Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

I recently finished Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. It is a book about a woman who hikes a trail on the west coast in hopes of finding herself. It is an autobiography written by Cheryl herself as she hikes. I think this book is a must read. It was inspiring and uplifting, in a way that only a book about a woman who has hit rock bottom and fights her way back up can. Although there are plenty of books about women who struggle with self identity and depression, Cheryl did a good job of making this one engaging and different. I happen to like the autobiography genre because I like that the story is about real peoples struggles. I like to read about the challenges and how they overcome them, even if the challenges that most autobiographies are written about are extreme and hard to imagine, I feel that I can easily take them in context and apply them to situations that may arise in my, or someone close to me's life. Cheryl made me feel like I was her friend and companion on the hike. I laughed when she laughed and cried when she cried. Although there were points in the journey when even I was bored with the walking, I felt that those points were necessary to make the journey feel real. She did a great job of pulling me back in after these lulls and I was just as engrossed as before. I found the miscellaneous characters that flutter in and out to be quirky and entertaining. At the end of the book I thought about them and wondered where they were now and how they were doing. She only gave us a fleeting view of them, but she also had just a fleeting view of them herself. She focused more on how they affected her and what she learned from them, rather than on actually developing the characters. I liked that even though it was a book all about the discovery of who Cheryl Strayed really is, she gave us an insight into other characters that she met along the way. She was descriptive enough to set the plot for me, enabling me to envision her beautiful and treacherous hike while at the same time not being sickened by the descriptive words of beauty. I found the plot easy to follow, although considering the plot is almost entirely about a woman hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, you would think that would be pretty straightforward; however, Cheryl found a way to entwine her trials and tribulations into the book while not making it confusing and jumpy. I would recommend this book to anyone going through a hard time in their life, but even for people that are not. It is a feel good book that makes you want to go strap a backpack on and take on the PCT today! I wanted to include some of the negative reviews that I found online. I found that most of them had to do with the actual hike, or the genre as a whole. Many people had written that all she did was complain through the book. I didn’t find this book to be whiny or self-centered. I liked the way that she was forced to focus on herself the entire time. I will say that she complained, a lot, about the hike and how hard it was but I believe that she was using that as a tool to show her readers how much of a journey it was. I think she whined to show that not only was she working through some very tough emotional stuff, she was doing it while working through some very tough physical stuff as well. I am not a hiker, so I have no insight into whether she portrayed hiking, as a sport, correctly so if you are a hiker and would like to shed some light here, feel free. The last complaint that I will talk about was the one of her lifestyle before the hike. I think that many people were cruel in the way that they bashed Cheryl’s lifestyle leading up to the hike. I think that she accurately portrayed a 25 something woman who has a pretty messed up life. I will agree that her choices were poor, but I think she handled it how she thought she could and I think that people who threw stones in the reviews about her life choices, sounded like they hadn’t really dealt with heartbreak and total life failure. There are different types of people in the world, those who make lemonade when life throws them lemons and people that throw the lemons away and chug a bottle of vodka. If you liked my post, visit my website at www.balancingemma.wordpress.com

This book got better and better the farther I got into it. Strayed is definitely a very good writer. I'm still puzzled about how she made it all the way to the end of the PCT if her feet were in as bad a condition as she described them--seems like they just would not have held up under the incredible stress, especially since the foot problems started almost at the beginning of the trip. Also, the sores she got from her backpack, and the fact that she just kept on rubbing the same sores raw every day, would seem to have gotten infected or something if they were as bad as she said. Maybe that "second skin" stuff that she used was really miraculous. I noticed that some reviewers who did not like this book were critical of Strayed for her personal problems and were even quite judgmental about her indiscretions and infidelities. Actually, these were the parts of the story that made her seem so human to me. If her story of how she grew up is true, then I think she's truly a person of amazing intestinal fortitude. Reading about how much she loved her mother and how devastated she was to lose her at such a young age (Strayed was 22 and her mother was only in her forties) made me personally feel kind of envious of such a close mother-daughter relationship, which is something my mother and I never quite accomplished. It brings into stark relief the many ways in which people hurt in life, whether from losing someone they love deeply or somehow never really having a comfortable relationship with someone they love but don't know how to really connect with. I hope this story is true. I hate to be such a skeptic, but because some people lately have published such phony memoirs, it makes it a little hard for me not to be skeptical of all memoirs now. Sad that it's that way. That said, this story is all perfectly believable, when you come right down to it, and by the end I was pretty much convinced that she was on the level, and I was really moved by her catharsis. I know that people really can and do recover from life's traumas through amazing and challenging experiences in nature. Part of me would really like to give this book five stars, but I'm holding back because a little part of me suspects that some of her physical maladies on the trail were somewhat exaggerated. Oh, and let me not forget what drove me absolutely crazy in the early part of the book, and that is why in God's name someone clearly as smart and capable as she was did not have sense enough to lighten her backpack, and why it took so long before one of the folks she met on the trail had sense enough to do that for her. This part just didn't make sense. Maybe that's why I can't give this book 5 stars. I read this book because it was the selection for the month in my book club. It was a really good read, and I'm glad I read it.

