number of voters: 7
percentage of voters who finished the book: 100
highest rating: 9
lowest rating: 7
average rating: 7.98
number of book group members who have hiked Oregon on the PCT: 1
number of book group members who have huddled under a tent-like structure at an urban playground to discuss Wild: 7 (as far as we know anyway)
*****
In 1995, Cheryl Strayed was so broken and lost that she did
something brave and—if you’ll forgive us for saying so—a little stupid: She
decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail, alone, without any training… and she
brought possibly the heaviest backpack the trail has ever seen.
The book opens with a moment about midway through her
journey when Strayed’s backpack—nicknamed “Monster”—literally propels one of
her boots over the edge of a cliff. The only logical thing to do with its
now-worthless mate would be to huck it over the edge too, and so she does.
That’s a pretty apt metaphor for the story of Cheryl
Strayed’s life BT (Before Trail): The world had tossed her half-way over a
cliff and her only logical response was to fling herself the rest of the way down.
That the PCT was her least devastating
method of self-destruction may have saved her life.
Her adventure on the trail is pretty much what you would
expect from a story about an inexperienced hiker in over her head. But
Strayed’s skillful story-telling makes you care about every step and every
misstep, every trial and every triumph. Life as metaphor is rarely so well
written.
One minor complaint from this group of Oregonians was that
the book moves too quickly through our backyard. Between California and the
Washington border we are rushed to a conclusion that Cheryl-the-hiker yearned
to see but Cheryl-the-author could have elaborated on.
But life on the trail is only part of the story of Wild. Details of her hike are adeptly
woven together with the story of her life BT as she reveals why the only thing
that could save her was being alone with herself in the wild. More than a
trek across a thousand miles of wilderness, it is a voyage of self-discovery, and lucky for us we get to go along for the ride.
***********
