Wild: From Lost to Found on the PCT (book)

Last evening I finished reading this book called Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail. The author is a woman named CherylStrayed. The idea of where the surname came about was interestingly revealed in the book.

Like every other ‘woman-driven’ book I felt like I understood the author. So much, that yet again I decided that I was so much like her. I’m still not too sure whether parts of me are really like her or just wanted to go with her story. To make it worse, her story takes place when she is 26 and about to turn 27; my age. I was smitten by her attitude and repulsed by her spirit at the same time.

I think I found myself somehow in her book too. Like, it’s okay to want to be alone just so you remain strong. It is okay to block out the rest when you need to focus on something really hard. It’s not like you are running away, you just don’t want to be distracted. Her anger resonated in me.

In her memoir, Cheryl finds solace in reading books. And she reads her favourite ones over and over during her trip. Even small things about how she reacted when she was in pain (“I stopped when I couldn’t take a walk any further…and then I ran”) made me feel relieved somehow. It helped me tick off my week with patience. Every few miles she walked, I felt a tiny bit healed. Every challenge she went through, I knew with as much belief that she would come out a stronger person.

Of course there was this huge difference in her style of thinking and acting too. The fact that she is an American and came from poverty stood out to me as starkly different to the way I would react to things. There were even times when I was reading the book and I asked myself the same questions that she did, sometimes finding an answer that I wasn’t ready to hear myself.  

You should also know that not once while reading the books did tears well up, even though you do feel the pain that she goes through. Her style is not to make you feel bad for her in anyway. All through the book she is being her strong self. That is what I like in a good book!

Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ks_QnNQ__OM