Into the Wild, is based on a real story of a boy and his journey into the wildlife of Alaska. The book presents the dark side of an adventurous wild experience. In April 1992, a young boy named Chris McCandless from a well-to-do family from Washington D.C. hitchhiked into the Alaskan wildlife alone. After four months, his body was found in an abandoned bus by a group of moose hunters. He died out of starvation. Chris was an intelligent and intense young boy who believed in the philosophy of Tolstoy and other great writers. Following the path of Leo Tolstoy, he donated $25,000 in savings to charity in his Law school. He changed his name to Alex and walked off into the American West. On his way, he abandoned his car, burned his cash, and wandered off in search of raw experience. For two years he wandered and then hitchhiked for Alaska.
When the author wrote an article mentioning McCandless’s death circumstances, he got a huge response. There were mixed reactions from the readers to Chris McCandless’s life and death. Some admired his courage and idealistic thoughts, some quoted him as a reckless idiot and stupid who got undeserving attention from the media. The author was haunted by the particulars of Alex’s starvation. The author Jon Krakauer himself is an adventure seeker. There were events in Alex’s life that were somewhere correlated to the author too. He has also mentioned his survival struggles amidst his various mountain climbing expeditions. He spent more than a year finding out the details about the boy’s expedition. His book “Into the Wild” is one of the most popular books in adventure writing. While writing this book, he referred to Chris’s travel journals, his letters to friends he made on the way, and photographs found near his body in the abandoned bus. He also interviewed Chris’s parents, friends, and the people he met along his journey.
The book describes the heroic journey of Chris who held the courage to come out of his comfort zone, leave everything behind, and enter into uncertain terrain. Some miscalculations of the region and his hard luck led to the boy’s tragic end. The book also teaches how naivety and unpreparedness can cost your life. Jon has described the heart-breaking tale of the intense young man in a very engrossing way. Those who are passionate about adventurous activities like wildlife expeditions, mountaineering, and trekking can pick up this book. The book was adapted into a movie with the same name in 2007 directed by Sean Penne.