Into the Wild

Jon Krakauer

Sep 2009 · Sold by Vintage

About this ebook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a moose hunter. This is the unforgettable story of how Christopher Johnson McCandless came to die.

"It may be nonfiction, but Into the Wild is a mystery of the highest order." —Entertainment Weekly

McCandess had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. Not long after, he was dead. Into the Wild is the mesmerizing, heartbreaking tale of an enigmatic young man who goes missing in the wild and whose story captured the world’s attention. 

Immediately after graduating from college in 1991, McCandless had roamed through the West and Southwest on a vision quest like those made by his heroes Jack London and John Muir. In the Mojave Desert he abandoned his car, stripped it of its license plates, and burned all of his cash. He would give himself a new name, Alexander Supertramp, and, unencumbered by money and belongings, he would be free to wallow in the raw, unfiltered experiences that nature presented. Craving a blank spot on the map, McCandless simply threw the maps away. Leaving behind his desperate parents and sister, he vanished into the wild.

Jon Krakauer constructs a clarifying prism through which he reassembles the disquieting facts of McCandless's short life. Admitting an interest that borders on obsession, he searches for the clues to the drives and desires that propelled McCandless. 

When McCandless's innocent mistakes turn out to be irreversible and fatal, he becomes the stuff of tabloid headlines and is dismissed for his naiveté, pretensions, and hubris. He is said to have had a death wish but wanting to die is a very different thing from being compelled to look over the edge. Krakauer brings McCandless's uncompromising pilgrimage out of the shadows, and the peril, adversity, and renunciation sought by this enigmatic young man are illuminated with a rare understanding—and not an ounce of sentimentality. Into the Wild is a tour de force. The power and luminosity of Jon Krakauer's stoytelling blaze through every page.

Ratings and reviews

This is one of the most boring and fluffy books I've ever read. It's hard to pay attention to because of the unnecessary explaining​ and droning of everything, the authors descriptions never paint a clear picture of anything because his writing makes no sense. The book barely focuses on Chris's time in Alaska and rather how he got there which I don't find interesting. The organization was whack and most chapters were just fluff and were only in the book to make it longer. The author seems to be self absorbed and trying too hard to make someone else's story and death about himself.

Read this book for school and its a good story but the organizational skills could have been better if a chimpanzee did it. I got confused several times and at points thought that many parts in the story that were in the middle or end should have been told at the start making the book very uninteresting. I would also have liked if they didn't explain only 1 chapter of his experience into the wild because that's what the title is called. Not "journey before he set off into the wild"

I was introduced to this book in school and thought it would be nothing more then some glorified story of a foolish young man. But I was wrong Jon Krakauer uses a multitude of details and descriptions to really paint the story of Chris McCandless in your head. Although the end is revealed in the begging I still though the book was good. Using real statements from people who knew McCandless you get a better feel for the man who ventured into Alaska and never looked back.

About the author

JON KRAKAUER is the author of eight books and has received an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. According to the award citation, "Krakauer combines the tenacity and courage of the finest tradition of investigative journalism with the stylish subtlety and profound insight of the born writer."