Before I tell you what I think of the book itself, I would like to address one thing. Let's not get too carried away about Cheryl Strayed not being a true thru-hiker. She hiked over 1,000 miles! Dang! That ain't easy and I give her props for that alone. I haven't done it. So for all those who gripe about Cheryl not completing the entire PCT, get off it. And for the love of all that is good in this world, STOP complaining about Bill Bryson's AT attempt. It is really getting old.
So here we go. I didn't like the book. The writing was fine. There were parts that I would say were good. But. I could not relate to her. I can share her appreciation of nature and its restorative value, but not much else. Telling us about her past drug use and infidelities was informative and let us know what she wanted to move away from, but she continued to engage in self-destructive behaviors on her hike. In fact, I didn't find that she made any changes to her behavior over the course of the book. I kept thinking that she would be different in the next chapter, but it never happened. I feel that marketing the book as an account of redemption on the PCT is a misrepresentation. I am sure the hike made a big difference in her life and the way she sees the world, but it wasn't apparent to me from her retelling of the experience.
For everyone holding Wild up as a feminist triumph: when a woman spends all of her time thinking about men, ignores the value found in experiences with other women, and the only thing she can think about when she meets a man is whether they want to have sex with her, I can't believe she is a feminist. In the book, Cheryl spends almost no time recounting the experience of hiking with the women she met. She only details her encounters with men. Every time she meets a man in the book, she wonders whether they want to have sex with her. She doesn't say whether SHE wants to have sex with THEM. Only whether they want her. In all honesty, It got tedious. I was just sick of hearing about it by the end. She was a profoundly broken person. Don't misunderstand, I've been broken, you've been broken, we've all been broken at one time or another. But we weren't being held up by the Oprah book club crowd as a strong example of a confident woman.
She does tell us that she eventually changed her life and became a productive member of society. I have no reason to doubt that, just no evidence that it happened on the PCT. I have read that she is a feminist activist now and that's great, but, again, no evidence in the book.
Some things I've read online are geared toward concern or even hysteria over the droves of inexperience hikers flocking to trails. My response to that requires an explanation of where I believe that comes from. There is a troubling sub-set in the hiking community. These people are the ones who cry fowl when anyone gets into trouble in the backcountry and requires SAR. The cries are all the same. "They can't have been experienced if they got into trouble." "That would never happen to me." "What and idiot." "They should be required to pay for the SAR." So on and so forth. Here's the truth: Anything can happen to anyone at anytime. Tragedy and injury can happen to the experienced and the inexperienced alike, to the prepared and the unprepared, and yes, even to the arrogant jerk who thinks he has the most experience and is the most prepared. Now back to all the newbies on the trail: we were all new once and we learned from the people we met and the experiences we had.
All this being said, I'll probably see the movie.
Bonus: Bored PS
