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Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

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Wild by Cheryl Strayed is a memoir about the author's decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail as a way of dealing with grief and trauma. Cheryl embarks on this solo journey to confront her emotions, understand herself, and find healing. The book delves into Cheryl's personal struggles, including the loss of her mother and a self-destructive divorce, intertwined with her physical trek through the wilderness. Through introspection and self-discovery, Cheryl navigates her past and present, ultimately finding peace and renewed strength.

Writing/Prose:

Strayed's writing style is both vivid and introspective, making her emotional journey resonate with readers.

Plot/Storyline:

The memoir focuses on Strayed's journey along the Pacific Crest Trail, intertwining her struggles with grief, addiction, and self-identity.

Setting:

Set against the stunning landscapes of the Pacific Crest Trail, the setting enriches Strayed's journey of transformation.

Pacing:

The book has a varied pacing, balancing between introspective reflections and the physical demands of hiking.
My solo three-month hike on the Pacific Crest Trail had many beginnings. There was the first, flip decision to do it, followed by the second, more serious decision to actually do it, and then the long...

Notes:

Cheryl Strayed hiked over 1,100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) in 1995 to find herself after the death of her mother and the collapse of her marriage.
Strayed had no previous hiking experience before embarking on her journey, which she documented in her memoir 'Wild.'
The book is intertwined with her personal history, detailing her struggles with grief, drug addiction, and self-destructive behavior.
Strayed named her heavy backpack 'Monster,' highlighting her initial lack of preparedness for the hike.
The memoir showcases her physical challenges, including losing several toenails due to ill-fitting boots and battling against her own fears and doubts.
'Wild' became a bestseller, reaching number one on the New York Times Best Seller list, and was featured in Oprah's Book Club, which increased its popularity.
Cheryl Strayed's real last name is Strayed, which she adopted after her divorce as a reflection of her troubled past.
The book was adapted into a successful film starring Reese Witherspoon, who portrayed Cheryl Strayed.
Along her journey, Strayed encountered many fellow hikers and 'trail angels,' people who helped her along the way, emphasizing the kindness of strangers.
The memoir explores themes of loss, healing, and self-discovery, resonating with readers who have experienced similar struggles.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Triggers/content warnings include themes of grief, death, drug abuse, sexual encounters, and self-destructive behavior.

From The Publisher:

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER

At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State-and she would do it alone. Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

One of the Best Books of the Year: NPR, The Boston Globe, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, St. Louis Dispatch

Ratings (129)

Incredible (20)
Loved It (48)
Liked It (47)
It Was OK (10)
Did Not Like (2)
Hated It (2)

Reader Stats (211):

Read It (135)
Want To Read (54)
Did Not Finish (4)
Not Interested (18)

6 comment(s)

Loved It
6 days

I like a good adventure memoir but don't read nearly enough of them. This was interesting all way through and I truly feelt for Cheryl on her both physical and mental jorney. I enjoyed the fact that she was fully human with flaws and didn't always make the best decision but she learned from them and keept going. Need more stories like this!

 
It Was OK
1 month

Read this a few years ago, a more fitting title would have been "Mother," as it most revolves around Cheryl reflecting on her relationship with her mother as she happens to be hiking. A bit "meh" for me. Meh.

 
Incredible
2 months

Strayed has hit the magic point between writing about the process of hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail and the process of moving through a complex mix of emotions about the loss of her mother, her divorce, and the scattering of her siblings and step-father after her mother's death. Both of these processes are physical for Strayed, and although she could use the immense physical challenge of undertaking a long-distance hike with little experience as a metaphor for moving through her grief, she doesn't. Well, she does, but she doesn't use it as a hammer. Much of the book is about the difficulties of the hike, and it is only after reading about her third (fourth, fifth) toenail falling off or her encounters with wildlife on the trail that you realize her mother's death is like a river running under the entire trail. It underscores the book without overwhelming it.

Even though this is nonfiction and, as stated in her introduction, many names and details were changed to preserve anonymity, another huge strength of the book lies in the characters. The people she meets on the trail become a sort of family (for the most part). The ending, in which she looks ahead to all the things she does not yet know, strikes the perfect melancholy note.

 
Hated It
3 months

Cheryl Stayed writes about her three-month solo hike from California to Washington along the Pacific Crest Trail.

She says she was depressed from her mother's death and felt like her life is ruined. She divorces her husband , who is too caring towards her (as she writes) and was living a life with lots of drugs and men. So to transform herself and think about her life's mess, she goes on hike, alone. Where as she never hiked before.

The reasons for messing up her life looked not only stupid enough to make me believe, she hiked 2,663-mile wilderness route stretching from the Mexican border to the Canadian, traversing nine mountain ranges and three states without a single bad experience or attack was ridiculous.

This book stinks of the craving for fame, media attention and money. I stopped after few chapters.

 
Loved It
3 months

Writing

 
Incredible
9 months

So wonderful. I loved Strayed when she wrote for "Dear Sugar" and she has such insight into what it means to be human. Wild is lovely, descriptive, heart-breaking and scary.

 

About the Author:

CHERYL STRAYED is the author of the #1 New York Times best seller Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, which was the first selection for Oprah's Book Club 2.0 and became an Oscar-nominated film starring Reese Witherspoon;Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar, a national best seller now the basis of the WBUR podcast Dear Sugar Radio, co-hosted with Steve Almond; and Torch, her debut novel. Her books have been translated into forty languages, and her essays and other writings have appeared in numerous publications.

 
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