Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed Review

Memoir
336 pages

     At twenty-two, Cheryl Strayed thought she had lost everything. In the wake of her mother’s death, her family scattered and her own marriage was soon destroyed. Four years later, with nothing more to lose, she made the most impulsive decision of her life. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone.
Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild powerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

Completion: A+
Writing/Style: A
Characters: A+
Plot/Pacing: A-
World-building/Atmosphere: A+
Sub-genres (Romance, Humor, Mystery, etc.): A+

Final Grade: A+ Get Thee to a Bookstore!

As I read this night after night during my last couple weeks of my college semester, I felt like I really went hiking on the Pacific Crest Trail with Cheryl Strayed. Strayed is a devastatingly good writer, making me cry only thirty pages into the memoir. 

From the odd encounters with people and wildlife to the stunning views, the writing transported me into this place and moment in time. The pacing with content like this must have been tricky, and this book could have easily become episodic and distant or tedious in its sporadic events. However, the reading of this novel was more like a smooth car ride: I was able to feel the distant gained, going up and down the heights and valleys with none of the motion sickness. Strayed effortlessly describes the grind of the trail, the surprise of these wild characters and events, and the emotional and spiritual residence such an experience carries.

I will keep this review brief for I would hate to spoil the experience nor do I want my relentless praise to turn any of you away from it. So, I suppose I will end the review on this: read it. Who do I recommend this memoir to? People.