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)

Just what I needed.

The perfect place in my life to find this. Isn't it amazing how that works. Highly recommend. Inspiring, motivating and heartbreak at times.

Amazing

After just coming out of a hike on the John Muir Trail, this story is nothing but delightful and insightful. I loved every second of it!

Amazing Read!

Amazing story! Very compelling!! Author told the story with such grace! Books are always better than movies, but it can't be more true for this book! Must read!!

Better Than Expected

The journey the character takes to conquer her demons is very honest and real. There is no sugar-coating and her epiphanies regarding the impacts of her relationships with her family are revealing and at times scathing and yet forgiving and understanding. Despite all the physical, emotional and psychological pain she endures, her perseverance is very inspiring. The narrator is pleasant to listen to and she is very effective in emoting the sentiments of the character/author.

Loved the details that made me feel I was there!

The narrator said winded wrong or at least not as I've heard it said. That's basically my only complaint! I really related to Cheryl so much that at times it was downright eerie. 15 years younger than her but I've had a similar life. I thoroughly enjoyed it and think this might be one of the very few books I'll listen to again!

Unflinching Story Of Flinch-worthy Courage

Who would dare take an oversized, overpacked, over-weighted backpack alone up and down great elevations and along an isolated but exceptionally beautiful trail along the Sierra Nevadas and Cascade mountain ranges during a time when "we all knew better?" This was the 90's, when the news was filled with the movements of OJ Simpson. Most women had begun looking over their shoulders in elevators, let alone jog alone on a park trail. But Cheryl Strayed pushed against this caution and refused to let it imprison her. (As it certainly did me!) A little voice in her, nurtured by her pioneering upbringing, gave her the gumption, permission and stouthearted ease to do the unthinkable. (If only that voice had visited me at that time!) She overcame her fears of being overtaken by both beast (bears and mountain lions) and the worst of humanity. Clearly she was protected. It was plain her mother played an integral part in guiding her to this journey and through this journey.

Cheryl ejected herself from a life and marriage of great promise triggered by the grief over the loss of her own exceptional mother. I shuddered at this premise because of the disappointment I had with another recent story, turned much hyped movie, Eat, Pray, Love, that followed this path. However, I hung in there with this one. Cheryl's biography was much grittier and her own choices "showed not told" of real life self-destructive choices that seemed less "canned" that I could sink my teeth into. Not that everyone needs to follow a path of self-destruction with loss... but let's face it, we can do some pretty stupid things. What redeemed this story for me were the moments of honestly illustrating both the physical and emotional pain she endured while undergoing her metamorphosis. A great example of this were the many times her expenses left her with only pennies in her pocket. But having grown up on a wilderness property without running water and a mother who taught her to value life and nature and not money or possessions, she realized she eventually received exactly what she needed. Lessons of appreciation accompanied her when she had to go without. Her triumph was impressive.

This story inspires me now to think, "If she could do it, couldn't I?", which considering I'm only 2 years younger is delightful. Yes, I've even found myself searching different backpacking supplies! But with a back fused 4 levels, if I am unable, I am very grateful to Cheryl for allowing me to be packed in her own backpack during her trip.

I would have given the story one more star but I didn't because there were times I felt different scenes or people could have been fleshed out even more. It seems that many more modern writers are not pushing themselves harder into the "show, don't tell" realm. I understand that many characters and places were fleeting in this journey and I understand that. But days that Cheryl spent with these other characters could have been shared a little more intimately with dialogue. The trail and it's vista's anatomy and history could have been enlightening filler for several passages. Ie: What were some interesting PCT Guide facts that Cheryl learned but didn't share with us? What were the more efficient techniques of packing would she do next time?

The narrator, Bernadette Dunne, did a professional job reading this biography. While she has an "older" voice, she read with authority as someone else said, like she was the older Cheryl reflecting back on her life. Bernadette was able to use different cadence and tone for different characters which, for me, makes listening to a book so enjoyable.

With a good Audible book, I can't wait to prepare meals, do laundry and weed the garden so that I can be transported to exceptional places and inner landscapes by courageous stories and their storytellers. Wild definitely accomplished that for me.

Great listen

I loved the story, and got caught up in the PCT. I will warn any animal lovers about a horrific and raw description of putting a beloved horse down. I was bawling in the car on the way to work.

Simply: thankful

Whenever you get your hands on this book, it'll be the right time. Thank you, Cheryl foot your honesty.

wild and brave

Read second time. always something new or not remembered. friend hiking AT prompted wild (again).

worth the wait

Where does Wild rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

great memoir, one of the best I've read.

What other book might you compare Wild to and why?

While "A Walk in the Woods" was funny and informative this was gritty and touching.

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

I thought she was a little too old for this book, but I've always like her narrations.

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

I laughed out load and teared up too.

Any additional comments?

I didn't read it when it was HOT, but it's was worth the wait. I look forward to the movie version.