“It’s a chilling read and one that can’t be put down, but it may not be appropriate for sensitive teen readers or any teens without the maturity to see past the adventure.”
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. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He 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. Four months later, his decomposed body was found by a party of moose hunters. How McCandless came to die is the unforgettable story of Into the Wild.
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.
About the Author- Krakauer was a mountaineer introduced to the ‘sport’ by his father at aged 8. He had a driving ambition like McCandless as well as a love for nature and the outdoors. He too spent some time in the wilderness alone and climbed Alaskan mountains as well as Everest which was the focus of his book Into Thin Air. Krakauer is quoted as saying about his own adventures that “I got away with it. Chris didn’t. That’s the only difference.”
Krakauer went to great lengths to write Into The Wild as accurately as possible visiting places that McCandless had been, interviewing family members, friends, colleagues and others somehow involved in the story. He has said that he was obsessed by the story and researched it for 3 years before it was finished. At one stage he said he had a ‘lead’ from someone in Arizona, so he got into his pickup and drove from Alaska to Arizona to meet this person.
