Book Blog #174: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Title: Into the Wild
Author: Jon Krakauer
# of Pages: 207 (paperback)
Genre: Non-fiction, Biography, Adventure
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆
Synopsis: 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. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He 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. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a party of moose hunters. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.

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.
Review:

"Eating with gristly meat with our fingers, [Krakauer and his companions] slap at mosquitoes and talk about this peculiar person whom none of them ever met, trying to get a handle on how he came to grief, trying to understand why some people seem to despise him so intensely for having died here." -Krakauer p.180.

Well, writing a book about McCandless isn't helping much either.

I had briefly heard about McCandless before reading Into the Wild and had accidentally watched the ending of the movie a few years ago. I didn't have any passionate feelings toward his story, but I was mildly irked by his stupidity. However, when I heard I had to read a book about McCandless, saying I was disappointed would have been a major understatement. Despite the book's relatively small size, I had no interest in the topic at hand. Before I even started reading, I knew it would be a tedious read.

Before I talk about the content, I would like to discuss the structure; it was all over the place. While it would have been nice if McCandless' fate hadn't been spoiled on the cover of the book (and in the first few chapters, if the reader didn't bother to look at the cover), I understand that the author probably wrote this book with the intention of it being informational instead of an enthralling story for the reader. But Krakauer would skip from the time McCandless was in Alaska, to after his death, to the beginning of the journey, etc. He even threw in some stories in the middle about other people who's situations (and downfalls) were considered to be similar to McCandless'.

And don't even get me started on the story Krakauer told about himself. I know the point of the story was to show why McCandless went out on this crazy adventure (and to show how McCandless wasn't suicidal), but c'mon; it's hard enough to hear about one guy's stupidity. If you want to tell people about your adventure, then write a different book so I don't have to hear about it.

"But the meaning he wrested from existence lay beyond the comfortable path: McCandless distrusted the value of things that came easily. He demanded much of himself - more, in the end, than he could deliver." p.184

Learning about McCandless' story only degraded my view of him; he made up these stupid rules such as how he wouldn't look at a map so that "in his own mind, if nowhere else, the terra would thereby remain incognita" (174). Since he chose to disregard crucial skills/tools to help himself survive, it's his own fault that he ended up dead and doesn't deserve the amount of recognition that he does today. A book AND a movie for this guy? It doesn't make any sense.

Another aspect I found irritating were the statements made by the people who McCandless interacted with on his journey. For example:

 "'[Alex] did a lot of socializing. Sometimes I think it was like he was storing up company for the times when nobody would be around.'" p.44-45

 I don't really care about what these people think now when they're reflecting on McCandless' actions. They're only saying that because they know he spent so much time by himself in Alaska. If they didn't know and just assumed he continued to travel around America, people like Burres would have said he was just social. While the actual statement (and the many like it that were found throughout the book) are not the author's fault, he should have taken the opinionated bits out.

I absolutely do NOT recommend this book.