Last night I turned out the light 10 pages from finishing Wild From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed. I've yet to finish it. I don't want it to end, so I'm saving the final words. Waiting. For what? The sequel?
As each of you reading this blog can imagine, I found Wild exceedingly poignant. With Brad's adventure unfolding on the Pacific Crest Trail running parallel to my reading of Wild, I couldn't help but compare Cheryl and Brad's adventures (Fran's Blog), both on the trail and in life (they were born in the same year, 1968). During Brad's Te Araroa Trail tramp, Ed and I went to see The Way at the Clyde Theater, and found it to be equally poignant.
Cheryl's writing has a delightful story-telling mode about it, as well as being brazenly candid and forthright. She was so honest about her relationships, feelings, experiences (including sex and drugs), that I found it to be not only unusual, but refreshing and, at times, alarming. My mind often turned to Cheryl's mother, wondering what she would have thought, and felt, if she were still alive. Or, what Cheryl's former husband's reading emotions were.
The author's trail experiences, read in tandem with my son spending the year tramping, left me in awe and wonder. Cheryl was completely unprepared for her journey, yet the trail was forgiving and the other thru-hikers and trail angels along the way provided her with reassurance and support. I was left feeling both fear and relief. And, my feet hurt! Reading about Cheryl's boots and the pain they caused, made my feet ache. I too have lost toe nails, courtesy of my hiking boots, as recently as last summer's hike to Surprise Lake to join Brad on the Washington PCT. Yes, I walked toenail to toenail with Cheryl.
Cheryl seems to be able, with her story telling talent, to make each reader, in some personal way, identify with her adventure. I highly recommend Wild and will be following Cheryl Strayed's writing career.
Great review, Fran! I added your blog to our Blog List on the side bar.
ReplyDeleteLove the photo. If you all can't agree on the same book, at least you're on the same page with your socks! I enjoyed the reviews. It's fun to know what other clubs are reading and to have another source of potential books for the members of the Second Tuesday Book Club to read. In case anyone is interested, of the books my club has read this year, my favorite so far is "The Hare with Amber Eyes" by Edmund De Waal.
ReplyDelete--candace
Thanks for stopping by Candace! It is our custom to remove shoes at our meetings and so we began admiring one another's socks. Eventually everyone started wearing fun and colorful socks to our gatherings. Betty gave us all matching socks for some occasion and of course we had to have a picture! Greetings to the Second Tuesday Book Club from the Third Wednesday book club. And thanks for the book rec. I think most of us have already read it.
DeleteI too loved Wild. Even though the author was weighed down by loss and an excessively heavy backpack the reader never feels weighed down. You might think it would put you off fantasies about hiking the PCT. She encounters many hungry,thirsty,dangerous,cold and blazing hot days and nights and yet I couldn't, wait to get back on the trail with her !
ReplyDeleteI would recommend skipping the part about her mother,s aged horse, Lady for anyone sensitive to animal issues. It hurt to read it and I wish I had skipped ahead.
Also, Shirlee mentioned how she would like to know what condition Cheryl's feet are present tense.