Wild

From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

By: Cheryl Strayed

Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne

Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

Wild is a powerful, blazingly honest memoir: the story of an 1100-mile solo hike that broke down a young woman reeling from catastrophe - and built her back up again.

At 22, 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: to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State - and to do it alone. She had no experience as a long-distance hiker, and the trail was little more than “an idea, vague and outlandish and full of promise.” But it was a promise of piecing back together a life that had come undone.

Strayed faced down rattlesnakes and black bears, intense heat and record snowfalls, and both the beauty and loneliness of the trail. Told with great suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wild vividly captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her.

©2012 Cheryl Strayed (P)2012 Random House

Critic reviews

“No one can write like Cheryl Strayed. Wild is one of the most unflinching and emotionally honest books I've read in a long time. It is about forgiveness and grief, bravery and hope. It is unforgettable.” (Ann Hood, author of The Knitting Circle)

“While reading Cheryl Strayed’s stunning book about her arduous solo journey along the Pacific Crest Trail, I kept asking myself - what would I do if I were stripped bare of everything - money, job, community, even family and love? Thoreau once said, ‘In wildness is the preservation of the world.’ For Strayed, it is clear that in wildness was the preservation of her soul. She reminds us, in her lyrical and courageous memoir Wild, of what it means to be fully alive, even in the face of catastrophe, physical and psychic hardship, and loss." (Mira Bartók, author of The Memory Palace)

“Cheryl Strayed can sure tell a story. In Wild, she describes her journey from despair to transcendence with honesty, humor, and heart-cracking poignancy. This is a great book.” (Mary Pipher, author of Reviving Ophelia and Seeking Peace)

A Most Excellent Book!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I first saw the movie but as usual it was not anywhere as powerful as the book. My wife particularly loved this book, as she could truly relate to Cheryl's story. Thank you Cheryl for the book and your story!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Obviously it would be Cheryl.

Have you listened to any of Bernadette Dunne’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

no

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes, it made both laugh and cry. Such, is life.

Very Best Book oh the Year

The movie was great, but the book was outstanding! I could not put it down once I started and actually lost a lot of sleep stay up late reading. Just added hiking the PCT to my bucket list.

Wild

I enjoyed it,there were some descriptions that got a little tedious, but for the most part it was very enjoyable

Powerful

Brought back so many feelings from my own 5-month long trip through Europe35 years ago.
Thank you so much

Life changing

This is just a real person on a real journey of forgiveness and renewal. Everyone will get something out of this courageous story.

Awesome read

My daughter bought me this book and I enjoyed every minute of it!
Very inspiring!

Nit -- pronunciation!

Any additional comments?

Terrific story, quite well read -- but! In a book all about Cheryl Strayed's exploration of self via exploration of the western wilderness, the reader should pronounce the geographic names correctly! Mt. McLoughlin has an "f" sound in the middle, not a hard "k" sound. And Willamette? This is not an obscure name in the Pacific Northwest. This is a nit, but it shows poor editing and direction for the audiobook and was a real distraction.

A must!

I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to get into the narrative. I’m so used to hearing Cheryl Strayed on her Dear Sugars podcast, in the first couple of pages I ached for her voice to be telling her story. I was won over savoring every delicious word of this beautiful journey. I wanted to be with her on the PCT. I’m fantasizing about going on the PCT hoping for an experience that might just be a satisfying as listening to her story. Thank you Cheryl Strayed, thank you so very much!

Loved this book!

Sucked me in from the first sentence. I was sad when it ended like I would be missing a friend.

Great book

Cheryl puts her heart and soul into the book based on her experience with the pacific Rim trail. She not only shared her experience on the hike, but parts of her life and how the trail and her life intermingle. She come sour stronger in the end.