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Into the Wild  By  cover art

Into the Wild

By: Jon Krakauer
Narrated by: Philip Franklin
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Publisher's summary

In April 1992 a young man from a well-to-do family hitchhiked to Alaska and walked alone into the wilderness north of Mt. McKinley. His name was Christopher Johnson McCandless. He had given $25,000 in savings to charity, abandoned his car and most of his possessions, burned all the cash in his wallet, and invented a new life for himself. His body - along with a camera with five rolls of film, an SOS note, and a cryptic diary written in the back pages of a book about edible plants - was found six months later by a hunter.
©2007 Jon Krakauer (P)2007 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"A narrative of arresting force. Anyone who ever fancied wandering off to face nature on its own harsh terms should give a look. It's gripping stuff."—Washington Post

"Compelling and tragic ... Hard to put down." —San Francisco Chronicle

"Engrossing ... with a telling eye for detail, Krakauer has captured the sad saga of a stubborn, idealistic young man."—Los Angeles Times Book Review

Featured Article: 55+ Quotes About Fear—of the Unknown, Change, Love, and More


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What listeners say about Into the Wild

Average customer ratings
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A cautionary tale

Into the Wild was a good listen, well worth the credit. Krakauer meanders off his central subject a bit but always stays in interesting territory, detailing some of his personal experiences braving the wild as well as those of others. He paints an interesting portrait of Christopher McCandless, helping the reader grasp what may have have motivated the adventurous youth and what may have ultimately befallen him in the Alaskan wilderness.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

One of the Best Audiobooks I have Listened to!

I loved this book, even cried at the end it was so good. I love how the story is constructed, the author weaving his own stories in with the adventures of the main character. Also, the narrator is brilliant! I listened to this in two sittings, didn't want to go to sleep. :-) This one is a must listen!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Beautiful!

A beautifully written and well read story that is hard to put down.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Loved the Movie - Liked the Book

I rented the movie then I wanted to know more about "Alex" so I listened to the book. The book filled in many details that weren't in movie and I really appreciated that. I was distracted when the author interjected his mountain climbing adventure. If you liked the movie you will like the book and visa versa.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A Great Story

I'd have to say this might be my second favorite audiobook. A great story of trying to find yourself and doing what you want.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars

See the film

I found this to be kinda boring, and I'm a big fan of Jon Krakauer. Maybe because it's all speculation about what Alex is thinking, and is finally a sad story with little depth. He was just a misguided kid, that's all.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars

Narration errors

The book is typical of the author but it is a particularly bad narration. Lines are repeated in the beginning of the chapters so often that I began to wonder if that was the way the book was written. Its very distracting and not expected from such a known author.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous.

I couldn't stop listening to this book. The story is compelling, the narration very good. Now I really want to see Sean Penn's movie version.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Overrated story of wmp

After listening to Into the Wild I am left flabbergasted at readers’ love of this novel. Forget that it is either Krakauer’s love letter to his own charmed youth or his eulogy to a friend he only knew in death, I am stuck by the fact that this is required reading for 11th graders in my district. This is the parallel story of two privileged men—forget that Krakauer continually refers to himself and McCandless as boys even into their 20s—who decided to be adventurers, shrinking the lives that their wealthy families had planned for them. We see Krakauer deal with his own family-issues through his speculation of Chris McCandless’s mental state and motivation. It’s almost as if Krakauer needs his audience to see McCandless as a hero, so they view Krakauer as one as well. While It is true that McCandless touched lives in his journey as Alexander Supertramp, many of those were people who were missing sons about the age of McCandless, making circumstance rather than the person himself, one who shirked that kind of human intimacy, the catalyst for these indelible impacts. I find this to be the type of story that young white men read between 16-24, longing to be like McCandless, and then revisit when they are older and parents themselves and find themselves questioning why they found this novel so entertaining and committing themselves to hiding it from their own children. Bottom line, this was a painful listen that had me arguing with the love-strict narrator and questioning who in my district is mandating that I teach this masturbatory piece of writing.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Freedom beastly and pure

Some of us have Alexander Supertramp in us and keep it bottled up forever, only to die with regrets of a life not lived.

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