Into The Wild.

Well I just finished reading Into the Wild, I have never seen the movie but have heard good things about it so I figured that book would probably be good as well. For those of you who don't know its a book based on the life of Chris McCandless. After graduating from university he donated his entire savings (around $30,000) to charity, changed his name to 'Alex Supertramp' and began a nomadic life. He spent a few years travelling around America mostly hitch hiking meeting other people living similar lifestyles and picking up odd jobs when necessary. His dream was to go on a "Great Alaskan Odessy' as he called it which he did in April 1992. He hitched his way to Alaska and made his way into the wilderness with only a 10 pound bag of rice, a rifle, some books and a bit of gear. His remains were found 5 months later in an old bus used by hunters and the autopsy reports revealed he had starved to death nearly a month before his body was found. The novel is very well written but reads like an essay of which the authors main thesis is to prove that Chris McCandless was not mentally ill but instead noble for this daring act. Obviously this is a controversial topic it seems that people either respect McCandless for what he did or think of him as an ignorant and ill prepared young man who got what he deserved. I'm not going to tell you what I think because I think you should read the book yourself and form an opinion (then we can have discussions about it ;) ). My main problem with the book was how the author spent more then a few chapters going on about trips he himself had taken to Alaska trying to compare himself and his adventures to that of McCandless. He went on and on about how much alike they were (even though they had never even met in real life), he even compared their relationships with their fathers. I almost got the sense that the author was using McCandless life and death as a way to bring attention to himself because a big part of the book was about himself which kind of annoyed me. There's so much more I have to say about this book but I am hoping someone will read it first then we can compare notes! Let me know if you do or if you have already read it! :)