Tonight is our first crack at a on-line, right here on the ding dang front page, book club. So take a (brief) break from sharpening your political skills and dive in to help with the discussion.
I'm going to post some questions, one at a time, in hopes of sparking the conversation. But if you feel like tackling this book from another direction, go for it.
And one more thing we really need tonight: suggestions for the next book club title.
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Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer
Jon Krakauer's 1996 book follows the story of Christopher McCandless. In 1992, McCandless graduated from Emory University. He came from a well-to-do family and he'd been a top student at school, but on graduation he didn't return home to his family as expected. Instead he disappeared from Atlanta after giving $24,000 -- all his savings -- to a charity. Weeks later, his car was found abandoned in the desert Southwest. His wallet and all his remaining money had been burned. Despite increasingly desperate efforts from his frantic parents and sister, they found no trace of McCandless. It was only months later, after Christopher McCandless' decomposing body was found in the Alaskan wilderness, that some portions of his journey began to be filled in. But despite Krakauer's research and the contents of McCandless' own diary, it can't be said that the details of his story have ever really become clear.
Question 1
Krakauer clearly sympathizes with McCandless and finds similarities with his own life. However, many readers find it hard to have any sympathy for McCandless. For some, he comes off as a pampered kid who goes into a tough situation unprepared and gets what he deserves. Do you find anything sympathetic in McCandless' feelings? Anything admirable in his actions?
Question 2
How do Krakauer's accounts of his own exploits affect your reading of the book? Do these incidents distract from the main narrative, or do you find them helpful in drawing a connection with your own life?
Question 3
Here's a bit from Walden, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Do you think this fits with McCandless' motivation?
Update [2010-9-25 22:40:8 by Mark Sumner]: Thanks, everyone, for your participation. It seems like we had more than enough interest to justify giving this experiment another go. Please email me if you have a suggestion for a book to tackle next month.