Great listen

Loved every second of listening to this book. I started reading it at an airbnb I was staying at and downloaded the audible version to finish it when I left.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Amazing!

This book was everything I hoped it would be, a real page turner. I appreciate that the author did not rag on McCandless and provided other stories from other people...kept things interesting!

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

loved the movie, books better.

i loved this book. and the narration was well read. long live Chris McCandless supertramp

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

a bit hard to follow

it's really good and puts life in perspective but it was confusing and hard to follow at times

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

makes you think

very intriguing story about a eager young man trying to find the meaning of life. I believe the theories and insights from the author as to why and how this happened are very well thought out and do a very good job of allowing the reader to try to get into Chris's head to understand him a bit. it has allowed him to pass along what he learned and what he thought he was learning until it was too late to be able to share he learned he was wrong in some beliefs.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

better than the movie, if I even have to say that.

loved this story and its details. I have always been mildly infatuated by the story of Christopher McCandless after seeing the movie when I was a teenager. this was so much more and I am not disappointed.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Dated reading

A good story but the recording sounds dated, The reader rereads the same line a few times, which seemed odd, but overall it just had an “old time” sound to it. Would have loved if this was read by the author.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

2 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Troubling, but excellent

Though the book leaves some questions of journalistic integrity and may have drawn some inappropriate conclusions, I found the story and delivery enthralling. This is a book everyone should read (or listen to), if only to spark wider conversation about mental health in a late-stage-capitalist society.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

In retrospect

John Krakauer portrays the perspectives of everyone who knew Chris in a respectful and empathetic manner, and gives insight into the mind of an earnest and moral if reckless young adult and those who loved and learned from him. Having read the story online, I think this book is vital to actually understanding what happened and why. The cliff notes offered by wikipedia or articles simply cannot give a full representation and they will not move you in the way this book will.

My only criticism, which isn't necessarily fair given the limitations on John not to include it, is that while the humanization of Walt and Billie is important and heart-wrenching, it was unnecessary to trivialize Chris' desire to be separate from them. This is based on the pervasive physical, emotional, verbal abuse and alcoholism-driven neglect that John was aware both Carine and Chris had suffered at the hands of their parents. The uncomfortable reality is that blood often isn't thicker than abuse (nor should it be), and that this is doubly true in cases where the abusers have no remorse or concern for the content of their actions or its reflections on their character. Given who Chris was, his convictions that they did not live up to the expectations they placed on him were uncommonly true, rather than cliche. Further, even as portrayed in this publication, it is clear that while Chris was legally an adult with the freedom to make his path, it was necessary for him to protect, alter and hide his identity at every stance from his parents, who were so bent on recovering him from his nomadic lifestyle (the first freedom he felt he truly had) that they hired a private detective to hunt down and find a son who clearly needed them to leave him alone. I realize how heartless that sounds. But maybe if they hadn't abused, chased, and denied until the bitter end, Chris wouldn'tve needed to run so far to find peace for his soul.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

The Book Better Than the Movie

A first-rate read, giving you all the details you'd ever need on this sorrowful tale of a soul lost who finds his way at the moment of his demise.

If you have a family member seeking the same path, thrust this book into their hands, first, so they realize how deadly the north can be.

My heart goes out to all the surviving family members.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.

Vous avez donné votre avis sur cette évaluation.