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4.02 AVERAGE
4.02 AVERAGE
I enjoyed this book and it was a very interesting and inspiring read. While I was impressed with Cheryl's desire to change her life and persevere, I found her to be a bit selfish and hard to relate to.
3.5 ⭐️
I just can’t get over how many thoughtless decisions were made that didn’t result in the authors injury or death, the vivid matricide, horse euthanasia, and nurse penis descriptions, and finally that the author ATE HER MOTHERS CREMATED BONES??? A Walk In The Woods about a similarly inexperienced a semi-life crisis motivated hiker by Bill Bryson about the Appalachian Trials is the better read.
I just can’t get over how many thoughtless decisions were made that didn’t result in the authors injury or death, the vivid matricide, horse euthanasia, and nurse penis descriptions, and finally that the author ATE HER MOTHERS CREMATED BONES??? A Walk In The Woods about a similarly inexperienced a semi-life crisis motivated hiker by Bill Bryson about the Appalachian Trials is the better read.
I love backpacking stories. This one was raw and emotional. The hiking details were there, but the focus was on the author's transcendent journey, as well as her physical trek along the PCT.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I LOVED this book. Part memoir, part PCT guidebook, Cheryl Strayed did a great job recounting a very traumatic, difficult time in her life -- and how she got through it. I confess I had to force myself to pause after every couple of chapters; I didn't want the book to end!
I really liked this. The story was simple in some ways (woman goes on a long hike after her mother dies), but the writer captures the feeling of being on a solo trip and being in the wilderness really well.
(Reread it again: going to use it in Intro to Autobiography in the fall. Figure that with its PCT/Oregon focus, my Oregon students will appreciate it)
I liked this memoir, but also found myself skimming too often, which is not a good sign. It's an odd tale of searching for one's self while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. The fact that she was so unprepared for the hike, yet, despite that, had little in the way of terrible misadventures was an odd disconnect. I kept expecting something truly TERRIBLE to happen to her, but nothing really does. She runs out of water, but that leads to just a few hours of thirst. She runs out of money, but someone offers her food. She meets men who seem threatening (she is alone during this hike), yet all of the men are helpful and kind. I was a little disturbed by how undisturbing her trek was. Yes, emotionally she has some breakthroughs, but even they seemed mild in comparison, and effectively resolved.
And she manages to not describe what she SEES on the trail, except for a few passages here and there: it's clearly not a "guide" to hiking the PCT. In fact, I suspect that for this author, being in the natural world was just a way to escape reality rather than to enjoy the natural world.
Not that I want a nice moral for the ending, but it felt curious unfinished to me. Tobias Wolfe ends his fabulous memoir by summing up what comes next (school, gets kicked out, joins the army, etc) and that works. Jeanette Walls ends her memoir with a mix of conservativism and also pathos, and that works. This one does neither to me.
But will I recommend it? Yes, especially to those who like memoirs, and those who have some curiosity about hiking the PCT: it does sound like, for those 100 souls who attempt to hike most of it each summer, that a community of sorts if formed. That part of the story is intriguing (yet also unfinished).
I liked this memoir, but also found myself skimming too often, which is not a good sign. It's an odd tale of searching for one's self while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. The fact that she was so unprepared for the hike, yet, despite that, had little in the way of terrible misadventures was an odd disconnect. I kept expecting something truly TERRIBLE to happen to her, but nothing really does. She runs out of water, but that leads to just a few hours of thirst. She runs out of money, but someone offers her food. She meets men who seem threatening (she is alone during this hike), yet all of the men are helpful and kind. I was a little disturbed by how undisturbing her trek was. Yes, emotionally she has some breakthroughs, but even they seemed mild in comparison, and effectively resolved.
And she manages to not describe what she SEES on the trail, except for a few passages here and there: it's clearly not a "guide" to hiking the PCT. In fact, I suspect that for this author, being in the natural world was just a way to escape reality rather than to enjoy the natural world.
Not that I want a nice moral for the ending, but it felt curious unfinished to me. Tobias Wolfe ends his fabulous memoir by summing up what comes next (school, gets kicked out, joins the army, etc) and that works. Jeanette Walls ends her memoir with a mix of conservativism and also pathos, and that works. This one does neither to me.
But will I recommend it? Yes, especially to those who like memoirs, and those who have some curiosity about hiking the PCT: it does sound like, for those 100 souls who attempt to hike most of it each summer, that a community of sorts if formed. That part of the story is intriguing (yet also unfinished).
I suspect that if I had actually read this (instead of listening to the audiobook) I would have given up after a few chapters, but I found it to be a pleasant distraction while I ran. Not particularly well-written, but not too annoying either. The most interesting theme for me was how extra-vulnerable yet protected she was as a solo woman hiker.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced