Review of WILD by Cheryl Strayed

Love the title, “Wild” have always been partial to one word titles and Wild is such a power word and when you get into the story and discover that it is a double entendre, even better.

Wild connotes adventure; that challenge is afoot, which grabs the collar and yanks you in.

I saw the movie before I read the book and loved everything about the movie from the multi-layered script and storytelling to Reese Witherspoon’s evocative, passionate performance.

I went straight from the theatre to the library and ordered not only Wild, but Torch, her first novel which arrived before Wild. I would not change the order of my exposure to Strayed’s story-telling. It was spot on.

1.     Seeing the memoir, Wild, on film.

2.     Reading Torch, the novel loosely based on her mother’s death

3.     Reading the actual memoir of her trials and tribulations on the PCT.

Strayed backpacks 1100 miles to heal from losing her mother. She was only 22 when her mother, only 45, a vegetarian and non-smoker was diagnosed with 4^th stage lung cancer.

 In Strayed’s own words:

                                                           

And then there was the real live truly doing it. In spite of bears and the rattlesnakes and the scat of mountain lions I never saw; the blisters and scabs and scrapes

And lacerations. The exhaustion and the deprivation; the cold and the heat; the monotony and the pain; the thirst and the hunger; the glory and the ghosts that haunted me as I hiked eleven hundred miles from the Mojave Desert to the state of Washington by myself.

And finally, once I’d actually gone and done it…in truth my hike on the Pacific Crest Trail…had begun…precisely f our years, seven months, and three days before, when

I stood in a little room at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and learned that my mother was going to die.

Strayed writes with just the right tension to keep you turning the page, even staying up late to finish a chapter before turning off the light.

I have been a day hiker most of my life. I have hiked up Mt. St. Helens a dozen times and spend summers hiking the Columbia River Gorge (with comrades) every chance I get. I have no desire to expose myself to the suffering Strayed endured, I admire her endeavor tremendously, however, hiking alone in the wilderness even for a few hours could have ended in tragedy!

My thoughts were that she must have had an angel on her shoulder. She had no protection put pepper spray and a loud whistle. Now that is gutsy! If she had not made it back, the News would have reported the venture as foolhardy…That aside, I highly recommend Wild as a riveting great read without any other reservation. Cheryl Strayed deserves all the accolades her story has brought her. I am looking forward to reading what she brings to the world next!

Raintreepoet, reporting