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A review by liralen
Hiking Through: One Man's Journey to Peace and Freedom on the Appalachian Trail by Paul Stutzman
3.0
Not long after his wife died of cancer, Stutzman knew it was time for some kind of change. He quit his job and set off to hike the 2,176 miles of the Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine.
Like many hiking memoirs, this ends up focusing, to a large extent, on the day-by-day travel diary: I walked X miles and it rained; I stayed at Y shelter and ate Z food; the next day I walked with this person and thought about that thing and it rained some more. Stutzman does tie in two 'outside' stories, returning repeatedly to his wife's death and to his upbringing in the Mennonite church. There ends up being a great deal of religion in here, although I'm not sure how well it'll connect with anyone who's not...somewhat conservative Protestant, I suppose. (Spoiler alert: the religion content did very little for me.) Stutzman says at one point that on the AT he traded religion for spirituality, but I read it more as him widening his understanding of Christianity just enough to appreciate the divine in the wild. I'd much have preferred that he spend more time really examining his faith—instead he spends a fair amount of time talking (out loud) to God and explaining to the reader why Christianity is right—but I guess that wasn't really ever in the cards for him.
There are probably a lot of AT memoirs in my reading future. Not sorry to have read this one, but I remain hopeful that I'll connect better with some others.
Like many hiking memoirs, this ends up focusing, to a large extent, on the day-by-day travel diary: I walked X miles and it rained; I stayed at Y shelter and ate Z food; the next day I walked with this person and thought about that thing and it rained some more. Stutzman does tie in two 'outside' stories, returning repeatedly to his wife's death and to his upbringing in the Mennonite church. There ends up being a great deal of religion in here, although I'm not sure how well it'll connect with anyone who's not...somewhat conservative Protestant, I suppose. (Spoiler alert: the religion content did very little for me.) Stutzman says at one point that on the AT he traded religion for spirituality, but I read it more as him widening his understanding of Christianity just enough to appreciate the divine in the wild. I'd much have preferred that he spend more time really examining his faith—instead he spends a fair amount of time talking (out loud) to God and explaining to the reader why Christianity is right—but I guess that wasn't really ever in the cards for him.
There are probably a lot of AT memoirs in my reading future. Not sorry to have read this one, but I remain hopeful that I'll connect better with some others.