Into the Wild: The true story of a fatal journey into the harsh Alaskan wilderness

TWO YEARS HE WALKS THE EARTH, NO PHONE, NO POOL, NO PETS, NO CIGARETTES, ULTIMATE FREEDOM, AN EXTREMIST, AN AESTHETIC VOYAGER WHOSE HOME IS THE ROAD. ESCAPED FROM ATLANTA, THOU SHALT NOT RETURN, `CAUSE "THE WEST IS THE BEST". AND NOW AFTER TWO RAMBLING YEARS COMES THE FINAL AND GREAtEST ADVENTRURE, THE CLIMACTIC BATTLE TO KILL THE FALSE BEING WITHIN AND VICTORIOUSLY CONVLUDE THE SPRITITUAL PILGRIMAGE. TEN DAYS AND NIGHTS OF FREIGHT TRAINS AND HITCHHIKING BRING HIM TO THE BREAT WHITE NORTH. NO LONGER TO BE POISIONED BY CIVILIZATION HE FLEES, AND WALKS ALONE UPON THE LAND TO BECOME LOST IN THE WILD. ALEXANDER SUPERTRAMP MAY 1992 ..... inscription of Chris McCandless "Alexander Supertramp" inspired by the spirit of Roger Miller song tells you everything about Chris's quest and the book "Into the Wild". "In to the wild" takes you through an exceptional, highly moving, haunting and heartbreaking but inspiring story of man's journey in to the unforgiving wilderness to explore oneself. It is story about a young man's, Christopher Johnson McCandless "Alexander Supertramp", odyssey in to the wilderness of Alaska. He was intelligent, personable and talented, yet not happy. His search of happiness and freedom did cost him his life in the end but will inspire you. This book provides very well researched account of his hitchhiking from one extreme to other; people he met; friend he made; pain his family went through; his quest and his point of view. Book provides you fact from Chris that will keep you force you to think whether Chris was crazy or just unlucky. Jon Krakauer has gathered facts from Chris's inscriptions, journals, books (he read), notes, letters and interview with family, friends and people he met during these two years. Jon did a great job in reconstructing his journey..wow... Good: Very well researched and very well written, fast paced and keeps you engaged. Not so good: didn't like section about Jon's expedition to Devil's thumb as it wasn't necessary. Did watch the movie "In to the wild" directed by Sean Penn, based on this book as well... combo was great experience. -- ashutosh jhureley

I listened to the audio version of this book and Philip Franklin does a great job with the narration. I haven’t read Jon Krakauer before and I enjoyed the author’s writing style and the gradual unfolding of Chris McCandless’ story. I’d never heard of Chris McCandless before this and I found the story fascinating, tragic and scarcely credible in parts. If this had been fiction I can imagine the reader or listener berating the ‘hero’ for his lack of foresight and preparation before embarking on such a dangerous and uncertain journey. Jon Krakauer explores Chris’ McCandless’s life, and death, through his family, Chris’ own notes, photographs and letters, plus the people he met on his travels, most of whom felt a compelling pull towards the young man and came to love him. Basically, I’m not sure what to think. Here’s a highly academically intelligent young man who had a privileged upbringing, protesting strongly against world hunger and the wastage of food. He was angry at his father who lead a double life for several years, which is understandable. Perhaps it was a combination of these things, coupled with the books he was fond of reading by authors such as Jack London, Tolstoy and Thoreau to name just a few, which fired his imagination and passions for the idea of travel and survival in remote and unforgiving areas, ultimately the wilderness. He believed a person should own nothing apart from whatever they could carry. No longer would he answer to Chris McCandless; he was now Alexander Supertramp, master of his own destiny. The story begins on April 27th, 1992 as Chris, or Alex as he now calls himself, is hitching from Fairbanks, Alaska and is offered a lift by Jim Gallien. He wants a ride to the edge of Denali National Park so he can just walk into the bush and live off the land for a few months. Chris’ death was a tragedy which could have been avoided if he’d prepared for his stay in the wilds of Alaska with practicality and learned enough about endurance in such a harsh environment. That he chose not to, shows a lack of common sense, an underestimation of the wilderness and what it takes to survive. Chris’ idealism and intensity caused a tremendous amount of hurt and suffering. It seems he had no thought of how his lack of communication would affect his parents, Walt and Billie, and Carine, the sister he supposedly loved. I can only imagine how distraught his family must have been during the whole time Chris was missing from their lives. Then, to learn he died in such dreadful circumstances had to have been beyond devastating. During the course of the narrative Jon Krakauer does an impressive job of delving into the mindset of adventurers drawn to the ‘call of the wild’, including himself. It’s apparent, and understandable, that he feels a fascination for, and identifies with, Chris McCandless, given the parallels between their lives. He doesn’t claim to be an impartial biographer, quite the opposite. I don’t, however, agree with the view that Chris’ mistakes were innocent ones. He deliberately went into the Alaskan wilderness rashly, unprepared and without the basic necessities or any kind of reserve or support should he find himself in an emergency situation, despite all advice to the contrary. In the end, Chris lived his life the way he wanted to, mostly isolated from people and minus the pointless, as he saw it, trappings of a materialistic society, and paid the ultimate price. It’s still a very sad end to such a short life. I found the recounting of the last few weeks of his life, via the journals he kept, very poignant. Especially since it seems Chris was ready to return to civilisation and, had he possessed the relevant map and knowledge, would more than likely have made it. Jon Krakauer’s theory on the cause of Chris’ death seems the most reasonable explanation and makes a lot of sense. I’ll be checking out more of this author’s work.

