Wild by Cheryl Strayed is a novel about Cheryls three month long trek through the Pacific Crest Trail, alone. The first third of the novel is about everything that lead up to Cheryl deciding to hike the trail and the beginning of the trail.
The novel begins with with a short prologue, mid hike. The prologue briefly touches on the struggles Cheryl had encountered in the years prior. The beginning of the novel takes place four years prior, when Cheryl’s mother is diagnosed with stage four lung cancer. The first few chapters go back and forth between Cheryl’s childhood and her mother’s cancer journey. The purpose of these first few chapters is to make the reader understand what brought Cheryl to make the rash decision to hike over one thousand miles by herself.
Cheryl says, “my mother was in me already,” while thinking back to when she was talking care of her. This instantly made me feel for Cheryl because I personally relate to being very close to my mother. However, while reading the first third of my novel, this was surprisingly one of the only moments I related to Cheryl. There were many times while reading when I took pity on her or was sad for her and wished she didn’t have to suffer so much, but I couldn’t personally relate to most of it. I feel this might be because I am younger and haven’t had the same life experience, and also because the life she described doesn’t have much in common with mine.
At the age of six, her mother finally got away from her abusive husband and was left to support three small children by herself. This was the first of many hard she would have to experience. Cheryl’s marriage fell apart after her mothers death, her family drifted away, and she was lost. I think the Pacific Crest Trail was her way of trying to find herself again. I also think that with all she had been through, it’s expected that she be a bit adrift, but, as she says many times, she was completely and utterly lost. Getting out into nature was probably best for her, but she had no idea what was ahead of her. The burning hot days, the lonely nights, the tough terrain. Only minutes into the trail Cheryl says that it “in fact, resembles walking less than it does hell.”
This is a book I feel many people can relate to but on completely different levels. Some people may relate to the feeling lost and take comfort in her trek, others may relate from losing or having lost a loved one. Others may just feel for Cheryl based off of just the information in the book. This novel has a deep meaning to it and although she has suffered through things I can only imagine, I, in some weird and emotional way, can almost feel the pain she felt.
I’m very excited to finish Wild because so far it has been an endless stream of emotions and intriguing adventures and I can tell this is only the beginning.
For more information: http://www.cherylstrayed.com/wild_108676.htm https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/
Strayed, Cheryl. Wild: from Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. Publisher Not Identified, 2016.
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