Into the Wild

This is not a new book. It has obviously been read before. I will still read it, but it is not new!

Spannend en avontuurlijk, ook dramatisch.

Absolument à lire en VO, ce livre vous fera découvrir à la fois un écrivain dont le style est énergétique et captivante et une biographie surprenant. Indispensable pour creuser l'histoire narrée par le film de Sean Penn ( Into the Wild ). Pour accéder aux ressources mobilisées par Krakauer dans l'écriture de "Into the wild" je vous conseil de voir aussi le livre d'images "Back to the wild" (à commander sur Amazon.com). Par contre j'ai été très déçu par The Beautiful Story of Christopher McCandless and the Unauthorized Look at the Motion Picture Into the Wild que n'a rien avoir ni avec le livre de Krakauer ni avec le film... s'agit simplement d'une compilation d'articles de Wikipedia.... Bref, "Into the wild" de Krakauer vous introduira dans une communauté de lecteurs que se laisse interrogé par une vie hors cadre comme celle de Chris McCandless.

Good

EXCELENTE

First things first: "Into the wild" is not a novel but rather a lengthy reportage in book format. Structure and style are strongly journalistic. Taking McCandless's vagabond life as a starting point, the author reflects on (as Jack London put it) the call of the wild, the yearning for isolation and loneliness and the will to test one's limits surrounded by a challenging nature. Roughly half of the book tells McCandless's story and how he ended up as a twentysomething leading a vagabond life in America's Southwest till he went to Alaska where he died of starvation. (The book starts with McCandless's death so don't think I spoiled it.) ;-) The other half deals with other rather famous people who succumbed to the call of the wild, Krakauer being one of them himself - yet unlike others he survived. The author also interviews McCandless's family, friends and acquaintances. He highlights the loss and pain the family suffered. Ultimately, Krakauer thinks that youth, idealism and a certain unwillingness to forgive other people's mistakes are some of the main reasons why people go into the wild and severe all contact with their families. On this edition: The Pan/Macmillan edition (ISBN-10: 0330455842, ISBN-13: 978-0330455848) is cheap - and not much else. I don't really like books with the cover of a movie, but this cover includes an especially awful "Now a Major Motion Picture blah blah blah". The font used is rather small (I guess about 10 or 9 points). On the positive side, this edition includes 4 black and white maps (2 Alaska, 2 Colorado River). In conclusion, despite the fact that I loved the book itself, I do not really recommend this particular edition.