[Warning; does contain description of the story]

Into the wild by Jon Krakauer

I think most people have at least heard of, and probably seen, the movie based on the same story. I myself watched the movie some 8-10 years ago with my friend Emma. I recently chatted with a California based friend, Ivy, who said she watches the movie every few years and that it has strongly impacted her life.

I remember the movie moved me a lot. And I’ve been curious about the book, thinking that one day I’ll read it.

And now I’ve finished it. And wow. The book honestly is heavier than the movie. Which I suppose is natural, a book can go so much deeper into things than a movie can.

Short story line of you’ve missed both the book, the movie and the true story; Chris McCandless is a young idealist who decides to cut his ties with his family and live a nomadic life in America, traveling through states first in his car, but later by hitchhiking and train hopping. He work when needed, and explores the nature a lot. Then he decides to go to Alaska on an epic adventure, to live off the land for the summer/a couple of months. However he gets ill, dies and his remains are found about 2 weeks later.

What I hadn’t expected was the many other fates of other adventures, including stories from the authors own life, would be described. Though it definitely adds to the whole story, trying to understand Chris better, it added weight. It became quite heavy, and I would have to put down the book a lot in between, because it was just a lot for me and a feeling of unfairness that it ended the way it ended.

It includes a lot of extracts from books that majority were found with Chris, some underlined by him and notes added in the margin. It also explores possible reasons to why he got ill and died. The reasoning is different than the movie, which I was surprised about, but the logic of the author makes sense. So even though you’ve seen the movie, reading the book gives a lot of new insights and perspectives.

I give it 📖📖📖📖 books out of 5. It’s an interesting book of a horrible fate, and even though it is very captivating, it also get a bit too much for me at times. I totally recommend it!

I feel that I’m a bit rusty on writing book reviews, but I wanted to share as it’s one of the things I’ve been up to during the past weeks.