Ksu Radzhabova Radzhabova itibaren GUM, Moskovskaya oblast', Rusya, 143160
A fine read. I just had a hard time feeling like it was very dynamically written, it felt a little flat to me. But overall, it was a nice read.
Preachy but nice. A good book for the soul.
I give the author a lot of credit for changing my mind about the kind of person Chris McCandless was and what he was trying to accomplish. I never saw the movie version of the book, but I was well aware of the story about a young man who went into Alaska with few supplies and ended up starving to death. I thought it was a dumb way to die and it made me mad that people seemed so taken with someone who seemed to have died in a very easily preventable way. Like that kid in 127 hours, I thought he was young and arrogant and that he might be with us today if he had showed a modicum of common sense--and that it was stupid to make so much of him. A lot of my opinions about his situation are still true. I think he did go into Alaska with too few supplies and his death was preventable if he had taken a few tiny steps to insure that people knew where he was and would come looking for him if he didn't make contact. But apparently, that was the whole point of McCandless's trip into the wilderness. He had spent years previously living on his own terms, living life by his own code, and traveling to far-out-of-the-way places by himself because that's where he was happiest. And in that way, when he went into Alaska, he wasn't dumb. He knew exactly what could happen, he knew he might die, but the adventure and the experience was worth it to him. I think Chris/Alex died doing exactly what he wanted to do and while it's not how I would like to live my life, by his journal record and the information from people he encountered in his travels, he was a happy kid. He wanted to see if he could live off the land by his wits, and he almost succeeded. Would he be alive today if he had studied a bit more about the land he was traveling in? Probably. Maybe his luck finally ran out. But I don't think he was trying to kill himself and I don't think he was unaware of the possible consequences. I do wish he had talked to his family, though. I don't feel sad for Chris, but I feel really bad for his family. I almost took off a star because Krakauer so clearly saw himself in Chris that we took a detour from the main story into Krakauer's own past and troubled relationship with his own father. I could've done without that. But I'm feeling generous today. I wouldn't recommend this as a "How To" Guide to hiking and camping, through. And I don't think Chris and I would've been friends.