Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail in Bookmarks Subscribers

Jan 13, 2012 Vanessa rated it really liked it

Shelves: memoir, 2018-read-harder, botns, when-men-and-mountains-meet

BookRiot 2018 Read Harder Challenge #13: An Oprah Book Club selection

What is it to be really alone versus being lonely among others?

Finished this three days into 2018, but I don’t think it’s premature to say this will be one of my favorites of the year.

It’s true of all memoirs, most definitely including this one, that your enjoyment of it relies largely on your tolerance for the personality of the writer. People I know, reasonably nice and empathetic people, have told me that they found her whin BookRiot 2018 Read Harder Challenge #13: An Oprah Book Club selection

What is it to be really alone versus being lonely among others?

Finished this three days into 2018, but I don’t think it’s premature to say this will be one of my favorites of the year.

It’s true of all memoirs, most definitely including this one, that your enjoyment of it relies largely on your tolerance for the personality of the writer. People I know, reasonably nice and empathetic people, have told me that they found her whiny. I loved this book though, and the author along with it. The worst I could say is she felt like she was straining too hard for the capital “i” insightful life metaphors at times:

This was once Mazama, I kept reminding myself. This was once a mountain that stood nearly 12,000 feet tall and then had its heart removed. This was once a wasteland of lava and pumice and ash. This was once an empty bowl that took hundreds of years to fill. But hard as I tried, I couldn’t see them in my mind’s eye. Not the mountain or the waste land or the empty bowl. They simply were not there anymore. There was only the stillness and silence of that water: what a mountain and a waste land and an empty bowl turned into after the healing began.

But at the same time, she can still consistently write like Hell, making you feel every triumph and indignity and sadness and funny moment along with her. I felt so connected to her, and her descriptions of life on the PCT are so vivid; even her thoughts on the monotony of walking all day for days on end were engrossing. I just wanted her to keep walking that damn trail forever, so much that I wanted to start the whole book over as soon as I finished (I’d skip the first chapter about her mom’s death though, because there are not enough Kleenex. Also, I don’t need to read the incredibly traumatic story of how they euthanized her late mother’s horse EVER AGAIN.)

To blatantly plagiarize from The New York Times review (because this sums up my inarticulate opinion perfectly, so why not steal from a pro), it was exhilarating to experience this story of a writer finding herself, finding her voice. I want to read a bunch more hiking memoirs immediately, but I know I’ll just end up disgruntled because none of them are this book.

I saw the movie first, and if you liked the book you should seek it out. Nick Hornby adapted the screenplay, and Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern’s performances are transcendent. And I had the same dopey happysadhappy moment at the end of it. ...more

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Aug 20, 2012 Amy rated it really liked it

Shelves: _own-ebook, memoir, busy-as-a-bee-books-group, rec-ig-blogs-friends-other, read-in-2013

Let me start by saying that I strongly recommend that you read Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar BEFORE you read this one ... a friends suggested that to me and she was spot on! If you enjoy Cheryl's voice in Tiny Beautiful Things, then Wild is likely to really resonate with you.

So, a book that centers around hiking really didn't seem like a memoir that I'd have any interest in reading. I read it primarily because I loved Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Lif Let me start by saying that I strongly recommend that you read Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar BEFORE you read this one ... a friends suggested that to me and she was spot on! If you enjoy Cheryl's voice in Tiny Beautiful Things, then Wild is likely to really resonate with you.

So, a book that centers around hiking really didn't seem like a memoir that I'd have any interest in reading. I read it primarily because I loved Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar and thought even Cheryl Strayed could probably make hiking interesting to me. And was I right! This is a beautifully written memoir that is about so much more than hiking. It's worth every moment to experience this book!

Cheryl's voice isn't for everyone - she's a very complicated, flawed woman but I just love her voice. It speaks to me, resonates with me. I wish that I had an in real life friend like her. She has insight and a view of life that I really find compelling. I know that others have complained of the use of the f-word but that doesn't bother me a bit. In fact, it's a word that I believe is the best word for certain situations so I was fine with that aspect of the book. Is she self-indulgent? Perhaps but, honestly, most of us are. And I appreciate her honesty about even the ugliest aspects of her life and experiences. She doesn't shirk from the truth regardless of how it might make her 'look' to others. I respect that and think the world might be a better place if more of us lived authentically and didn't lie to ourselves about what we've done or what we want.