WILD is a fearlessly told, wildly fantastic, and entertaining story. The author, Cheryl Strayed (not her birth name, but one she chose after a her divorce) exceeded any and all expectations I had when Wild arrived in my mailbox. This is a memoir, but reads like a novel. All human behavior, interaction, and communication, I think, is best understood via the narrative, in other words--a story. And so I am going to talk about this story as if it were fiction - in the language of the six fundamental elements of a story. Title. Perfect. To look at the spine is to see 'Cheryl Strayed WILD'. Which would induce me to pluck it off any shelf. [However, I think the cover would have been better with a snapshot of Cheryl, or a trail maker of the PCT; but I understand the choice of the boot.] Cheryl Strayed is a wild girl, as she says: "I was an experimentalist ... An artist. The kind of woman who said yes instead of no." (p. 54) That is a trail marker letting the reader know just what kind of journey you are about to get into. Plot. One of the best - Redemption of the human soul through the force of will, strength, and toughness. Briefly, Cheryl was born in 1968, white, female, attractive, intelligent, and in addition had the benefit of a college education. You could call her advantaged. But, big but, she was born into rural poverty and domestic violence and then her champion, advocate, and sole support - her mother - died suddenly of cancer when Cheryl was twenty-two. Cheryl, lost, descended into debauchery, seemingly bent on self- destruction via sex and drugs. Characterization. Not only did I quickly begin to root for Cheryl, I fell in love with her. She was/is the personification of my "perfect" woman. [I am aware, wistfully, that the person I am in love with is a fiction--a 26 year-old woman with the wisdom and wit of the same person 15 years later.] Not only was she white, young, attractive, intelligent, and funny; she was by her declaration: "--strong and responsible, clear-eyed and driven, ethical and good." (p. 57) [And] "I was a big fat idiot and I didn't know what the hell I was doing ..." (p.58) [Told you she was funny.] And it just keeps getting better, funnier; and yet in the next sentence she is as likely to bring tears to my eyes as to make me laugh out loud. Point of view. Her voice is perfect. I can hear her, see her! In all her joy and sadness and frustration, in other words, in all her humanity ... or femaleness. Cheryl blends the past with the present in the telling of her story masterfully. There is no confusion for the reader. Her wisdom and humor and reflection merge in ways that are really rare in writing. Setting. The Pacific Crest Trail, from the deserts of southern California, through the high Sierras and into the "Box of Rain" to the Bridge of the Gods on the Columbia River in Oregon, she describes it beautifully, as well as all the characters, camps, and towns along the trail. And most significantly for me--what it is like to hike alone, mile after mile after mile. [A thing I am very, very familiar with.] Theme. The power of the human spirit and the unequivocal interaction of the force of nature with that of man (woman) to combine to heal and restore a person to their true self. This is a rare book. I read a lot, and have never fallen for a writer and a voice and a story like I did for Cheryl Strayed and WILD.

