Into the Wild

I had really enjoyed the movie, with some reservation that i share with many people regarding the questionable folly of its idealist heroe. The Sean Penn movie had shocked me more than it touched me.
It is with this knowledge that I opened Jon Krakauer's book, in order to learn more about this sinister story. And i'm glad i did, because, once the book read and closed, what remains in your head is a bold and beautiful personal adventure.

The book is not a biography. One does learn a few things about the character Mc Candless, but Krakauer's account stops short , thank god for that, of any fake psychoanalysis (he makes fun of this, actually) and stays focused on facts and witness accounts. This does not prevent the reader from developing more and more empathy for the rather magnetic personality of the young man.

Krakauer is not looking for objectivity and says so frankly in his introductory speech, as he admits having felt the same kind of longing for Nature as McCandless. he will even mix his reporter work with some autobiographical details, espcially his own experiments with risk taking (he's a confirmed climber).

A very interesting aspcet of the book is actually about other people than Mc Candless, who have searched for the same type of isolation and who have also found death as a reward.... One senses that Krakauer is touched by this shared quest of young people who are rejecting society as a whole, or, as he suggests it for himself, are rejecting the father figure.
One will remember long the sad story of this photographer who gets himself airlifted to the Alaskian North, but forgets to arrange an appointment for the return....

One can only feel sorry fo the miserable fate of Mc Candless (Krakauer is very graphic about it), but this great book makes real and tangible the ideal of freedom that movde this unsual man, who, far from being suicidal, comes to realize that happiness can only be experienced if shared with others, just as he was ready to turn his back on solitude.

A very good book, whose argument is not to excuse the folly of its heroe but to celebrate his extraordinary love for life. Highly recommended!