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)

Great book, didn't like the narration

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

No, I don't think Bernadette did a great job giving emotion. Voices of other characters all sounded the same. When Cheryl wrote that she sang or chirped or shouted or growled, Bernadette still carried the same voice.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Cheryl, of course

Did the narration match the pace of the story?

No

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No

Raw and Adventurous

Very Good! I love into the Wild by John Krackauer. This was a great female version. Loved it and can't wait to see the film.

Awesome

Absolutely wonderful. I'm a backpacker and it really touched me. wonderful story. Thanks for sharing.

Entertaining

Just in time to start thinking of those summer weekend hiking trips! Get out there, and bring a good book!

So much to relate to

I enjoyed this book. I was hesitate because of some of the reviews I read but it was as honest as possible and personal. I get it. Last year I traveled around the country in a mini-camper for similar reasons and this touched those places no one else could understand. Thank you Cheryl Strayed.
Because this is an audiobook I want to acknowledge that the actor/narrator/whatever was quite good and I will look for her name again when choosing an audiobook.

Okay not fantastic

I thought the reader's voice was a bit dull and hard to understand sometimes. The story was interesting some of the time. I couldn't decide if Cheryl was brave or naïve a lot of the time but she was an individual that's for sure. I applauded her spunk.

Amazing and Inspiring!

I definitely identified with Cheryl and her struggle. Her accomplishment in both hiking the PCT and writing this awesome book are inspiring to others struggling with grief and life choices. Thank you for this!

I loved it.

And I was moved by it. I identified with a girl that list a mother too young and so I felt like this book was speaking right to me. I might just "read it again."

I loved getting lost and found too. :)

So parallel to my thoughts and feelings and struggles, and gives me hope that I might take a journey like this one and find myself too...and be able to accept life and the lessons that come with it. And maybe someday find happiness and peace...thank you for the encouragement Cheryl, and being someone I can relate to. Much love!

A true test of endurance!

If you could sum up Wild in three words, what would they be?

Patience, Endurance and Hope

What was one of the most memorable moments of Wild?

Because I had lived through a similar situation, experiencing the death of my mother at a young age and being her caregiver throughout a devastating bout with cancer. I recognized the many and confusing stages of the grieving process. It took me years to come to grips with and totaly understand and make sense of the many feelings of anger, sadness, rage, helplessness and lack of understanding one feels watching a loved one suffer.

I truley feel the book does a wonderful job of showing the similarities between the physical journey and the emotional journey one travels after loosing a loved one or experiencing and emotionally tramatic crisis. The story combined the physical endurance, hardships, and aloneness of hiking the trail with the often overwelming emptiness, aloneness, and helplessness one feels as they travel forward after an emotionally devestating event.

Any additional comments?

She does a wonderful job of making the reader feel as though you are actually hiking the trail along with her.