Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Grief can lead us in many different directions. It can lead to self- reflection, a change in priorities, a stronger realization of one’s own mortality, and so on. It can lead people to try things or do things they never considered before. Such is the case with Wild, a true story of a woman shellshocked by grief who decides to take time to find herself by hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.Wild is a journey of discovery and growth. The author didn’t spend all her time alone hiking the trail, but she was alone for most of it, and she wasn’t as well- prepared, physically or otherwise, as a person should be. Her descriptions of places, people, the outdoors, the physical endurance, and other things help you feel like you are right there with her, experiencing the awe, the relief, the pain, and more.One of the things I like about this book is that it’s not a story about someone who has everything and decides to see what it’s like to rough it, to live life on the other side. I get tired of books like that; books that feature an individual from a privileged background who decides to find out how others live and survive. No, this is a book about an ordinary person. A person who grew up with little except for the family she cherished, only to have everything unravel, first with her father’s departure, then with her mother’s death, and then with the dissolution of her marriage. Her decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail was based on the accumulation of grief, lack of self- discipline, and other factors. She does end up learning a few life lessons along they way and she does seem to have grown in the process, so the ending is mostly a happy one.Where Wild falls a little short is with the author’s somewhat one- track mind and naivete about people in general. As she makes her way from place to place and encounters different men, she immediately wants to comment on their physical looks. To be fair, the entire book is written like that, with adjectives and colorful descriptions every step of the way, so it could be that this is just an extension of the book’s overall writing style. Still, I got a little tired of it. I really don’t care if this man was good- looking and this other one was not. It had little to do with the experience.Dealing with grief can be difficult and until you have experienced significant loss, there is no way of knowing what you may do. Wild is a good read overall about a woman’s effort to find comfort and forgiveness in the rugged American west and while it does have a few shortcomings, it still makes for an enjoyable read and I’m looking forward now to watching the movie based on this writing.

This book is so much better than the movie version which I saw first. It took me on multiple of journeys and that is a sign of a truly exceptional writing! I am very picky with the books I read and I am very lucky and grateful for the opportunity to travel with this one. Highly recommended…

There is something fascinating about the idea of going far away from everything and everyone you know, being alone in the world, and searching for who you really are in a setting where the only expectations are those you impose upon yourself. This is what Cheryl Strayed did in Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. One of the things she discovered is that the impulsivity and lack of direction which plagued her in her "real" life dogged her as she trekked the Pacific Crest Trail. She was both woefully unprepared for the challenges of the trail and almost laughably overprepared with a backpack that was, by her estimation, half her own weight.Fortunately, Cheryl met some good Samaritans along the way who helped to educate her in the art and science of backpacking and assisted her in editing the contents of her backpack to a more reasonable and sustainable level. She wrote frankly about her mistakes, miscalculations, and mishaps as she slowly made her way northward through the Mojave Desert to the Sierra Nevada mountain range (most of which she bypassed by hitchhiking because of record snowfall that year) and all the way up to the Bridge of the Gods at the Oregon/Washington border.As for the book itself, this is one of the few times I would recommend seeing the movie before reading the book, simply because the book is long and somewhat dense and if the movie doesn't appeal to you, the book probably won't, either. I enjoyed both the descriptions of the beauty and difficulty of hiking such a long way as well as the flashbacks of Cheryl's life before and how she came to make the decision - impulsively, as always - to take on this journey. She did educate herself about the gear she would need, apparently overly so, since she ended up with so much in her backpack she had to sit down, strap on the backpack, then get up on all fours and gradually move herself into a semi-upright position. However, although she bought a book about hiking the trail as well as one on navigating with a compass, she apparently just skimmed the first book and although she intended to read the second book on the plane from Minnesota to California, she did not do so. In fact, she didn't read the navigation book until she was actually lost, at which time she discovered she really didn't understand either the language or the principles the book contained.I will admit, the most difficult thing about reading this book besides its length and the density of the prose was dealing with Cheryl's character. I can only assume she was being honest about herself, since I don't believe anyone would portray themselves in such a negative light if it weren't the truth. Besides being heedless and impulsive, Cheryl betrayed, over and over again, a husband who seems to have had almost unlimited patience and love for her, even after their divorce. The loss of a loved one, especially one as close as Cheryl and her mother were, can cause people to react in strange and sometimes self-destructive ways. The best thing Cheryl did was to take herself out of the environment she was in and away from the temptations she found irresistible. But you know the old saying: Wherever you go, there you are. Cheryl was Cheryl, whether in Minnesota or on the PCT. The one thing she did do while on the trail was resist, almost to the very end, her rampant libido.I am glad I read this book. In a way, it reminds me of books I read years ago about people who had moved far away from civilization to live off the land. That, too, is an attractive and romantic prospect until you factor in the backbreaking labor involved. Most of the characters in those books were infinitely easier to like but far less memorable. Cheryl is certainly someone I will never forget