There is so much here that goes beyond hiking - the mother/daughter relationship, family dynamics, love, friendship, divorce, finding yourself, and owning your mistakes. I found all of it to be inspiring and honest and at times difficult to read. But, in the end, I feel like I'm a better person for having read this memoir ... and I am so glad that she was willing to show the world her true self - her mistakes, her monumentally flawed thinking (at times), her growth, and her journey to find herself and the life she wants. I found that inspiring, particularly since I'm in a place in my life where I'm doing some personal growth work.

Anyway, this is definitely a memoir that I recommend but know that it's not going to resonate with everyone. And, again, I recommend that you read Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar before you read this one. If her voice speaks to you in that one, then this just might be a book you'll appreciate as much as I did! ...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Melissa rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: the-self-improvement-crazytrain

Just read a review that said this book made them want to hike the PCT...riiiight. I definitely do NOT want to hike ANYWHERE EVER after descriptions of being smelly, dirty, hungry, thirsty, injured, and sleeping outdoors (my idea of camping is six people in one motel room) and especially not after the many descriptions of her feet (as a dancer I have had my share of gross feet stories and these are way, way worse).

Although I sometimes wanted to slap the Cheryl depicted in this book for sounding ...more

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Jan 29, 2013 Jessica rated it really liked it

Warning: Do not read this book if you are severely depressed; you'll only be more depressed before you finish.

I had noticed this book when it was first on the shelves and recently our local library added it so I figured I'd give it a try. Having done some backcountry trekking in my younger years (I've been down the Grand Canyon to Havasupi Falls and hiked back up, as well as a trek in the Sierra's spending a week around Mt. Whitney.) I thought I'd enjoy reading about a woman hiking the Pacific C Warning: Do not read this book if you are severely depressed; you'll only be more depressed before you finish.

I had noticed this book when it was first on the shelves and recently our local library added it so I figured I'd give it a try. Having done some backcountry trekking in my younger years (I've been down the Grand Canyon to Havasupi Falls and hiked back up, as well as a trek in the Sierra's spending a week around Mt. Whitney.) I thought I'd enjoy reading about a woman hiking the Pacific Coast Trail alone. Just the cover photo brought me back to my external frame pack and the water filtering, hanging food because of bears, and wet sleeping bags. I only wish the story had been a bit more about the physical journey and not quite so much about the mental journey. It did get depressing sometimes.

Too overcome with grief to even think straight over the loss of her mother and the collapse of her marriage, Cheryl (the author) undertakes an insane task of hiking the PCT without having done any previous overnight backpacking trips. She breaks in her boots on the way, doesn't know how to use a compass, or even which fuel to use in her backpacking stove. Her backpack weighs more than half her body weight, she's packed things she'll never use, and has no experience to rely on short of having lived in the woods of Minnesotta without running water for her teen years. Not exactly the poster child for how to go on a months-long hiking trip. So - do NOT use this as a guide for how to get lost in order to find yourself. This woman is lucky she didn't die out there. That said, she does have talent as a writer.

I had a hard time putting the book down because it was like a train wreck. You don't want to look and yet you can't look away. It was interesting to see her approach to getting her life back in order by completely jumping off the deep end without looking to see how deep the water is first. You can see she was literally losing her mind in her depression by the choices she was making.

I may not agree with her approach, her constant need for male attention and yet her contradictory need to be alone, or divorcing a man that sounded like a good guy but I have to applaud her bravery (or stupdity) in setting her mind on something so monumental and actually making it happen. How many of us would have given up?

Oh, and kudo's to REI and their satisfaction policy! (Read the book, you'll understand this comment.) I haven't made a purchase there in years, but I will definitely rethink that. ...more

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Jun 05, 2012 Barbara rated it it was amazing

Although I'm generally drawn to memoirs, one involving hiking is not one I would normally choose. However, indiebound.org recommendations never fail me so I picked this one up and am so glad I did as it touched on so much more. The title summarizes it best, the author had lost her mom, her marriage and sense of self when she embarked (grossly unprepepared) on her 3 month solo journey through the Pacific Crest Trail from Southern California to Oregon in effort to find herself. It was an compellin ...more

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May 01, 2012 Joye rated it it was amazing

Shelves: memoir, non-fiction

I didn't know if Iwould like this book, it seemed like it had the potential to be another pop memoir, maybe reminiscent of Eat, Pray, Love. Much to my surprise and delight, I loved this book right from the start ! It was an honest telling of a rite of passage through some difficult emotional stuff by hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. Definitely recommend. ...more

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