Lost in Personal History

Wild is a book about a 26 years old woman walking the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) alone. She sets out for 1100 solo hike after death of her mother, dissolution of her new marriage, and scattering of her family members, to find herself. Along the way, she encounter bears, snakes, dangerous ice and dangerous people as well as friendlier fellow hikers. All alone in the wildness, she contemplates her life. Her hike along 1100 miles of wildness is presented as a spiritual journey as well as a wildness journey. But it is written nearly 20 years after the hike, and I keep feeling that this is a much sterilized version of her lief in society as well her life in the wildness. It is as if she has re-written her history so that her kinds can read the book. Yes, indeed, she is happily married with two children. There is not much about PCT either. It falls way short of a really good travel books like Bruce Chatwin’s "In Patagonia". -rudy