Into The Wild

While on vacation, I read the true story by Jon Krakauer, INTO THE WILD. I must admit when I started reading I could not decide if I actually liked Chris McCandless or not. It seemed to me he was in a destructive emotional battle with himself and was quite judgemental of society and the people whom loved him most. In his defense, his father hurt him to the point of no return but rather then communicate and hash it out, he fell silent and into himself, leading his life by strange theories and rules. McCandless' arrogance, selfishness and pigheadedness are in my opinion, partly what led to his demise.
It is a powerful story that definitely makes you think.
After graduating from Emory University in Atlanta in 1992, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska, where he went to live in the wilderness. Four months later, he turned up dead. His diary, letters and two notes found at a remote campsite tell of his desperate effort to survive, apparently stranded by an injury and slowly starving. They also reflect the posturing of a confused young man, raised in affluent Annandale, Va., who self-consciously adopted a Tolstoyan renunciation of wealth and return to nature. Krakauer, a contributing editor to Outside and Men's Journal, retraces McCandless's ill-fated antagonism toward his father, Walt, an eminent aerospace engineer. Krakauer also draws parallels to his own reckless youthful exploit in 1977 when he climbed Devils Thumb, a mountain on the Alaska-British Columbia border, partly as a symbolic act of rebellion against his autocratic father. In a moving narrative, Krakauer probes the mystery of McCandless's death, which he attributes to logistical blunders and to accidental poisoning from eating toxic seed pods. Maps. 35,000 first printing; author tour.
I am still not sure what I think of Chris McCandless but I do know one thing, he was a courageous son of a gun whom followed through on his word. I am looking forward to viewing the film...[starring Emile Hirsh. Screenplay written and Directed by Sean Penn.]

V.