October 5, 2015 - 17:14
So. First three parts of Wild, by Cheryl Strayed.
I was surprised by the fact that she grew up poor. I feel like a lot of the time, stories like this are told from the perspectives/experiences of people who are priveleged, affluent; who grew up ~summering~ in New England and went to fancy boarding preparatory schools and liberal arts or Ivy League colleges. (Additionally, I keep unitnentionally drawing parallels between her and Chris McCandless from Into the Wild, who, although his family didn't start out affluent, was definitely financially comfortable during his life)That's not to say she doesn't have other priveleges, in being straight, white, young, and conventionally attractive.
She's so incredibly unapologetic. She's selfish and rude and ignorant and arrogant. Time and time again she exhibits all these qualities which are looked down upon by society and futhermore, when they're expressed, are expectd to be followed by some sort of repent- and often are, in memoir settings. I feel like many memoirs or autobiographies are taken as an opportunity for apologies, "I wish I had"'s, and confessions. But Cheryl doesn't repent. It's interesting, and it rubs up against my societally implanted moral compass even if I try not to judge her.
There is the segment where she talks about how she has so many regrets with her mother dying young, leaving those times of youthful self-apsorbtion , but even then she is in the context of blaming it on her mother.
So far, I don't dislike it. If I'm going to be blunt, I'm not entirely why it's garnered so much attention from critical and popular readers. It's an interesting story and her imagery can be very evocative (I especially liked the scene early on where she and her mother were crying in separate stalls after gettnig the life expectancy diognosis from the doctor). But it's so nice to be able to sink into a novel again, and I identify to some degree with her- for the past two years I've longed deeply to travel west and roadtrip, adventure, explore. I'm looking forward to reading how she feels enlightened as she finishes her journey.