Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer (5/5)

 Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer published in 1996, this book is unique as it is nonfiction and some of the book comes from witnesses and other parts from Christopher McCandless’s journal. Christopher McCandless and his adventure across America is what the book is primarily about. He left his life old behind to find himself.

            A young man named Chris McCandless from a wealthy East Coast family hitchhiked across America with his body ultimately being found by Moose hunters four months into his trip. Krakauer intrigued by this story wrote an article about it and when it became successful he made the whole story into a book. (Krakauer, authors note). 

            This book was very interesting as it showed Christopher McCandless’s life through a unique point of view made by people whom he met. This book was also instructive as it shows how people need relationships to not make mistakes. The author's opinion is not clearly stated but he does allude to the fact that he grew to like Chris and was sad about his ending but happy he could touch so many people’s hearts. I do agree with this as Chris is a happy soul and I am fortunate to have heard his story. The book raises the issue of capitalism and how we can be blinded by money and assets and if we find a balance we can have a more enjoyable lifetime, and we do not need to find this happiness by ourselves in the wilderness because it can be right in front of us. This book leaves out why Chris hated capitalism and what his parents provided and we will never be able to truly know because of his death leading us to only assume why the hatred for these concepts began. This relates to the book The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by showing that running away from our problems is not the answer, and often when we do that it ends up leaving us in a place of fear and loneliness. This book has made me realize that I am the opposite of Chris and I do find great value in the idea of capitalism because I value the idea of work and reward which gives us an almost equal chance of success and that is proven by the success of society today in America.

            I recommend this book and give it 5 rotten potatoes as it shows the beauty and power of nature and reveals a lot about human nature and how we can be in search of things that can be right in front of us.