an endearing resurrection 1

Wild has several points in common with Into the wild, but in his resurrection he tells a different story with a happy ending. This is what would have happened if Christopher McCandless, party confront wild Alaska, could back across the flooded river that held him prisoner. However this is not the attractiveness of the Nordic lands fascinates Cheryl Strayed, but the Pacific Crest Trail, a kind of GR 20, which runs along the crest of the southern Rocky Mountains to the north of the USA. She travels 1800 km!

Wild is also three interwoven stories: Bridget Jones's hiking, a kind of open psychoanalysis and of course the path of the story. Although the latter is reduced mostly to that of've met on the road. Because what interests especially the author, given his existential quest, it is human relations.

Bridget Jones hiked because this slow resurrection begins with a character who hesitates, destroyed his life and embarks on an unlikely project, with no real preparation. To illustrate this, you only have to report that to one side, it causes his divorce from the man she loves, and the other, she embarked on the great hiking autonomously, never have done before. This gives rise to some tragicomic episodes. Fortunately for her, Cheryl Strayed, a name she chose after her divorce, is persevering, even resistant, but also has some luck.
Bridget Jones, too, because we suspect the account to be slightly scripted for the needs of the case, as we learn to do so in the drafting groups in which it participated. For example, we hide it in college she was a specialist in cross-country ("She Was a track and cross country runner" wikipedia). Besides, the construction of the book is typical of modern literature like, first chapter introducing a dramatic scene suspense and long flashback. Thereafter, the chapters on the route alternate with those of introspection. That is, it is not a crude testimony, but a fictionalized account about fifteen years later, by a writer / journalist already confirmed.

It is however open pit psychoanalysis most interested the author. And in this regard it must be admitted that Cheryl Strayed was enough to feed a long series of sessions. Born into a family whose father beat the mother, the latter is separated and then living in near autarky new age fusion with his children, a rather nice stepfather, but detached and distant siblings, complete the family table. Cheryl married very young but can not help to destroy the marriage, which she believes however, through a disorderly life that leans towards heroin addiction. The absence of the father being offset (?) By a race for boys. The trigger of this drift is the death of his mother a withering cancer. So, she does not finish his studies ...

It is therefore to take stock and to forge a new me, on a whim, she decides to make the PCT. A personal feat she has lead in 1995 and should be welcomed.

The book is written in a pleasant way and ends with the end of the journey. Given the real subject, the reader would have liked to know a little more about how it was rebuilt after his feat.

PS. The film (released in 2015) is very close to the book and well aware of the history and atmosphere of the book. The characters are well rendered, playing the lead actress is very convincing. Nevertheless that as a backpacker, I was embarrassed by an aspect in my opinion absolutely not credible. The bag Cheryl door in the film is certainly large, but appears much too light, especially compared to what is told in the book. It looks like it is mostly filled with Kapok foam. Similarly, travel 1800 km in the open air and weather, should result in a tan and a physical modification of the body of the actress. It should, for example, gain muscle, like an athlete. Just think of the transformation of Tom Hanks in "one world" to appear several years on a desert island. In short, this is not serious!