Hi Steemians!
Today I'm reviewing Into The Wild, my second ever Jon Krakauer book after Into Thin Air. I absolutely adored Into Thin Air and desperately wanted to experience that same fascination with one of his books again. The way he tells real life stories, puts them in context and manages to somehow create a compelling narrative without diluting it with too much of his own point of view is the reason I loved Into Thin Air so very much.
In his most famous book Into The Wild Krakauer tells the story of 20-something Chris McCandless, who after his college graduation took off on a trip into the Alaskan wilds on his own, only to be found dead several months later. The case was heavily discussed in the media, and McCandless was accused from many parties of having been arrogant, reckless and unprepared for such a trip.
To me, it was definitely not as engaging of a book as Into Thin Air was. I think that is mainly because of the subject matter, since due to the nature of this story and going into it fully knowing the end there is very little suspense left. I kept waiting for some big reveal to happen, but the story is essentially fairly straightforward.
This book isn't only about McCandless, Krakauer tries to compare him to other adventurers who have met a similar fate and even gives an anecdote from his own life. These things serve to put McCandless's story into perspective but also make it a bit tedious at times. I couldn't help but keep comparing it to Into Thin Air, where I felt like the comparable stories were necessary to see the full picture and were utterly fascinating in their own right. In this case, however, I felt like the situation presented itself as fairly straightforward and therefore didn't really care to see the same point made over and overe again: that going off into the wild without the proper preparation or training is foolhardy. That, however, should also just be common sense.
In conclusion I find myself quite unsure as to the point of the book itself. I know Krakauer wrote an article on the case, and I believe if you were to take away all the parts that do not exactly relate to McCandless and the extraneous information/repetitions, the length of an article would probably suffice to tell his story. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book or that it was entirely without a point; just that the additional information didn't do the same for this book as it did with Into Thin Air.
Have you read Into The Wild or seen the movie? I haven't yet watched it, but I'd love to hear what you think! Let me know!
xx
ivymuse