At first I was worried that this story wouldn't be handled with care. Even though I knew little about it, I instinctively empathized with Chris McCandless. Then I began to perceive how much the author did as well. The whole story is an intent to capture his unique journey. He does not justify the pain Chris caused to his parents. Krakauer manages to convey painful truths about their complex relationship without demonizing or sugar coating.
The intense journey of self discovery that Chris undertook is fathomable. The fact that he chose the path of completely no contact with his family is mystifying, but somehow he deemed it necessary for the pure ideal of independence that he sought in his life experiment.
The idealist in me relates perhaps more than I would care to admit to the explorations of this young man in the early nineties. I see a portrait of my young twenty-something self - the ideas that I entertained, the asceticism that I pursued (in a much smaller way), my intent to grapple with the core of life's meanings, the way that I felt that I was on a completely different path from others, my desire to trim the fat of life's trappings and test myself. Perhaps if I had not been so deeply connected to my family, and was bolder, I might have undertaken just such a journey.
I enjoyed this book far more than I had anticipated. I think I expected it be more more of a pragmatic adventure story. I knew that Chris ended up dying, but little else about him. I was blindsided by the author's sensitive yet passionate approach to the story. I love how he approached it from different angles and also articulated the many criticisms that were broached after Chris's death - even about his lack of survival skills. The author carefully defends Chris in many ways. For example, how many of his many critics had actually succeeded to live alone in the Alaska wilderness and survive for months at a time - which Chris did manage to do.
The book is intertwined with meaningful quotes that were part of Chris's portable library. I felt deeply connected to Chris and the author. The author personalizes the story even more by paralleling his own journey and some of his own experiences (one dangerous climb in particular) to that of Chris's. He also relates Chris to others throughout history - few and far between but unique characters who really sought to live life as deeply and intensely as possible - something an enneagram 4 can ever so relate with! (Better a short intensely lived life than one fraught with "quiet desperation" and dull civility.
This is one book, I would definitely keep for my library to re-read. I'm eager to see the movie next.
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