315 pages
English language
Published March 26, 2013 by Vintage Books.
A powerful, blazingly honest, inspiring memoir: the story of a 1,100 mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe--and built her back up again.
Cheryl Strayed recounts the impact of her mother's death on her life and chronicles her experiences hiking the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert and into Washington State. The text contains profanity and sexual situations.
Maybe due to some of the hype it got I expected to dislike this, and was surprised by an honest and not at all exaggerated pacific crest trail story with lots of personal, literary, and nature influences. Cheryl's hike was the year before my first PCT excursion and captures some of the unique flavors from the trail experience at that time.
Amazeballs.
Raw experience, both in her prior life and as a first-time backpacker on the PCT. Well-told and uplifting through pain, and makes you want to hike.
I tend not to read nonficiton too often, yet I really enjoyed this book. The main reason was the parallels between her narrative and Joseph Campbell's monomyth, or the hero's journey. You can argue whether or not she is a real hero and what she got in the end, but the fact remains that her story draws elements from the monomyth which, in my opinion, makes it more appealing to a broader audience.
The story is one of acceptance: her life hasn't been that great and she's made some bad decisions along the way, but her arduous trip gives her a new perspective and allows her to accept herself for who she is and learn to be happy. She may not explicitly state what new insight she gained or exactly when or how she changed, but by the end you realize: she doesn't have to.
For my full review, see: …
I tend not to read nonficiton too often, yet I really enjoyed this book. The main reason was the parallels between her narrative and Joseph Campbell's monomyth, or the hero's journey. You can argue whether or not she is a real hero and what she got in the end, but the fact remains that her story draws elements from the monomyth which, in my opinion, makes it more appealing to a broader audience.
The story is one of acceptance: her life hasn't been that great and she's made some bad decisions along the way, but her arduous trip gives her a new perspective and allows her to accept herself for who she is and learn to be happy. She may not explicitly state what new insight she gained or exactly when or how she changed, but by the end you realize: she doesn't have to.
For my full review, see: strakul.blogspot.com/2014/02/book-review-wild-by-cheryl-strayed.html