Ya había visto la película y me encantó, así como su BSO, que es fantástica. El libro me ha gustado mucho, cuenta más sobre la personalidad de Chris y sobre sus vivencias, además de otras historias que el escritor nos cuenta y que aporta mucho a nivel personal. Es un libro que emociona y me ha hecho llorar en varios pasajes, no sé si por temas personales o es algo que a los que les ha gustado el libro les ha pasado, pero es así, sobre todo al final, cuando sus padres van a visitar el sitio donde su hijo murió. Me gustaría ir allí algún día. Puedo entender la personalidad de Chris, se parece a una persona importante para mí que murió e igual por eso me emociona tanto. También me han gustado mucho las diversas citas de diversos autores, sobre todo de Pasternak de Dr. Zhivago. Volveré a ver la película de nuevo, que por cierto, refleja muy bien el libro.

この本を読んでいなくても アラスカの荒野のバスの中で餓死した若者の話を誰しも一度は聞いた事があるんじゃないだろうか。 多くの人の反応は『だからどうした？』『自殺でしょ？』と言ったもので なぜ彼がそこに至ったかについて深く探ろうとは思わない。 にも関わらず、彼の死は今だに多くの人々を惹きつけ 毎年バスへの巡礼者は後を絶たない。 その彼、Chris McCandlessの人生の旅の過程を追い 同じように荒野に消えた若者たちや 著者であるKrakauer本人の体験を交えて分析したノンフィクションである。 内容を読んで感じるのは、McCandlessの異常なまでの純粋さ。 人間社会の曖昧さや人間の弱さ、狡さを決して受け入れず 理想としての平等性、公平性が現実世界に実現しない事に激しく憤り やがて過度の純粋性を求めるあまり荒野での一人暮らしを目指す。 友人や恩人の忠告を受け入れ、あるいは省みる事なく 自分の信じた道を突き進み、やがて自らを苦境に追い込んでいく。 彼は旅の過程で様々な人間に出会い、驚くほど多くの人に影響を与える。 彼と交わった人の多くは彼の頭の良さ、純粋さ、勤勉さに感銘を受け、彼への支援を惜しまない。 彼には人々にそうさせる魅力、カリスマ性が備わっていたのだろう。 だが、そのような暖かさや人情に触れたにも関わらず、 結局彼は人間社会を許す事ができず、誰も彼が荒野に行くのを止める事は出来なかった。 彼が心に一体どのような闇を抱えていたのか その点については本書を読んでも完全には明らかにならない。 そして現在、いまだに多くの若者が彼の生き方に共感し 全米各地からはるばるアラスカの荒野にまで足を運び 彼がいた場所や空気、見たであろう風景を共有したいと願う。 それはまるで現代に現れ、彼らのために殉死した新たな救世主を慕う信者のようだ。 彼は死ぬ直前に『Happiness only real when shared』というメッセージを残している。 著者が言うように、これは彼が放浪の末ようやく人間社会や文明を許し そこに戻る決心を示したものかも知れない。 そうだとすれば、運命はなんと非情というか、それとも皮肉というべきか 漸く純粋な魂が救われたその直後に彼の命を奪い去ってしまった事になる。 これは純粋な魂の鎮魂歌と言えるノンフィクションである。

Acquistato in inglese perché preferisco leggere i libri nella loro lingua originale se la conosco. Bellissima lettura, riletto più volte.

Spannend en avontuurlijk, ook dramatisch.

Absolument à lire en VO, ce livre vous fera découvrir à la fois un écrivain dont le style est énergétique et captivante et une biographie surprenant. Indispensable pour creuser l'histoire narrée par le film de Sean Penn ( Into the Wild ). Pour accéder aux ressources mobilisées par Krakauer dans l'écriture de "Into the wild" je vous conseil de voir aussi le livre d'images "Back to the wild" (à commander sur Amazon.com). Par contre j'ai été très déçu par The Beautiful Story of Christopher McCandless and the Unauthorized Look at the Motion Picture Into the Wild que n'a rien avoir ni avec le livre de Krakauer ni avec le film... s'agit simplement d'une compilation d'articles de Wikipedia.... Bref, "Into the wild" de Krakauer vous introduira dans une communauté de lecteurs que se laisse interrogé par une vie hors cadre comme celle de Chris McCandless.