I hope that any of you that read this blog realize that I don't find all these excellent books by myself. I have wonderful friends that lend or recommend or even bring books to my house. Yesterday, I finished reading Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer (1996). You may have heard of this book, as they just recently released a movie that was based on it.
This is the true story of a young, idealistic, financially secure college graduate who gave away all of his possessions and his money to set out alone looking for adventure, self-reliance, and equality with his fellow human beings.
He eventually ended up in the Alaskan wilderness where he starved to death. I'm not giving anything away by telling that; there's been a lot of publicity.
Sounds grim, doesn't it? Surprisingly, it's not. The book is very well written, and though the ending leaves you sad, you're also somewhat awed by the single-minded resolution of this young man that any of us would have been proud to know.
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4 comments:
It's November, now, Audrie - got another book for us?
I had a slightly different take on Into the Wild, in that I was thinking "mental illness" where you were thinking "single-minded resolution" but I do greatly admire Jon Krakauer's writing and would read anything he wrote - have you read Under the Banner of Heaven?
No I haven't, Suzanne, but I'll look for it.
I read this book not knowing it was going to be made into a movie. It was a very sad and disturbing book for me due to the mental illness the young man had and left me feeling frustrated and helpless in sympathy with his family. But....really good reading.
I also thought mental illness when i read that book. I saw the movie recently and thought it was very good. I dont think I would read that book again or watch the movie again, though.
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