I feel so behind for CBR6. Oh well. This just means I’ll have to read a ton of YA and historical romances this summer over vacations to catch up. My book club’s March selection was Cheryl Strayed’s Wild, and lately all I’ve had time to read were the book club assignments. The subtitle, From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail, pretty much sums up this memoir perfectly. At the ripe old age of 26, after a spate of really terrible life changes, Strayed quit her waitressing job and sold almost all her possessions and set out to hike a section of the little-known Pacific Crest Trail. By herself. Without having any extensive backpacking experience. Yep.
The subtitle to this book could also have been “I did something crazy and it happened to work out.” I really enjoyed reading this memoir, especially while judging the author for her insanity and enjoying a glass of wine on my comfortable couch. People like Strayed always intrigue me because they are so far from what I am or anyone I know. Her childhood was at best wild and almost out of Little House on the Prairie. Her mother, after finally taking the children and escaping from an abusive alcoholic husband, moves the family to apartments in Minnesota where she meets a carpenter named Eddie who she later marries. The family buys a farm in rural Minnesota and over the years literally builds their own home with their bare hands. My family bought homes pre-made in the suburbs. Strayed is incredibly close with her mother so when, at 22, her mother dies suddenly of lung cancer and her family falls apart, she begins a downward spiral of extra-marital affairs and heroin abuse. Seriously, heroin abuse. A guy she meets asks if she’d like to try it and she just agrees. Who does that?! Young adults who have lost their way, I suppose.
By chance, Strayed comes across a book on hiking the PCT and decides this is the thing she needs to do to get her shit together. She researches for months and plans her stops, pre-mailing boxes of supplies and buying the best equipment she can afford. When she finally departs, carrying her heavier than imaginable backpack (named Monster), she initially struggles with confidence and almost gives up. Over time, and through many setbacks and trials, she makes her way north to Oregon where she will eventually come down from the trail and settle down. That’s a really simplified summary of the journey but really that’s the best part of reading the book. Strayed kept journals throughout her trip; while some of the dialogue and some of the storytelling may be embellished a little this feels like a true experience. I would never be so crazy as to hike hundreds of miles by myself for 100 days, but it’s amazing that this young woman did, and lived to tell about her experiences and the friends she made.
I feel a little all over the place with this particular review, because I don’t want to give away the stories and overall it’s pretty simple – a woman went for a long solo hike. There are a few things that struck me in particular, both good and bad, and I’ll call them out and wrap this up. Things I enjoyed: the characters Strayed meets on the trip, her willingness to keep going in spite of incredible setbacks, and the bravery of a young woman without much of a support system going it alone. Things I didn’t enjoy: vivid descriptions of putting a horse down, vivid descriptions of losing toenails, and burning books. Books are sacred to me and though she burns her pages for spiritual reasons and as sort of a trail ritual, it would hurt me to do it myself. I would definitely recommend this book for any outdoorsy people, or those like myself who prefer to vicariously experience the outdoors through folks like Strayed.
