be on the other side of lost. Unlike Cheryl, I did not decide to go (unprepared) on an a backpacking trip. Yes this is the story of said trip but it’s more the story of finding yourself where one might get lost.

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