Before this book, I never was aware of Chris McCandless. I didn't realise such a person with immense stupidity could exist. See, this book made me aware that McCandless was a polarising figure. There were people who admired the fact that he went to Alaska totally unprepared, only armed with his willpower and (in my view) naive view of the world, as well as some bags of rice as well as a book about survival in the bush. He wanted to go to uncharted territory, so even though a lot of the world is already mapped, he simply ignored those maps. I mean, he could have survived if he had a map and learned that there's a potential to cross the Teklanika River just a few miles from where he was. But no, he didn't even think that would be a useful device to carry with him. So he starved to death.
I suppose the reason I liked this book was the fact that it was essentially investigative journalism. The author was able to recreate McCandless' final moments, and postulate rather strong hypotheses about how he died in the Alaskan bush. I never saw the movie that was apparently created after this book, but in any case, I found the whole story interesting. And no, I belong to the camp that think that McCandless was dumb. I go hiking myself, but the trails I pick are nowhere near as dangerous or risky as the Stampede Trail. Still, I come prepared. I have supplies that are appropriate given the time I will be away on my own. And I am responsible, letting loved ones know where I am, giving regular indications of my location. But McCandless did nothing of that. He just left the world behind, so to speak, and didn't even update any of his friends or family of his whereabouts. And his family was left clueless and was absolutely caught surprised when they learned that McCandless died of starvation, alone in an inaccessible part of Alaska.
Interestingly enough, I went ahead and saw the trailer for the movie that was made based on this book. Somehow the trailer made it look like McCandless was searching for some adventure, and that he was some sort of hero. Perhaps this is the reason why there were several copycat incidents of hikers coming unprepared to this part of Alaska and requiring some rescue effort. Sorry but I don't think McCandless was a hero. If anything, perhaps he's more worthy of getting a Darwin Award.
Oh well, obviously the book made me think. I didn't like the main character, but I definitely liked the investigative writing. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.
See my other book reviews here.
