Book Review for Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer
Review by Lawson Kosulic
Into the Wild is a nonfiction book that has also been transformed into a movie. It starts with the discovery of Chris McCandless, the story’s main character dead and inside an abandoned van in Alaska. The book then retraces his steps through the views of various people who he met and influenced.
I found Into the Wild to be a very repetitive book. Instead of writing a paragraph to explain how Chris traveled back to Carthage, South Dakota for a month, Krakauer writes ten pages on this event. I found that this intense detail was not needed for an event that did not significantly affect Chris’ future decisions. Into the Wild also has higher vocabulary; you might have to look some of the words up while you are reading to get the full meaning of the passage.
Even though some parts of the book were repetitive, the book still hooked me enough to make me keep reading and I did not want to stop until I knew what happened in the end. I really wanted to know how he was thought to have died and what were his reasons behind some of his important actions. Overall, I do not think I would recommend this book to many of my friends, as its not their type of book. I also did not overly enjoy this book at any particular time. If I were to rate it on a scale from 1-5, I would give it a 3 1/2 to 4. Though I did not like this book too much, I know people who have read it and many have come to me saying it was amazing. You could become one of those people too if you just take some time to read it.
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Interested in seeing the movie starring Emile Hirsch? Click here for our catalog and check out the dvd today!
If you're intrigued by Chris' story check out some great footage on YouTube that captures actual spots Chris visited.
~~Sean
4 COMMENTS!:
You're right that Into the Wild isn't for every reader...but it happens that I'm one of those crazy kids who thought it was amazing! I like how Krakauer draws parallels between himself and McCandless, and places these similarities into the much broader context of general human behavior. Definitely a "make you think" kind of book.
SOUNDS GOOD
I love survival fiction like Hatchet and wilderness nonfiction like Into Thin Air, so I'm sure I'd really enjoy this book. I've seen the movie, which was well done... now I should pick up the book. Great review!
also- funny you should mention the movie. because guess who is in the movie? that girl from twilight.
of course, in the trailer, they made a big deal about this practically insignificant part of the book, where Chris has a girl fall in love with him when he's with Jan, i think. but yeah. that's her. also- i loved the book too :)
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