.png/220px-Into_the_Wild_(2007_film_poster).png)
Review: Jon Krakauer's Into the Wild begins with an intriguing postcard sent by Chris McCandless. McCandless asks that all his mail be sent back to the sender because it "might be a very long time before he returns south" (1). Leaving the readers to only wonder what he is doing or where he is going. Into the Wild is the true story of Chris McCandless, 24, Emory graduate who ventured out into the Alaskan wilderness in 1992. McCandless grows up in wealthy Virginia town and is a very gifted athlete and very smart. From an early age, he showed deep intensity, passion, and a strict moral compass. By the time McCandless is a senior at Emory, he had driven away most of his friends and barely keeps in touch with his parents. He lets his parents think that he is interested in law school, but instead, after graduating, McCandless donates his $24,000 savings to charity. Following that he gets in his car, and drives away without telling anyone where he is going. Abandoning the use of his real name. He never contacts his parents or sister again. After about two years of travel, McCandless settles on a plan to go to Alaska and truly live in the wilderness, completely alone, and with very few supplies. He does this to see if he can do it, and push himself to the very extremes.
Into the Wild is a very unique book due to the fact that it is composed of two, yet connected, plots. One of which involves directly talking about the action and the other plot being the development of the psychological aspect behind McCandless. The first plot follows McCandless as he journies into the wild, while the second plot follows the development of the author, Krakauer, and the reader’s understanding of McCandless’s character and motivations. Although simple to read and follow, neither plot is written in a chronological fashion, and the two plots often intersect each other. This usually happens through the description used in the book and the cause and effect find throughout the story.
This adds to the story because it is a unique writing style brought in by Krakauer, and along with his short but very impactful sentence style writing it makes for a very interactive and intriguing, thought-provoking story that I would recommend to any moderate reader. Younger readers might have difficulty reading this book as the two simultaneous plots can make it challenging to follow at times.
The entire premise of this story is so interesting! It seems super backward that he would drop everything to pursue nothing. My book was written by the same author. He truly knows how to craft a fascinating novel!
ReplyDeleteI would be interested in reading this book, the idea of traveling and living like he did has always intrigued me. Chris McCandles is my friends uncle, small world.
ReplyDeleteI have read bits and pieces from this book before but your review makes me want to read the entire thing. I like the way you summarized the book.
ReplyDeleteOverall, excellent book review. Although, I have already read the book in the past, your book review really caught my attention and made me want to read the book again. I also was very surprised how Chris was willing to drop everything when his life was pretty much set and go and do something of this magnitude, even if it was something he dreamed of doing for a while. If you are interested in more information or have some unanswered questions still from the book, I definitely recommend that you watch the TEDTalk with Chris's sister as well as watch the movie.
ReplyDelete