Wild

Title of the Book: Wild Author: Cheryl Strayed Number of Pages: 330 Rating: ☆☆☆☆

Imagine being a broken person with no place to go. Every action you take is self destructive and harmful. You want to become a better person but you’re not quite sure how.  You’re first thought would probably be to join a yoga class or start going to church. But for Cheryl Strayed is was to hike the West coast on an over three month long journey. In the book WIld written by the narrator and main character, Strayed, takes you on her journey through California and Oregon. When she starts her trek on the Pacific Crest Trail she’s a broken person. With her mother dead, her divorce finalized, and her heroin habit becoming more intense she decided to leave home and head west. Throughout the story she shares with the reader her past including the decision and preparation to start the PCT. But she also shares her emotional trauma and the events that lead up to her being the “girl with a hole in her heart.”

This book is written in a unique style, setting it apart from other books in its genre. Strayed writes in a way that reveals two stories, the girl she used to be and the woman she’s becoming on her journey. She’ll describe in great detail what’s going on as she’s hiking; the people she meets, the sunsets she sees, and even the fear she feels. But Strayed is able to bridge the past and future with the experiences, for example seeing a fox on the trail spirals her into sharing details about her Mother. However the author could have enhanced this book by describing her experiences in a poetic tone. The book lacked a lyrical spirit and seemed to focus on factual experience.

I would recommend this book to people with a traveling soul. Wild was more than a physical trip on foot, it embraced the deep spiritual essence of a journey. This book is good for people who want to do theirs own personal growth but don’t know where to start. As Cheryl Strayed continuously struggles and over comes, she’s teaching the reader to do the same thing... to become strong, fearless, and most importantly whole.