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A review by justiceofkalr
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
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.