January Not Fiction Book Discussion

We begin our 2009 discussions with Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer's reflection on the death--and the life--of Chris McCandless, a young man from a well-to-do family who chose to leave the life he was expected to lead to experience life on the road and in the wilderness, ultimately dying of starvation in Alaska.

We should have much to talk about, as McCandless' story has captured readers' interest since his remains were first discovered in 1992. Krakauer published an article about McCandless' death in Outside, but he felt compelled to explore his life in more detail in a book. More than ten years later, Sean Penn created a film based on the book, reviving interest in McCandless' story, although Krakauer's book had already become a classic of sorts. We will compare the difference in narrative approach of the book and the film; we will no doubt debate the wisdom of McCandless' decisions; we will ponder the many ironies of his death; we will consider the American Romantic fascination with The Road, The West, The Wild. But we may find that we cannot resolve McCandless' story in any ultimately satisfying way--the word that most often appears in reviews of both the book and the film is "haunting."

We hope you will join one of our discussions: Tuesday, January 6 at 7:00 p.m. at Main Library in Meeting Room A; Thursday, January 22 at 11:00 a.m. at West Ashley Branch; or here on the blog.