October 4, 2015 - 13:19
I approached this book with doubt and hesitation. The general plot was nothing new: the main character goes on some sort of ridiculous and dangerous journey of self-discovery to overcome grief and they live happily ever after. From the synopsis on the back of the book, this was the general impression I got. I started the book with a somewhat already negatively formed opinion, one that critiqued Strayed's assumption that she'd be able to figure her life out by hiking the PCT trail and risking her life as an inexperieced backpacker. I admit that I tend to be a bit dismissive of books about these ridiculous and dangerous journeys of self-discovery, because I feel like they're always just distractions from problems and never actually provide solutions. However, I did appreciate Strayed's thoughtful intermissions of flashbacks, and the way she organized her writing to give the readers a more complex and layered perspective of the main character as they continue on. I also love her descriptive writing of the natural surroundings; I find myself nostalgic for the beauty of nature as I read this book. Additionally, I emphasize with her fears on the trail, and the vunerablities of hiking among predatory animals and poisinous plants and all kinds of dangers. While I do critique her lack of preparation and planning (simply because I'm a freak about planning and prepping in general- just the way my personality is), I tended to feel compassion for her challenges on the hike.
I'm interested to see how this journey affects Cheryl Strayed in the future and where she ends up.