Into the wild

Jon Krakauer

Aldo Kempen
22/januari/2010
About the author

Jon Krakauer is was born on 12th of April, 1954, in America. When he was 8, his dad introduces
him to mountaineering. Since that day Jon has been a fanatic climber . In 1977 he fell in love with
Londa Mariam Moore and they married in 1980. He has been a writer since 1983. First as freelance
writer for several magazines but he published his first book in 1996, Into the Wild. He wrote 4
books and he is well-known over the whole world.

About the book

The title of the book is 'Into the Wild'. It was first published in 1996 and sold all over the world.
The title is because the book is about a young man who decides to leave al his possessions and go
into the wild and live free!

Genre
Coming of age novel

Main Character
Christopher McCandless a.k.a ,Alexander Supertramp. A young man from the East Coast who
abandoned all his possessions after college and began a journey travelling through America and
began to search for love and good on earth .

Plot
The book is about Chris McCandless who left all his properties and a splendid future and left
without telling someone, without a car and without money. After two years and four months his
body was found in the wilderness of Alaska, here the story begins with narrating the way from his
home to Alaska. After leaving his home, he changed his name to Alexander Supertramp and
travelled to the west. He hates the materialistic society and he tries to invent a new life-style where
he is looking for al the beautiful things on earth. Meanwhile the book is telling about Alex's life in
Alaska where he lives in a abandoned bus and trying to survive. The further the books get the
closer Alex gets to his final destination, Alaska, the further Alex gets to his death. At the end Alex
dies from eating poisonous berries and leaves a note behind: “I have had a happy life and thank the
lord. Goodbye and may god bless all.”
Theme
Freedom

Opinion
This book was the best English book I read so far. It was stunning, exciting, moving, fascination
and heart rending! The book captures you and traps you. When I started reading I wasn’t really
exited, my only thought was:'What the f.. do all these words mean'! But I understood more every
page and the context became clear. After I fully read it I realised that it wasn't about getting to
Alaska but about his way to there, how he thought about the society, the people and the meaning of
life! I know that this all sounds vague but I don't care! I obviously saw the movie and it really
helped me to get the whole picture. If I should give this book a mark I would give it a 8,5!