Biography: Into the Wild

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Evaluation of the book:

Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer is the true story of Chris McCandless’s adventures and eventual demise in the Alaskan wilderness. To tell Chris’s story, Krakauer uses a combination of Chris’s own diary entries, quotations from Chris’s favorite authors, personal accounts and stories of Chris’s family and friends, and stories of similar adventures by young people throughout American history. The combination of all these sources makes the book a complete, interesting, and unique biography. Krakauer paces out the different types of sources in such a way that keeps the reader in suspense and wanting more details.

For the majority of the book, Krakauer maintains a distant voice in the book. He shares his opinions passively a couple of times, but otherwise sticks to others’ accounts of Chris’s story. That is, however, until chapters 14 and 15 when Krakauer switches gears and describes his own experiences as a headstrong, adventurous youth. This escapade into the author’s own youth brings the story into a new light and explains the author’s interest in Chris McCandless’s story. By sharing his own point of view, Krakauer identifies himself as a reliable figure to interpret Chris’s own story and thus builds up the reader’s confidence in his storytelling.

In addition to being a reliable interpreter of Chris’s inner turmoil, Krakauer is also an excellent descriptor of the various landscapes in the story. With the pages filled with descriptions like “The country surrounding Davis Gulch is a dessicated expanse of bald rock and brick-red sand. Vegetation is lean” (Krakauer, 1996, p.88), Krakauer’s words clearly set the mood of the book by putting the reader directly “into the wild” with Chris and the other figures in the book.

Response:

I liked the fact that the story was about a young person, right around my age, who went off and lived his own adventures like I did when I decided to move to Rome and France after college. I felt akin to Chris in that way, desiring adventure as a young person. However, even though his sentiment was relatable and even beautiful at times, most of the time it was too extreme for me. As much as I am all for living your life’s adventure, I do not have any empathy for someone who cuts out every important person in his life without trying to mend any broken relationships first. Chris McCandless left his family heartbroken and searching for answers; Jon Krakauer did a good job presenting this search for answers and making it felt in his readers. By tying in diary entries, family accounts, and stories of related adventures, Jon Krakauer creates an aura of mystery and the reader cannot help but want to know what happens next.

Conclusion:

In Into the Wild, Krakauer’s powers of writing shine, creating a truly gripping read about a young man who left everything and vanished into the wild. By combining interesting primary sources and sharing his own personal story, Krakauer presents a unique biography that I highly recommend to anyone who is interested in nonfiction that reads like fiction. If for nothing else, everyone should read this book just to experience Krakauer’s incredible descriptions of the wilderness. If you want to feel like you’re standing in the middle of the desert entirely isolated, read this book. If you want to feel the thrill of reaching a never before reached mountain summit, read this book. If you want to experience adventure, read it.

APA Style Reference:

Krakauer, J. (1996). Into the Wild. New York, NY: Anchor Books.