Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Author : Cheryl Strayed
Title : Wild: A Journey From Lost to Found
Published : 2013
Publisher : Atlantic Books
Genre : Autobiography / Travel
Pages : 336

     Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother's rapid death from cancer, her family disbanded and her marriage crumbled. With nothing to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life: to walk eleven-hundred miles of the west coast of America - from the Mojave Desert, through California and Oregon, and into Washington state - and to do it alone. She had no experience of long-distance hiking and the journey was nothing more than a line on a map. But it held a promise - a promise of piecing together a life that lay in ruins at her feet.

     I have a yearning to travel, it is my second big love after reading. But traveling the world is an expensive hobby, so when I'm running short on funds I head to the bookstore and spend some time lost in there travel section. It was here that I found a copy of wild nestled between a book on hot spots of Dorset and a stack of Bill Bryson. After reading the blurb I knew I would have to buy my self a copy and get to know Cheryl Strayed a bit more. Finding my self in her situation I'm not sure the first thing that would have come to mind would be to walk the  Pacific coastal trail. When I first started to read the book I had no concept of just how long it was, a quick google search put me right. It is such an impressive thing in this modern world that a trail of this length is still there and you can walk it for free.

     The author does not shy away from all the reasons she chooses to take on this mammoth task. When starting out she was dealing with a great deal of pain and sorrow. But it is only going through this crucible was she able to come to terms with everything that happened. For the most part, we follow her on her journey in chronological order only stepping back in time to discover her reasons for taking on this hike. The way in which she does this felt to me like such a personal thing, being allowed into her past feels like you are stepping on sacred ground. Any time someone chooses to talk about there past it feels like they are giving away a small piece of themselves. Moving past this we get to see a woman coming into her own and finding her self out in nature. I realize this sound a bit cheesy but I'm a big believer in from time to time escaping the modern world, if only for a little while.

     The book takes on its own mythical form as the author takes on her pilgrimage. I think it would be very difficult to put your self in her shoes on the journey, but I felt she did a good job in coming close to what it must be like. I would say there is not so much time given to describing the landscape she walked through, but I felt that this would be a fairly difficult thing to do. It strikes me that the trail is something you have to witness first hand to fully appreciate it. What you get instead is her journey the people she met and those who in one way or another helped guide her and complete her journey. It strikes me that only a certain type of person decides to take this trip and from what I read they seem to be the sort of person that would go out of there way to help a fellow hiker out. They way the book flows feels like you are walking hand in hand with the author through all her ups and downs. I like the fact she was honest about just how ill-prepared she was from taking way to much gear to the wrong kind of boots. It made for a refreshing read and adds a little humor to the goings-on. 

   This is the kind of book that I feel will appeal to a certain kind of reader and if that make you like me then this book is going to captivate your imagination and also leave you feeling a great deal of compassion for Strayed. I may have also slightly lost my mind as I have now added the trail to my list of things I want to do.