Customer Reviews
Gives Depth to the Film - By: B. W. Jenner, 18 Jul 2008 
I was inspired to buy this book after seeing Sean Penn's amazing film. At the beginning I thought it was just going to underline how faithful Penn's film is to the book, but Krakauer does give a lot more background to the McCandless saga, which is reallly fascinating.
I reallly enjoyed the quotations at the beginning of each chapter, some of which have introduced me to new authors like Anthony Storr. Krakauer also weaves in accounts of other idealistic young adventurers, which gives a useful perspective. He has also his own dramatic story to tell, which he does in a very understated way.
The subject matter is extremely absorbing & Krakauer writes beautifully & tells the story at beguiling pace. He quotes the story of Everett Ruess by means of comparison, & he quotes how Everett Ruess's father mused after his son disappeared in the desert, "The older person does not realize the soul-flights of the adolescent. I think we alll poorly understood Everett."
The amazing bravery & foolishness of McCandless that reminds us of our own adolescent soul-flights, & how, beneath our exteriors, we have so much yearning & anguish.
Amazing story, Brilliant character - By: Mr. Andrew T. Spink, 10 Jul 2008 Chris McCandless had courage, imagination, passion, desire, humility, intelligence, intellect, creativity, spirit, buckets & buckets full of spirit, standards, principles, morals, strength, stamina, ability to cope in adversity, individuality, conviction & many, many other attributes that could go on forever. He also had weaknesses & he sometimes made judgements that were wrong. He was incredibly human in that respect. His story is one of the greatest stories I have read & it has inspired me & filled me with enthusiasm for the wonder of life. Whatever his mistakes were that lead to his death well I for one could never criticise him for any of them. He accepted his mistakes like a man & got on with them, even the mistake that lead ultimately to his death. He didn't blame anyone else & he never complained. He died following his adventurous spirit & he willingly took himself on a journey that had masses & masses of risk. He knew that & went on regardless of the risk, not in a wanton disrespectful way as some of his critics may have you believe, but in a testing himself & a desire to achieve self-reliance & discover himself. That takes courage of the sort very, very few people on this planet possess.
The book is a brilliant read & the stroy of Chris McCandless' life is told & analysed with a great deal of perspective through careful investigative journalism & the descrptions of other similar characters & fates over the last couple of hundred years. It isn't alll romanticism, it is placed in the context of reality. But even in that context, Chris McCandless spirit rises powerfully above it alll.
I expect his parents & sister are bursting with pride at what their son has achieved but filled with pain at his continued loss. I would so wish to tell them how sorry I am he died & how much of a great impression their son has made on me.
There is beauty everywhere - By: R. Gilbert-Cornish, 08 Jul 2008 This book was very absorbing, & even though I have finished reading it about a week ago, I find myself still thinking about Chris McCandless & his struggle. The book accesses quotes from Chris's personal book collection that he was inspired by, which gives great insight to the things he was working on/towards. For some reason people take this story so personallly (I say get over yourselves) & are quick to judge this poor man & his 'great Alaskan adventure', however I think the important part of this book is not the lack of preparation but his self discovery. He has an epiphany & realises happiness is truly experienced when it is shared, which is a big deal for someone who didn't have a closeness with anyone except for his sister. It's unfortunate that he had to die with such struggle, however, I think he found beauty within that & was able to accept his situation with grace. I couldn't imagine what it would be like for Chris's mother, to think your child died alone in such a tragic way must be absolutely heart wrenching. I think this was a great story, very well written, & there are so many levels in which people can find meaning relevant to them. If anything, perhaps we should alll take something from Chris McCandless's values, & stretch outside our security blankets to learn more about ourselves & the world we live in. Not necessarily in Alaska.
Gripping, suble,and well told story - By: J. H. Bretts, 01 Jul 2008 I came to this book via Sean Penn's film, & am pleased to say it is much better. Where the film is sentimental, the book is realistic; where the film offers simplistic psychology, the book paints a rounded & suble picture, & provides a historical context. In fact, this is brilliantly told story of a young man obsessed by the wilds & a desire to simplify his life. Needless to say it alll goes wrong, but Krakauer sympathetic portrait never descends into easy moralising.
there are more things in this world... - By: Carlos Vazquez Quintana, 19 Jun 2008 After reading this book, I think we aren't dealing with an exploration nor an adventure story, at less speaking in the sense that commonly we give to these themes.
I have known a very little people as Christopher McCandless. Perhaps they are 1 between 1 million people on Earth, but they exists.
Although it's difficult to classify this persons, because his very deep essence is precisely they are unique & unclassifiable. McCandless was obsessed by the works of Jack London, but although he said he wanted to explore the far North of Alaska, he wasn't an explorer. People who knew him said he wasn't equipped & ignored alll about surviving in these icy wild forests. Also, he seems to give a deep strange impression with nothing to do with wealth, richness, extraordinary force or so on. But he had "something". Here, we must not to be ingenuous, as after the happening of a tragedy, common, people has the trend to say these things they reallly didn't feel before by far.
All we can say is he seems to have been a mystic person not belonging to this world. He died young & perhaps he was in search of his place, out of Earth.
McCandless worked well when he needed money in his wandering life, but there are some points once more difference him from more common people, & was some manias about not observe an adequate hygiene & dressing. This perhaps indicates he had a touch of schizoid personality (24 years is an age for that).
But perhaps not, as another times he was sociable & polite. I don't think he was a hippy in the usual sense.
Christopher McCandless was an incognita, but he was a good person. Perhaps Jesus, Buddha, or San Francisco de Asís were people as him, perhaps not. These people also perhaps redeems mankind & if not, reveals we know very little about human brain & his deep mechanisms & motivations.
