Into the Wild Review

   

Title of the Book: Into the Wild
Author: Jon Krakauer
# of Pages: 200
Star Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Review:

Adventure, determination, and solitude are at the heart of the book, Into the Wild. Jon Krakauer, author of this non-fiction novel dives into the life of Chris McCandless, a young man striving to find himself among the harsh Alaskan wilderness. He is a college graduate who believes he has more to offer the world than just a typical college education and standard job. The summer after college he sets out on his first odyssey and several years later he finds himself on The Last Frontier. Throughout his journey he meets new people, convinces some to live out a non materialistic life, and ultimately lives out his life on the road. This book is the journey of Chris McCandless and the discovery of the mysterious life behind a man who leaves everything behind in search of solitude.

The author of the book uses perspective to guide his writing. Whether Chris McCandless was crazy for never having a home or a true hero for surviving in the harsh lands of Alaska, Krakauer addresses both sides. The tone always remains serious, and there is more description in this book than I have ever read before. The description is very useful, because it is the story of how a man lived his life traveling around the country, but sometimes it was hard to follow the descriptive word choice of the author. Overall, the journey of Chris McCandless was fascinating and the author did a wonderful job at connecting with all types of readers. It is incredible how the author captures the experience and journey of McCandless, even when it is hard to understand how anyone could live like that for so long!

Toward the end of the book, there is a couple chapters that are not as exciting as the rest of the book, but overall the book is pretty exciting. These couple of  chapters discuss the author rather than Chris and may seem somewhat repetitive but in the end all the chapters connect together. I was only able to connect  to a couple chapters because I have experienced those same thoughts and feelings, but many times in the book I could not connect to it. There were times where I could not connect because I do not do a lot of climbing or traveling around like that.

Despite this though, many people will enjoy this book. Especially if someone is into mystery or exploration, this book is definitely for them. If someone is not into this, it may be hard to connect to and therefore may be hard to read. Overall I really did enjoy this book, and even when it was boring, it was fascinating because a real person went through all of these events. I would recommend this, because at the end it will leave you wanting to travel and explore uncharted territory, and who doesn't like that?