Wild by Cheryl Strayed Book Review

Here's another book club read that we discussed for in July.  I've been working on this review for a while, just never was complete enough to post it.

Image from amazon.com

Wild by Cheryl Strayed is about a woman's journey to find herself after a series of poor choices and the tragic death of her mother on the Pacific Coast Trail (from Southern California to Oregon). Find a more detailed review here.

Cheryl starts her journey as an inexperienced hiker, making novice mistakes, but forced by her self-imposed circumstances and surroundings, learns how to be an avid and and agile hiker.   To her surprise (and mine as well), she doesn't dwell on the life events she thought she would when she set out on this hike (her mother's death, her divorce, her drug abuse), but rather focuses on how to accomplish the tasks of the next day.  As hiking becomes more natural for her and she is reassured by her fellow PCT hikers, she finally begins to ponder life, her decisions in life, and its unfairness.

I really enjoyed this book and highly recommend it to anyone.  Yes, this is a 'find yourself', true-life story and the author takes a literal and figurative journey in life, one where Cheryl Strand hopes to weed through and reflect on her recent past of poor decisions and emotional roller coasters.  The actuality of hiking the (PCT) trail that most avid hikers train for, without any preparation (including how to prepare her pack) is in itself the life experience that lends to the emotional and personal reflection Cheryl Strand hoped for when she set out on the journey.

There are portions of the book I found very moving and emotional for me.  It's difficult to put into words why these portions were so moving except that they were stories in which the reader finds Cheryl resolving the unsettled emotions of her wayward life before beginning this hike. I couldn't stop myself from checking out who Cheryl Strand is today and where life has led her.  Of course, as one may expect she is happy, writing (as she wanted to), and re-married with children.  I recently heard a podcast on NPR where she indicated that through the book she has found her sister (daughter of her father and another woman), someone she knew existed, but was never sure if she would ever be in contact with, I imagine the changes in her life as a result of writing this book are worthy of their own telling!