I could say that Cheryl Strayed's memoir "Wild" is beautifully written, perfectly paced, vividly detailed and enlighteningly deep, but I would not be saying enough. Rarely have I read a book that is so right on so many levels as "Wild." And yet, this is true in spite of the fact that there seems to be almost nothing about her that I can relate to. In fact, Cheryl reveals things about herself that I usually would find repulsive, but instead I honor her for the strength to show us. I shouldn't like this book, but I do. In fact, I love this book, and Cheryl deserves the utmost praise for creating this work of art. When I think of what I want from a book, I realize that Wild has everything I could ever ask for. So many books disappoint on many levels, even if they entertain, provide useful information, reveal the depths of life or display beautiful sentences. I had resigned myself to accepting less and focusing on the good aspects of whatever I read. What I found most often was that something was missing. If a book had a compelling story, it would lack depth; if it had fleshed out characters, it would have a weak story; if it had beautiful writing, it had little meaning; if it were deep and meaningful, its writing was dreary and ponderous. When I chose to read Wild, I did so because it was apparently about a journey across the Pacific Crest Trail. That subject is interesting to me, and I wanted insight into what the experience might be like. I chose to read Strayed's memoir in spite of criticisms I had read saying it was too much about the author dealing with personal problems. All I hoped for was to find the book interesting and informative about the PCT, and it is that; that and much more. It is one of the most raw, poetic, insightful, meaningful and well written books I have ever read. I am in awe of Strayed's bold honesty and her profound discoveries about life. Her writing is impeccable to the end, revealing just the right details at a perfect pace that brings her experience to life in a way that is as deep and alive as her actual journey. As with her journey, her writing never takes a short cut because of weakness or laziness. She's given us everything here. I felt a connection to her experience without finding empathy for her choices. I could not relate to most of the things she did in her relationships because I often found that her choices and actions went against what I would do. But her blunt, yet lyrical, telling of her story led me to relax judgment and accept things as they were. In this way, the book became my own journey of discovery, leading me to conclusions similar to hers, and revealing something about what it means to be alive. When a book can do that for me, it is doing something very special. To those who may criticize Strayed for writing something other than what they wanted or for not doing things the way they would have, I say you are missing the heart of this book. Do not read this book for what you want it to be, but read it for what it is. If you can do that, you will discover a work of art that transcends mere story-telling, and you will know in your soul that you have experienced some part of Cheryl's journey with her and maybe discovered something about yourself, too.

When I read the synopsis of the book, my first instinct was to run far far away. I generally steer clear of any books with themes like "I need to find my purpose by doing something stupid in nature". Plus I saw her last name. Really? However a friend of mine insisted I give it a shot and so I started reading it. Just to be clear and without giving too much away, the book is a true story about a woman who hikes all by her lonesome on a trail that I kept wanting to call the Pacific COAST trail. However it's actually the Pacific CREST trail (probably much less glamorous). It didn't take long before her beautiful prose dragged me kicking and screaming into her journey and had me sweating and nervous right along with her. She's brutally honest and open about her failures, successes, grief and general sense of being lost. The two things I loved most about the book was her powerful writing and her ability to keep me interested. She balanced giving enough detail and creating the environment of a "journey' without beating you to death with every single unpleasant detail one would suffer in a summer long hike. I never felt bored or thought "oh boy, here is where she's going to talk about every step up a mountain". Don't get me wrong, I love hiking but that alone doesn't make for a great story. However Strayed was able to put together all the important details and interesting dramas to give you one awesome story that's hard to put down. Her writing was also a good balance between quality without being too dramatic or ostentatious for it's own sake. Her voice is powerful and intense and at times, bordering on poetic. Probably one of the most haunting moments in the entire book was a flashback where she had to deal with her mother's aging horse. I think most readers who enjoy a bit of adventure, some quality prose (if you're a fan of the Twilight books, go elsewhere) and a solid, autobiographical tale will like this book. I suppose it's only fair in a review to mention a few small criticisms as well. The one theme, she did at times seem to beat us over the head with, was her need for sex, closeness and affection. At times it felt like she just wanted to bare her soul a little too much (I could do without some of her lustful cravings while simultaneously commenting on how disgusting she was after having not showered for days, sweated profusely and still wearing the same clothing). Also her recurrent mother theme at times became less poignant with the constant reference to how difficult her mother's death had been. Towards the end of the book, some of her insights she had gained over her voyage started becoming repetitive and in many ways, for me the book was its best from the beginning until about half way to maybe three quarters of the way through. SPOILER ALERT: She lived. Granted anyone who bothers to note that it's a true story written by the woman who hiked the Pacific Crest trail will know this before reading it. For much of this book, I can't believe sometimes how she survived and how she managed to keep going. At many times, it was clear she got lucky and despite her prowess as a writer, she clearly suffered from a tiny bit of outdoorsy dumbness. However you have to admire her strength and perseverance. My feet were practically aching through most of the read. Overall it's a great novel, powerfully written and intensely told. I loved it!

