Review of Wild by Cheryl strayed

Title: Wild
Author: Cheryl Strayed
Source: Bought used
Series: Standalone
Series: 3/5









Goodreads Summary:
At twenty-two, 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. With no experience or training, driven only by blind will, she would hike more than a thousand miles of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mojave Desert through California and Oregon to Washington State — and she would do it alone.

I found this book used for really cheap and I was really interested in reading this novel. The movie is coming out shortly and I decided I wanted to read it before I considered watching the movie hoping it would be an interesting story of a woman who decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail.

The story was a lot different than I thought it would be. We learn early on in the novel that Cheryl's mother has died at a young age from cancer and for the entire novel Cheryl uses this as an excuse for everything. She uses it as an excuse to ruin her marriage with her husband but seems to not understand why he may be attached to to other people after they are divorced. She uses it as an excuse whenever she has hurt anyone in her life. I was not a fan of Cheryl for not only using her mother's death as an excuse, but also because she seemed convinced everyone was attracted to her and when she did not get her way she would make these people sound like they were cruel individuals. 

There is a lot of people who float in and out of the story but I found all of them were memorable in their own way. Her description of the trail was sporadic and she skipped a lot of the trail and hitchhiked a lot and described her experience in that situation almost as much as she explained the trail.  

This novel's saving grace were the characters and the trail. I loved reading about the trail. I have donated this novel. I liked it but I was not in love with it.