It is unusual to start a book already aware of the abrupt ending. It is no secret that the outcome to this story is the death of Chris McCandless, but there was much more of a story to be told than his tragic passing. Chris McCandless was born and raised in what some would call, a privileged family. He had two very successful parents, and was also headed toward a life filled with fortune. Although, beneath the surface, his life was not as perfect as it seemed. He was unhappy, and wanted nothing to do with money. He wanted to prove to himself that he could insert himself into the vast Alaskan wild and survive a summer with no money and no human relationships. Then, he formulated the idea of his odyssey. After his graduation, he left, donating all of the money from his savings, abandoning his car, and burning the remaining cash in his wallet. Throughout his travels, he came across many people and developed many close friendships. He left many that cared for him dearly, whose lives he had impacted greatly, and changed forever.

In my eyes Chris came across to be a very insightful human being, and had a lot to tell the world. My opinion, which isn’t shared by some, is that he was not some selfish kid that didn’t know what he was doing or what he was getting himself into.

Chris planned on making it out of the Alaskan Wilderness alive. He proved that it is possible to return to your roots and live off the land. He also showed that money and material things are not what’s important. I think that in writing this book, the author, Krakauer, did the right thing by leaving Chris’s story open ended, so the reader’s can think about him what they wanted and come to their own decisions. The way the journey was represented lead me to feel sympathy for Chris and wish that the outcome for him and his family was different. Krakauer did a phenomenal job painting the way Chris impacted the people he met, and by Krakauer’s words you could tell McCandless was important to him as well without even ever having meeting him. As a reader, I felt a connection with Chris and it was a shame that he was so close to getting back to civilization, and had an very good chance of surviving, but happened to make a mistake that cost him his life.