Krakauer’s Into the Wildis an account of the life of Chris McCandless, a well-to-do kid who found himself starving to death in the Alaskan wilderness in 1992.
Piecing together McCandless’ final few years via first hand accounts, letters and newspaper articles, Krakauer details the young man’s travels in the American west, travels that ended with his death in the Alaskan wilderness.
After graduating from college, McCandless gives away his savings and starts a life of hitchhiking, camping and learning to live on his own in the wild.
The culmination of this way of life was supposed to be his time spent in the back country of the 49th state, living on nothing but his wiles and the land.
Krakauer obviously connects with McCandless, as he freely admits in the book. Into the Wildis both a defense of McCandless (who many have said was stupid, arrogant, etc.) and an introspective look at the author himself.
The book is relatively short (just over 200 pages) but it’s no light and easy read. McCandless did not make copious notes in his final days. So, some of what Krakauer writes is speculation (particularly when it comes to the exact cause of death), but he makes that clear to the reader.
Starvation is one of the more agonizing ways to die. But McCandless appears to have not let that bother him much. According to the book, a photo taken shortly before his death show’s the young man looking terribly weak, but smiling nonetheless. A note left next to his body also depicts not a suffering man, but one who is content with his life and the choices he made.
Despite the guesswork, the story rings true and, despite the tragic ending, I found the story inspirational. McCandless may not have achieved his end goal, but he tried and died smiling and at peace. That’s a lot more than most can say.
