 Popsugar Reading Challenge category: A book about a 24-year-old.
Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer. This is a nonfiction book about Chris McCandless, who went by "Alex Supertramp." He was a well-educated, well-off, personable young man who decided he wanted to "live off the land." He gave his savings of $25,000 to charity, and spent 2 years hitchhiking around the country, sometimes camping, sometimes doing farm work. He seems to have made a lot of friends along the way. Inspired by Jack London and Henry David Thoreau, his dream was to travel solo through Alaska. (Thoreau tends not to mention that he had his mother doing his cooking and laundry.) He wasn't well-prepared with either equipment or knowledge, and though he survived several weeks by foraging, he eventually became ill and starved to death. Krakauer clearly feels some kinship, both in his troubled relationship with his father, and his seeking out risks. Krakauer's passion is mountain climbing, and he describes hi sown solo climb in Alaska that could easily have turned tragic. He tells the stories of other wilderness adventurers as well. While some of the press coverage about "Alex Supertramp" speculated that he had a death wish, Krakauer doesn't share that view. Instead he sees the naive arrogance of youth, imagining that mortality only applies to other people.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |