9 member(s) found this review helpful.
As usual, a thoroughly enjoyable and thoughful non-fiction book by Jon Krakauer. I read anything by this author. I have never been disappointed yet. In this book, Krakauer covers the sad, true tale of a young adventurer who pushed himself until he died. Krakauer wrote the original article about Chris McCandless in Outside Magazine before he went on to write this book. He does a good job of piecing together the last 2 years of Chris' life by throrough research, speaking with his family and anyone who was in contact with Chris, and actually going to the places covered by Chris in his travels. Krakauer also devotes a couple of chapters to his own wonderlust as a young man in attempting to climb a mountain. I found this to be very interesting as well, having already read Into Thin Air, about Krakauer's climbing of Mt. Everest during a tragedy filled season which killed 7 climbers.
7 member(s) found this review helpful.
Really touching and sad story of a upper middle class young man who in 1992 went into the wilderness of Alaska with a desire to live off the land. And he did, however at the end of summer, his body was found in an abandoned bus where he apparently died of starvation. The author, Jon Krakauer bases the story on his own experiences and Chris McCandless's journal found in the bus. The story reminds me of times in my own adolesence when I had a romantic view of living in the wild, living off the land, the thoughts that I could accomplish anything. Good read. It is now a movie also, which I have yet to see.
7 member(s) found this review helpful.
But after 88 pages, i put it down, and put it up for swap. My husband liked the book a lot, I had a hard time getting into the story, it just seemed to me that this McCandless guy lost his marbles and his sense of perspective. Krakauer tries to make him seem like a hero, or a revolutionary, however i did not get any of that from the guy, just that he somehow lost his way, and turned on civilization. so many people loved this book,it was a bestseller and they made a movie about it, I am in the minority, this is just my opinion.
7 member(s) found this review helpful.
Christopher McCandless goes into the wild but does not come back alive.
Such extreme personalities always seem to intrigue the adventure seeking mountain climber Krakauer, so true-to-form he investigates and reconstructs McCandless back story to delve into the hanging questions. What compels McCandless, a young man with apparently everything going for him, to discard anything he can't carry on his back and to head off into the wilds of Alaska? And what might he have learned?
Jon Krakauer knows how to write a compelling investigative story. Short read, engaging, but not a classic or Krakauer's best. Sean Penn directs an even better movie based on his own adaptation of story.
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
I didn't care for this book. I don't know why this guy was glorified so much. I think he needed some psychiatric care. I do feel bad for his family though.
As for the writing............not my cup of tea.

James M. (
jmitch) wrote on 4/30/2007...
5 member(s) found this review helpful.
A little slow in the middle but an interesting look at the innerworkings of a man's mind and heart as he goes to / runs from something bigger than himself. The author's life and similar circumstances perhaps shed some light on a true mystery: why did Chris McCandless die in Alaska?

L M. (
leeser) wrote on 9/11/2007...
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
I was working at Emory University when Chris disappeared. I remember being disturbed by this story. I'll always wonder what really happened to him....what he was running from. I enjoyed reading Krakauer's other books too.
4 member(s) found this review helpful.
Intersting story but not very dramatic. I expected more.
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
"Into the Wild" is both a chronicle of the life of American college grad turned drifter Chris McCandless, and a reflection on people whose somewhat anti-societal views lead them to embrace exploring the outer limits of nature's dangerous boundaries. Krakauer's mountain climbing experiences, as well as accounts of various other people is a visage which shows that many of the people who have been there are forever changed and most want to return.
Krakauer chronicles the adventure of Chris McCaddless who for years has his eyes set on a goal of both personal and spiritual definition as well as outcasting himself from the very society he often hated. Although the front of the book already tells Chris's fate, the harrowing and sometimes exhilarating journey that took him there is not lost on the reader...Life is a journey not a destination, and for Chris it is the friendships he accrues as well as the things he learned within himself that make his story so memorable.
3 member(s) found this review helpful.
One man's journey... Krakauer really knows package a story. Sensational yes but not quite riveting. If you liked "Into Thin Air" you'll like this - it's a good read with a good lesson.