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)

Inspired and motivated

Great story with many details about her life, trail, backpacking, experiences and a lot more to it. This gives me motivation on how strength and persistence can let you achieve goals that we dream for but afraid to pursue.

Overall enjoyed reading the book!

Now what I’d expected

When Oprah promoted this book and the movie came out, I’d rolled my eyes and uncharitably thought, “Great, some ready-for-Hollywood fluff about some privileged woman finding herself on the trail: what a stereotype.” To be fair, there *is* some of that in here: a pretty young blonde marvels at how fortune favors her. But that’s like distilling The Iliad to the Trojan horse: there’s much more than that in this book, including some brutally honest and painful parts about grief and losing a parent and the horror of best intentions going terribly wrong and coming to terms with the parts of yourself that make you uncomfortable. My one-word summary would be “honest:” highly recommended:

Good Soul Searching & Women Empowering Story

Made me, at 65, want to hike the Appalachian Trail. I was glad that the main character did not find her "TRUE LOVE" on this long journey, but rather found herself!

Inspiring story!

Great memoir. I’ve always wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail and this book was a great account of it.

Perfection like your favorite snapple

The absolute perfect book
Cheryl’s insight is completely heart felt and profoundly deep ! Definitely made the hole in my smaller, too
Loved it so much

Beautiful, warm, and heart wrenching

I loved this book. It’s wonderfully written and a joy to listen to. Thank you, Cheryl!

Outstanding Listen!

The story, I shall never forget!
The narration kept me listening on and on.
Some of my Book Club members had some trouble reading it,
but had they listened to it, it would have made all the difference in the world. I felt like I was with her.
Cheryl Strayed, my best to you. 💖

Some good stuff and then mediocre

A meaningful look at the voyage of something as daring as hiking the PCT would be. Rather drawn out with her numerous affairs and crushes. Not sure that actually contributed to the story, or maybe it could’ve been cut down some. Story gave me some good insights into hiking, and the strength that would be required. In my view this book is certainly not for children or even teens.

Loved!

Book was great, narrator did a fabulous job and made it hard to stop listening. Story was inspiring and beautifully written.

Great hike, ruined by sleaze

Strayed is a terrific storytellers, and I'm glad she did the narration. But her graphic detail of her addiction to sex and her obsession with getting laid was neither a turn-on nor relevant to the story of her PCT adventure. It just made her appear ever a sleazeball, and it diminished her courageous trek. Edit out her sex addiction, or at least throw a literary curtain over it, and Wild would be a total 5 star event.