Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer

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This book Into The Wild is about how a young man wants to get away from the world. He does escape from society, but ends up dying in the process. The author, Jon Krakauer, does a great job of describing Chris McCandless and his faults. Chris is an intelligent college graduate. He went on a two-year road trip and ended up in Alaska. He didn't have any contact with his parents in all of that time. Krakauer does a great job of interviewing everyone who had anything to do with McCandless from his parents, when he grew up, to the people who found his body in Alaska. The story starts off with Chris hitchhiking in Alaska. He had decided to get away from the world and live in Alaska, Jack London style. He had hitchhiked all the way from South Dakota to Alaska. Chris was very excited about the trip. He was going to go into the wilderness alone. ?There was no talking him out of it. He was determined. He couldn?t wait to get out there and get started? (Krakauer 6). The story goes on a little more about his Alaskan odyssey, and then it goes back in time. He was a very intelligent kid. He graduated from Emory University in Atlanta with a degree in history and anthropology. The day after his graduation, he went on a road trip. He drove all around the country without an itinerary. Chris didn?t tell his parents about this, of course. The only way they found out he was gone was when they went to visit him in Atlanta and his apartment was empty. He even took a new name, Alexander Supertramp. Chris went all around the western United States for about two years. He went on some adventures that he thought would help him find the meaning of life. He drove his old Datsun truck into the... ... middle of paper ... ...what was going on and figured that like me, he uses big words in the wrong places sometimes. Krakauer nearly became obsessed with McCandless. He writes about Chris as if he could have done the same thing when he was younger. Both are pretty arrogant and think they can take on the world. He even writes about his own mistakes in the world. It seems like the lives of Chris and Jon are a little bit parallel. They both took a lot of chances in their early twenties. Unlike Chris though, Jon lives through his mistakes and goes on to make lots of money selling books. This is a great story about human nature and what can go wrong if you think you can do too much. It kept me interested the whole time I was reading it. I would recommend this book to anyone who knows how to read. Works Cited Krakauer, Jon. Into The Wild. New York: Anchor Books Doubleday, 1996.

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