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It’s hard to understand why people are so ticked off by this. It was his life. He was a kid and dumb and could have done better, but he did something interesting and it’s a compelling and provocative story. He made some mistakes and unfortunately died for it. That’s not a great part of the story, but it’s certainly part of what made it well known. But, ffs, you tried to kill yourself for the glorious feeling and ritual of smoking. People can by sympathetic even if they aren’t always as cautious as they could be.
Whether or not she completed the trail is completely irrelevant to the story. The entire point is she went trough pretty brutal personal trauma, got very promiscuous, did heroin, treated some people around her like shit, went on the PCT completely unprepared and worked through some of her shit. That’s the book. It’s not like she’s trying to hide any of it.
The book is not “look at my amazing accomplishment hiking 25% of the PCT” by any stretch - any more than Bill Bryson isn’t bragging about hiking 25% of the AT with Katz.
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It was part of the point of Wild that she didn’t know what she was doing. Fish out of water/Legally Blonde kind of thing.
Maybe I should read this Wild book.
This 100%. There seems to be some dividing line where a young man ditching his car, burning his cash, and heading out in to the wild is either a) extremely compelling or b) extremely annoying.
It does feel like the hate has nothing to do with him dying. Lots of people die doing lots of things that they didn’t have to do or could have taken some extra precaution to prevent without pissing anyone off.
It’s one thing to be inexperienced. Tons of inexperienced hikers hit the trails every year. It’s another to make no effort whatsoever to learn anything at all, and then expect other people to bail you out of every stupid situation you find yourself in.
And I saw no effort whatsoever from the book that she experienced any personal growth and learned anything meaningful from the experience. Maybe I stopped reading before the end because I thought she was vile.
Oh, and the name of the parody book is called Rabid. I obviously wasn’t the only one who felt the same way about Wild.
How do you feel about the idiot that got himself (and his girlfriend, I believe) eaten by a Grizzly?
I didn’t love the story (just saw the movie) or anything, but like suzzer said, she was a heroin addict. She wasn’t meant to be seen as perfect or prepared or selfless.
At some point soon I am hoping to do some of the PCT - not even considering doing as much as 25% in one go. I doubt I will be overprepared if I do it. I will be nice to people though!
She was more of a heroin dabbler.
Grizzly Man? I think that guy was mentally ill. Not that I’m a psychiatrist or anything. I don’t mean like “dude was crazy”. I mean mentally ill and could have used some help.
She wasn’t the most likable character in the world by any stretch. But to me that was part of the book. I wasn’t very likable in my 20s either.
You’re missing my point, or more likely I’m just not making it well. I love the themes of enlightenment and self-discovery in McCandless’ story, and believe they deserve even more coverage and promotion in our society. What I hate is that one of the people chosen by contemporary society to embody those themes died a tragic and foolish death.
The tale of a person of privilege abandoning all their worldly possessions and ties to live a nomadic life of freedom and exploration is a well-worn trope. There are so many to choose from if you want that story, yet we’ve fixated on one that was very brief and ended badly. That says something not very good about us.
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Meh. I think there are innate reasons why stories where people are hurt/die are fascinating. I think that’s just evolutionary biology.
Grizzly Man I would say I’m pretty neutral on. He died doing what he loved. I don’t hate him for it. But I don’t find his story compelling at all - whereas I do with Wild and Into the Wild, and Bryson - Walk in the Woods for that matter.
There’s something archetypal about walking off into the woods not completely prepared and facing challenges that hits me in a primal place I guess. I don’t get the same twinge from a guy living with grizzlies.
You want a guy who abandoned the rat race and successfully pursued nomadic life, here’s one. He flipped some houses, made $200k or so and has traveled around on that for more than 40 years.
That’s basically my plan as soon as the stupid Rona goes away. I think about selling my place and my stuff constantly. It’s scary as hell.
But the idea of someone else cleaning all my stuff out of this condo after I slowly wither and die here is a lot scarier to me.
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I’m definitely not one to preach extreme safety or over-preparedness. It was just her expectation that her problems where now everybody else’s problems that pissed me off.
Self-reliance is normally a big part of the draw for climbers. Maybe that’s my primary issue with the whole thing.
Good-looking people, and especially good-looking women - pretty much have that option their whole lives - people want to help you. I thought that was one of the subtexts of the book that maybe she wasn’t even aware of. I don’t totally fault someone in their mid-20s who’s still getting by on their looks.
To me it’s impressive when someone like that who could easily just sit on the couch and be taken care of until her looks fade - instead decides to undertake something like the PCT as a solo female. I almost feel like hot girls have to overcome this built-in super-easy path.
In some ways I don’t envy hot women the same way I don’t envy rich people. I’m glad life forced me to go out and get a career. If I had the option of doing nothing and still getting by, I probably would have taken it and been utterly miserable.
I guess that’s my whole point on this. I know I was a disaster in my mid-20s. If she was in her 40s when all this happened, it would be a completely different story, and she’d be infinitely less sympathetic imo.