The following interview was taken from my blog, the Singing in the Wood. I've been reading more and more books lately outside my "comfort zone," but I began reading this book by Cheryl Strayed thinking it would be a work I could really enjoy. My interest was really piqued by the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) reference. I've hiked off and on over the years (more off than on lately, but I am getting back to it), and that includes the PCT around and about Mt. Rainier in Washington State. I enjoy books on nature as well as spiritual journeys, so I imagined this book to be right up my alley; I was wrong. Initially, I was deeply taken by the book. In particular, I found its writing to have an unusually strong and unique narrative voice. (Early on in the reading, I even made an attempt or two to contact its author who lives just an hour north of us.) The love affair with the book wasn't to last long, however. Some important issues got into the way: namely the author's lifestyle and the way in which she glorified it in her writing. Lost is really more like an autobiographical snapshot than anything else, and it's the non-fiction classification which presents one of the few writing quality criticisms. Non-fiction would seem to imply a book is without fiction, but I am profoundly skeptical that Cheryl Strayed truly recorded the order and nature of her wandering mind with such meticulous care while engaged in such a difficult physical endeavor. The level of details, as well as seamless weaving of the flashbacks into the account, all read more like a work of fiction than non-fiction. It takes a great deal of effort to record experiences accurately along the trail. Even on a day hike, this can be a challenge to do well. There is little mention of her taking notes or journaling daily. There is also little reference to her efforts to photograph her surroundings--which might have helped explain the rich level of recollection and the details. While I am skeptical of the factual accuracy of her account at times, many reading this likely couldn't care less. Does embellishment in non-fiction matter? As an author, I believe it does. Yes, there is probably a certain degree of creative exposition in much of the non-fiction market. The good non-fiction author, however, usually will identify it as such--Eric Metaxas' Bonhoeffer, Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy is a case-in-point. Similar to my criticism of Tracie McMillan's recent book, my problem with Cheryl Strayed's approach to non-fiction is that it seems to be hard to pick out what's true and what is likely an embellishment. When important dimensions of the novel are placed in question, the rest of the work also is cast into a different light. Strangely, a related problem with the work is a little harder to articulate. In simple terms, "a sense of place" seems to be conveyed infrequently. This may seem contradictory because of the above comments on the level of details...but sense of place goes beyond the factual details present in a work. My problem, I think, rests on the author's narcissistic and constant inward gaze into herself. This myopic view tends to create an inconsistent sense of place for the reader. This introspective and bare honest narrative seems almost confessional at first. Perhaps as a Catholic, that's why I initially found it somewhat appealing. The problem, though, is that it's confession for the sake of confession and not for the sake of forgiveness or redemption. When confession is divorced from seeking forgiveness or embracing positive change, then it's nothing more than tell-all sensationalism. It's indeed hard to believe this misguided author enjoys reading Catholic writer Flannery O'Connor; perhaps she is a follower of the Church Without Christ. I suppose it's that tell all approach that really is troubling. Let's just say there is too much information (TMI!) here. From her menstrual and masturbation observations to shooting up heroin and lewd sexual behavior on a public beach at Brookings, Oregon during daylight hours, she details a life in serious need of repair. In fact, let's talk about that beach item a bit more, because the lack of shame in this author's account reveals a particularly deplorable character. You see the photo to the left? This photo was taken years ago as we as a family enjoyed the public beach on the south end of the town of Brookings, situated on the southern Oregon coast. Based on Cheryl Strayed's descriptions, this could be the same beach--the same rock--on which she and her companion engaged in lewd public behavior. Why is this sort of behavior praised by other book reviewers and promoters--like Oprah? Is this behavior that we find acceptable as parents and concerned citizens? In short, Lost's author details a journey that could spark redemption and change in her life's direction; perhaps it has had a positive effect in the end. As a reader, though, all that she seems interested in is sensationalizing her escapades in the guise of a confession--but without a meaningful expression of guilt or desire to change at her core. It's an account that ultimately seems devoid of true depth of character, and it mistakes physical strength for inner strength. It embraces the culture of me at the expense of real truth and spiritual answers. Moral relativism may be popular with the culture at large--and apparently to the Oprah crowd--but serious readers recognize that it is a lie. Abortion, drug abuse, sexual immorality, and anger at the past people in her life are an abyss that this traveler doesn't seem to confront so much as try to wish away. It makes the reader hope for the best for her...but be all to grateful to let the book itself become lost.

