Review: Wild

I will begin by saying that I'm not a "wilderness-adventure" type of girl. I don't make my own gluten-free trail mix or use a BPA-free water bottle, and I definitely don't wear those creepy shoe/socks that have the toes peeking out. I enjoy hiking (look at me being outdoorsy to your left! I am so adventurous!) and heck, I'll even camp a night or two if the occasion demands and Smore's will be eaten. But, don't you dare expect me to pack up everything I own and live on a trail for 6 months.

So...when I decided to read Wild, it was less about relating to the hiking experience and mostly because I wanted to watch the movie and my English Major past wouldn't let me watch it without first divulging into the book. Despite my love for hygiene and hatred for bugs and outdoor sleeping arrangements, I was surprised to find myself loving a book that took two pages to describe how to purify water for drinking. The book is, first and foremost, about the grueling task of hiking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), but it's also about a girl grieving over a failed marriage, dead mother, and overall loss of drive and direction in her life. I listened to the audiobook this past weekend as my family and I made the 5 hour journey to Northeast Pennsylvania. And maybe it was the fact that we were headed to a funeral or maybe it was just my emotional self listening to beautiful and heartbreaking dialogue escape the narrator, but I found myself sobbing on Highway 95 North when Cheryl Strayed (the author) described her mother dying of cancer. I didn't think I could get emotionally attached to a voice coming out of my radio since it's such a different experience than reading a book, but I was so incredibly moved by Cheryl's story that I broke down and cried when she painfully explained her mother's agonizing passing. I was shameless in my breakdown and apologize if any fellow DC drivers witnessed that hot mess from their car windows.

I had diverged, digressed, wandered, and become wild. I didn't embrace the word as my new name because it defined negative aspects of my circumstances or life, but because even in my darkest days--those very days in which I was naming myself--I saw the power of the darkness. Saw that, in fact, I had strayed and that I was a stray and that from the wild places my straying had brought me, I knew things I couldn't have known before.

The entirety of the book was so refreshing, because like myself, Cheryl was not a hiker or outdoorsy girl when she decided to complete the 2,650 mile trail. She failed multiple times on the trail (unable to purify her water, not reaching her camping site, her shoes breaking) and was faced with many instances of almost quitting, but despite her extreme inexperience, she completed the trail. I loved the inspirational story of a girl who has lost everything, but can find herself while alone in the beauty of nature. Maybe it was the situations she went through that I found myself relating to the narrator but from her lowest lows to highest highs on the trail, I felt connected to the author throughout the book.

I then watched the movie of course! I have to say that as far as movies after books go (always awful), this one was pretty dang great. I thought Reese definitely deserved an award for her acting performance, she was fantastic. The film incorporated a lot of the book which I appreciated and though I was very curious how they cinematically would go from the character's traumatic childhood to adulthood as seamlessly as the book, they did an excellent job.

Lastly, I will leave you with the quote below. It's so simple but I love it. You don't have to hike for six months to find adventure or challenge yourself. Everyday, just living your normal life, you are met with challenges and adventures that define you. There's a wildness and fear in just stepping back and letting things be (Can I copyright that for a poster?....I should know these things, I am a paralegal after all...oops).

How wild it was, to let it be.

         Rating: 4 out 5 Books