Book Review: Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer

Into the wild is based on Christopher Johnson McCandless’s real story. After completing his university degree he decided to live in the wild. He gave $25,000 of his savings to a charity. In April 1992 he hitchhiked to Alaska and moved north of Mt. Kinley. During this journey he had to abandon his car, burn his wallet cash and experience a new way of living. He chose this life.

Many writers/commentators believe McCandless to be mentally unstable whereas others consider his strange behavior to be nonconformist in many ways. As the maverick grew up he came to know about his father’s earlier marriage which disturbed him to a great degree. Moving on to hostel life he became more detached from home. He did not write letters that often. He seemed disenchanted. But he always remained close to his sister and cared for her.

Moreover McCandless did not want his family to know about his whereabouts. That was the reason he changed his named. During the trip Chris read Tolstoy, Jack London and Henry David Thoreau. He did part time jobs to gather funds for his last Alaskan expedition. McCandless ended up in in an abandoned bus. He hunted with his rifle but game was short in number. He ate roots of different plants. Some of these roots are believed to have caused his death as they turned out to be toxic.

Four months after his death, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. His sad demise caused great sorrow for his family. Later his parents visited the bus where he had died. The writer of this book initially wrote an article on his death and later developed a book which we now know as Into the Wild.