Sometimes I happen across a book that leaves a profound impression on me and this was one of them. I have hiked sections of the PCT as well as nearly all of the Colorado trail, a lot of it solo in a two month long quest. My quest was very different but there were amazing parallels. Wild was an inspirational and emotional read for me. This book has inspired me to expand my own trekking journal-not as a copy cat but as a pure inspiration to tell my own story of my exit and reentry into society which is profoundly different than hers. I was a much more experienced outdoors person then Cheryl Strayed when I did my trek but I was impressed by her ability to adapt and learn the skills of a long distance hiker through the school of hard knocks. When you are soloing in the wilderness a minor mishap can spiral into a life and death situation. The book does a good job illustrating this fact of life for solo wilderness adventures. I think at times she was on the brink and if she would've suffered an accident or worse than this quest could be viewed as a suicidal undertaking-much like Christopher McCandless' fate in John Krakauer's Into the Wild. I have wondered this about myself and the deeper motivations for my own solo wilderness undertaking. In reading about her experiences on the PCT, I remembered the exhaustion camps, navigating through waste deep snow, walking the dry sections in thirst, yelling at wild animals, and living off dehydrated food that was mailed to me on different legs of the trip. These were definite parallels that hit home. A hot meal, a shower, and a beer become luxuries when you leave the ordinary life we live where we take such things for granted. She called her pack the monster, I called mine the pig. I too experienced some trail magic as well as some moments of existential terror. Getting a woman's perspective on solo trekking was very interesting and enlightening for me. I didn't see a woman on my own trek unless I went to a mountain town or was on a popular day hike section of the CT. The challenges of soloing are indeed magnified by being a female alone and vulnerable. Being able to persevere and not bail out at the earliest convenience is also one of the books main themes. When you undertake a quest like this you are often riddled with self doubt and the whole why did I do this when I could be home in front of the tube with plumbing and central heating? I found the tone of this book to be extremely sad and I feel that her experience was about dealing with loss and rebuilding one's life in the face of hopelessness and despair. When one leaves the ordinary life for an adventure like this it is often a quest. I believe her quest was a transformation even though to some it might have seemed half-baked and possibly suicidal. I lived in Portland from 1992 to 1995 and am from the same generation. I wonder if Cheryl and I ever crossed paths in Portland? I would like to think so because solo trekkers are kindred spirits. When I finished this book I was almost moved to tears and deeply thankful to the author for sharing this experience with such a straight forward writing style that hid nothing and reveled the inner workings of the mind of a lost soul. I only heard about this book when I saw the movie trailer and was compelled to read it before seeing the movie which I believe Reese Witherspoon might be miscast. Every once and awhile you come across a book where you would like to thank the writer for writing it because it touches your life-this book is one of them.

