Nature Literature discussion

This book came highly recommended by a friend who alos loves the outdoors. I am just starting it and thought you other nature lovers would like it. It's an autobiographical account of her trek on the pacaific crest trail. it reminds me of biking across Canada unprepared and totally unprepared...trying to run away from problems and creating a pathbof self-discovery that continues today.

I am on page 101 of this book. The next chapter is "The Only Girl in the Woods." It is a fabulous read.

My review appears here. https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I read "Wild" and thoroughly enjoyed it, but I think "Tracks" is even wilder than Wild. Written by an Australian woman who, though prepared to deal with most incidents, (just as Strayed wasn't), it is a beautiful and haunting memoir of her 1700 mile journey across the Australian outback. I highly recommend it!

I will look into it.

I loved Wild. The narrator journeys through the wilderness of the Sierras and the wilderness of her psyche. She also manages to weave natural history lore into her tale. Fantastic. My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

I'll check out Tracks, too.

I am sorry to be a contrarian here, but I really did not like Wild. I've been an avid hiker since my teenage years, and hiked as a solo woman in many wild places; and I've lived long enough to have my own personal heartaches. I found Strayed's book very self-indulgent and found myself skimming over those personal heartache chapters after a while. I kept expecting and looking for her spirits to be lifted by the beautiful Sierras, but instead found her complaining about her hips or back or feet. The alternate chapters were about her druggy past and failed relationships. At no point did I feel she looked around her and fell into the wonder and beauty of the 'Wild'. I felt the only thing 'wild' about this book was Strayed's past. Her brief glimpse of a black bear caused her so much fright and anxiety that she sang down the trail for the rest of the hike. Maybe the movie was better, but I didn't bother seeing it.

Well, it certainly took her a while, but she seems changed by the experience. She also spoke in loving terms about the mountain lake near the end. Overall though, I would have to agree that the book is about her experience of the wilderness rather than the wilderness itself.

Nevertheless, the view of herself is probably what made the book a best seller.

I would have to re read the last three chapters before I could comment further. It seems to me that it is only at the end that she wakes to the beauty of nature - something which has been important to me for my entire life. I also don't think that just any landscape could have motivated the change she speaks of in the final chapters. I agree that the beauty of the landscape got second attention after the challenge of the trail, but not just any trail would have given the level of challenge she faced on the PCT.

BTW - I got my first sighting of a snake for this year yesterday, and it was beauty. Scarlet Milk Snake, sometimes confused with the coral snake.

Michael, I would agree about the bridge at the end which is where she sat down and enjoyed and reflected...at least in the book. Yet now she was in an urban setting. The walking/hiking was certainly a purifying experience, which was transformative. I do not disagree with that. But after reading the book, I felt that transformation really didn't have to do with the WILD; in fact, I could have been reading about someone's experiences in a detox center.

Therefore, it really isn't a book about The Wild, as its title suggests, but a book about Strayed's inner life and how she worked through it all. In her case, solitude, walking, and no access to drugs on the trail. I suppose I am tired of reading books about people overcoming this or that and their trials and tribulations. But that seems to be what's hot in the book and movie business these days--a kind of 'tell all'.

I dont believe this book would have been possible in a city or a recovery facility. A lot of outdoors people think more of the challenge than the natural environment. I am notone of them, but I wou?dn't write them off einther.

Sorry for the typos. Still adjusting to a touch pad.

Leslie wrote: "Michael, I would agree about the bridge at the end which is where she sat down and enjoyed and reflected...at least in the book. Yet now she was in an urban setting. The walking/hiking was certain..."

I agree with you about her character. I found her really irritating. However, I don't think this book could have taken place just anywhere. The setting of the book and the fact that she was having this amazing once-in-a-lifetime experience that many people dream of, seeing amazing landscapes and having these incredible encounters with nature, yet couldn't enjoy it because of her self-indulgence, really makes it clear just how self-absorbed she was. Her ability to live in the moment and truly appreciate the experience towards the end showed the effect of the transformation. In this case, I don't think this change would have been possible to really portray if the story had been written about a detox center.

The transformative aspect of the wild was that she was alone and self-reliant in nature. That was the point of the experience, at least from the character's point of view. It was not about nature for her, but about the solitude and self-reliance that she could only find in the wild.

But you're right -- if a personal story about trials, tribulations, and transformation isn't your thing, then this is probably not the book you want to read.

A friend who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail tells me that she has since become an advocate for preserving the trail.

Stefy wrote: I agree with you about her character. I found her really irritating."

So, even though you found her annoying, I'm curious if you enjoyed the book?

Leslie wrote: "Stefy wrote: I agree with you about her character. I found her really irritating."

So, even though you found her annoying, I'm curious if you enjoyed the book?"

I did, absolutely. I see her rather unlikeable character as being an essential part of the story, and ultimately, it was a good story.

Well, she has certainly become a spokesperson for the PCT since publishing the book. http://www.pcta.org/wild/
I believe she was indeed transformed by her experience, and became a different person as a result of the trip. I don't think the book could have been written just anywhere. I also believe that the aspects of her personality cited as character flaws are in fact simply the result of poverty and class distinctions.

Well, that's good she is helping to support the trail now. I just hope people don't do the trail like she did--unprepared, and inexperienced in backpacking. I'd hate to see Search & Rescue over worked.

Simply put, I tire of these kinds of stories of "my life was really bad and I found salvation through [fill in the blank]". It just bored me and felt very self-involved.

Isn't most memoir self involved? I found this the striking similarity as I read Wild and H is for Hawk at about the same time.

There is a great article about Cheryl Strayed in the current issue of Poets and Writers Magazine.
Also, one about Annie Dillard.