Wild

Wild

by Cheryl Strayed

Finished Cheryl Strayed‘s book Wild, her memoir of her personal journey through the PTC (the Pacific Crest Trail running from California to Oregon) after the death of her mother and a number of failed relationships.  The trip in total is over 1,100 miles starting in the Mojave Desert and ending in Oregon at the “Bridge of the Gods” that leads into the state of Washington.  Strayed is twenty-six years old when she makes the commitment to go on this solo journey. She departed on this trip four years after losing her mother to lung cancer at the age of forty-five years old, a major factor in her decision to leave civilization.  Throughout her journey, Strayed shares episodes of pain with her siblings, her relationship with her parents, and her relationship with her husband, who she married right after college (though her relationship ended before her journey began).  She also shares her struggle with another partner that involved difficulties with heroin.  Strayed discusses many of the highs (meeting new friends, reaches summits, experiencing the beauty of nature, a one-night stand with a man she meets on the trip) and the lows (physical pain, hunger, reflecting on the many loses in her life which lead to loneliness).  The flashbacks to her family challenges are conjured up through the trip and lead her to think about what is next in life.  Strayed clearly gains a sense of peace, fights her grief and personal challenges, and overcomes various physical struggles while on the trip.  Strayed’s willingness to be vulnerable serves as a guide for others coming from dysfunction and poverty to escape through reliance on self.