Any creative endeavor is going to have some fault to someone, somewhere. A lot of the reviews I read, prior to getting the book, critiqued everything from Cheryl as a person to her writing style (i.e. it's at times too "heavy" or she sometimes uses the passive voice). In my opinion, it's a really good read. I found myself feeling and seeing the PCT, something that I had never even heard of before and yet now am deeply interested in. Her writing style is at times heavy, but I find that entirely appropriate considering her emotional state and experience. I think she's a good writer, and I can see her love for literature and poetry in the way she describes things. Bottom line, the book is either going to do something for you or it isn't, and that is entirely dependent upon who you are and when in your life you read this. And that's okay. Perhaps 5 years ago, I would've been bored to tears or judgmental of Cheryl's affairs and heroine "phase" (as she calls it); but right now, I find myself transported to 1995, going along on the PCT journey with her. I felt inspired by her mantra, "I'm not afraid," that she repeated to herself when she was alone in the wilderness and couldn't sleep because of every sound. I felt inspired by her humility and her honesty. She at times berates herself for being foolish to enter the wilderness even though she lived in a house with no running water, but regardless is determined to make a success out of it by learning from other, more experienced hikers and willing herself to keep going. I don't need Cheryl Strayed to be perfect because I'm not reading this book as if she is some god guiding me on how to live. Human to human, I liked reading her journey. I liked seeing her grow, change, and describe the PCT in all of its beauty and terror--from HER perspective. One of the things that stood out to me was Cheryl's remark on how, before she hiked the PCT, she fantasized about bathing in lakes and sitting on cliff edges and meditating and feeling healed. Instead, for the first couple of weeks she had no energy or time for that. Her physical pain was all she could really think of. The here and the now. She had to get through that, learn how to deal with it, before she could heal. I loved that. I loved how her expectations were crushed, but what she got was so much better. And ultimately, I thank the writer for having the courage and strength to share her story with the world. To be seen. This book is not appropriate as a PCT hiking guide. If you're looking for that, there are plenty of other options out there.

A moving story about love and loss. Must read. Would suggest getting the kindle edition, The print on the physical bookis a bit too small, can be hard to read.

Essere trasportati nel cuore di una persona e nel cuore selvaggio della natura e' il dono enorme che mi ha fatto questo libro, questa scrittrice piena di talento e con una grande anima . È questo il valore di un libro, ispirare, scavare dentro se stessi, stupire e dare spazio a ciò che ci fa crescere. Queste poche parole forse non sono abbastanza per recensire questo libro immenso.

'' Eu sabia que, se permitisse que o medo me ultrapassasse, minha jornada estava condenada. Eu decidi que estava segura. Eu era forte, eu era corajosa. Nada poderia me vencer. Insistir nessa história era uma forma de controle dos medos, que na maior parte do tempo funcionava. '' O interessante de ler histórias em fatos reais é ver o quão você também pode se permitir em iniciar algo do qual nunca imaginou. Esse livro me fez ver o quanto essa mulher foi corajosa em caminhar pelo PCT sozinha e ter certeza em sua escolha mesmo no decorrer da caminhada muitos não apoiarem, e para ela tudo era como uma reflexão interna caminhando longas distâncias e refletindo sobre grandes questões que aconteceram em sua vida, isso me fez refletir o quão (estar só) nos traz clareza de pensamento, perceber o quão sua própria companhia é por assim dizer: A melhor da qual você pode ter, tem uma parte do livro que ela diz: '' Sozinho sempre me senti como um lugar real para mim, como se não fosse um estado de ser, mas sim uma sala onde eu poderia me retirar para ser quem eu realmente sou'' . Há coragem que ela teve de passar noites em florestas podendo cruzar seu caminho com cobras, leões ou até mesmo um assassino em série, dormindo em lugares que poderiam não ser tão seguros, tudo isso para se dar a oportunidade de se redescobrir em uma nova perspectiva da vida. Há, que livro! Que livro! Pretendo rele-lo em breve, ou até mesmo ver o filme, mas como muito dizem: O filme não fala muito sobre o quanto ela sofreu com a morte da mãe e alguns crises familiares e internas. Então indico realmente a ler essa história incrível.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - it was an honest, very real story about somebody going through a pretty rough patch in their life and departing on a journey to 'find themselves', pretty much unprepared and spontaneous. I was a little concerned it would be like one of those 'Eat, Pray, Love' books that are slightly too sugary and always have a happy ending to make everyone feel good. This one was very different - it was just raw and real, not your typical 'chick-lit' (which I loathe). The first few pages almost had me in tears as it reminded me of losing my father and the emotions you go through, regrets you have and the helplessness you experience. I was literally hooked from there. The book doesn't have a happy ending - it leaves Cheryl at the end of her trek along the PCT. We don't know what happens to her after that but you feel like she's come a long way from the person she started off as and you're confident she'll find her feet back in real life. It was uplifting without any obvious life-changing moments - a great read that I can whole-heartedly recommend.

Mucho mejor que la película. Una opinion muy honesta de los errores que se cometen cuando uno esta pasando por el luto de la persona mas importante en su vida. Es desgarrador e inspirador.