I'm truly stunned by the number of 5 star reviews this book has received. I have enormous respect for Cheryl's imagination - where I suspect a lot of the book happened. Right from the beginning some of what she describes is simply not feasible. She says this was constructed from her journal, which she barely mentions writing in, despite the excruciating detail she describes everything else. Some of her thoughts are about her dead mother and some of this is completely inane - grieving about a table? I was left not understanding why she'd done it and also why it made such a difference to her life. There is little true insight here. Much too superficially written, too many clichéd phrases, dire sex scenes and two dimensional characters. Truly awful book. If it hadn't been in my book group I'd never have finished it.

I saw the film years ago.It's a great film by the way.I can't remember why I decided to read the book, but I know I started it on the train home from work, releasing myself from the day's activity, I quickly got lost in Cheryl's journey. There were times when, in full view of other passengers, I openly wept. Other times I felt unfathomably buoyed and translocated. As I got to the end I slowed down. At 90% complete, I stopped and didn't read it for a few weeks. Not wanting our journey together to end. It's the only book I've ever paused in this way. I usually gallop to the end, eager to know, to learn. I felt like I was stepping and breathing with her, and didn't want to stop.Tears flowed again as the book finished.It's beautiful, visceral, cleansing, it's a book everybody should read.

It looks like two clear camps for those who journey through this book, a bit like Marmite, people either love it or they struggle with it. Well, its a big YES from me, I love Wild. It has been my favourite book this year, and I thought I had read quite a few books already that would not be beaten. I loved the quality of the writing, the honest approach and the unfolding of what for most people would have been a nightmare of a 1100 mile walk along most of the Pacific Crest Trial (PCT), at a nightmare point in life.This is not a journey undertaken by a walking fanatic or expert, in fact the author had never done a walk like this before. It was undertaken by the narrator, Cheryl Strayed, as a way of trying to stop her life unravelling after the death of her mother from cancer, the remains of her family falling apart, despite her best efforts, and her marriage that should have been a success, failing because of her promiscuity and her falling into heavy drug taking. The solution taken without too much thought, was to walk the challenging long distance American Pacific Crest Trail!The theme of the book is how the journey acted as a way of coping with grief for the death of her mother, her crumbling relationships and her inability to forgive herself for her shortcomings, and for the guilt she felt for all that was happening in her life. The description of the walk, and the way she was so unprepared for it, physically and mentally are incredible. It is an amazing story, and I enjoyed it as a metaphor for the journey through life, and the people you meet along the way who help you to your goals, and often appear at just the right time. The story has lived with me for quite a while; the film, which we saw within days of finishing the book, was superficial and missed many of the messages, although the landscapes were fantastic and Reese Witherspoon was perfect as Cheryl Strayed. The extras on the Blu-ray DVD, including the feature on Cheryl Strayed herself, also helped to appreciate the story. Do give this book a chance in your life; I am sure you will be Wild about it too.

I loved this book mainly because, having lost my mother not long before reading it, I could identify with the main character and her apparent irrational behaviour and rejection of 'common sense'. For me this was a book about grieving and as such I enjoyed the emotional exploratory passages more than I did the travel descriptive (the trail, other hikers' stories, etc.). The book received a very mixed reception at my book club, and many different interpretations- from mine (a book about grieving) to others (a book about travelling or a book about an annoying woman who didn't want to take control of her life). From personal experience control felt overrated after my mother died, and this was the aspect that resonated most with me - and also surprised me the most in the harsh criticism from others at book club. I gave the book four stars as, notwithstanding my liking for it, I don't think it is a greatly written book and I found the ending a bit disappointing.

I thoroughly enjoyed Wild! Cheryl Strayed’s account of her epic hike along a section of the Pacific Crest Trail is both heart wrenching and entertaining. She tells her story with exceptional honesty and self-deprecating humour. I finished the book feeling as if I had made a friend such was the intimacy between author and reader. A heart-warming, inspirational tale told by a formidable yet ordinary human being. Recommended.