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A review by eastwooddoll
Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
5.0
well, uh… i stopped buying anything but books or food for 6-ish months after reading ITW. to say this book made an impact on me is an understatement. it’s mildly embarrassing to admit, but it flipped my entire worldview on it’s head. (i have to mention that it was working in tandem with prozac though. and that i’m writing this months later, where other factors have contributed to my changes.) i appreciate nature again, i’m tolerant of physical exercise, i am cool with performing physical labor, i recognize that traveling cross-country is something anyone can do—if you’re brave and resourceful enough, etc. i hiked 5 fucking miles on a whim, after years of literally never going into nature unless i absolutely had to (and complaining the whole time when i did). i have a better understanding of when i’m wasting my life, and when my actions are meaningful.
but, fair warning, while reading it—i had never felt so fucking depressed. it mildly ruined my life for a time. i was hyper aware of how meaningless everything around me was. i decided not to go to a four-year college, and instead work around before going to community college (and then transferring to a state college, because i’m not unrealistic). i kept seeing hippies and nomads and anarchist squatters and all those wonderful folk, and i would be like… burning with envy. i cried a lot during this time. i couldn’t process american politics and upper class lifestyles anymore. i couldn’t understand like…anything, and i stopped doing homework and i stopped taking care of myself, etc. i couldn’t stand the people around me, because they were all so locked into their capitalist consumerist wasteful mindsets. i’m still in the pits of despair about this reality, but at least i’m more optimistic about it. (but, uh. that’s only thanks to more prozac, and padmé amidala’s shining example).
in the long run, ITW helped turn me into an eco-anarchist. which is funny, because chris was republican.
but, fair warning, while reading it—i had never felt so fucking depressed. it mildly ruined my life for a time. i was hyper aware of how meaningless everything around me was. i decided not to go to a four-year college, and instead work around before going to community college (and then transferring to a state college, because i’m not unrealistic). i kept seeing hippies and nomads and anarchist squatters and all those wonderful folk, and i would be like… burning with envy. i cried a lot during this time. i couldn’t process american politics and upper class lifestyles anymore. i couldn’t understand like…anything, and i stopped doing homework and i stopped taking care of myself, etc. i couldn’t stand the people around me, because they were all so locked into their capitalist consumerist wasteful mindsets. i’m still in the pits of despair about this reality, but at least i’m more optimistic about it. (but, uh. that’s only thanks to more prozac, and padmé amidala’s shining example).
in the long run, ITW helped turn me into an eco-anarchist. which is funny, because chris was republican.