Books to give you hope: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

This looks like a book I'm gonna have to buy:



This memoir of an epic walk along the US’s Pacific Crest Trail, during which the author regains lost strength, offers redemptive inspiration to any reader

I came across Cheryl Strayed’s Wild during a difficult patch last year. Without going into too much detail, a perfect storm of life events left me anxious and depressed. I remember doing all the things you are supposed to do to get better: exercising, meditating – and reading, which brought me to this book. When my anxious mind refused to concentrate on TV or music, Strayed’s account of her 1,100-mile solo hike along the Pacific Crest Trail transported me out of myself, made me feel less alone, and more hopeful.


Walk on the Wild side: Cheryl Strayed’s 1,000-mile hike



Wild begins in the hospital ward where, at just 22, Strayed lost her mother to lung cancer. “She would always be the empty bowl that no one could full,” Strayed writes. “I’d have to fill it myself again and again and again.” The sheer weight of this loss sets her on a downward spiral of self-destruction: her family is broken and scattered, her marriage breaks down, she develops a heroin addiction. Four years on from her mother’s death, she is desperate to find a way back to the person she once was, flinging herself into a journey across America.
Through her epic walk, Strayed tests herself both physically and mentally, and with every demonstration of her own resilience is able to open herself up to life once more; the journey teaches her survival skills beyond those used on a hike. Her internal struggles and emerging strengths mirror her developing physical prowess, proving the vital link between mind and body.
Much of the comfort of Wild stems from the honesty of Strayed’s voice: she is naive, warm, in pain. You want her to achieve what she does – as Strayed tentatively peers around every corner, to take on a record snowfall, then snakes, then bears, you will be with her on every page. Some of the best parts of Wild, for me, were the passages where she met other lonely travellers with their own unique stories. I, like her, felt a great relief when she arrived at each camp stop, parched and hungry for warmth, food and company.
But for all this worthiness, the book is also, at times, very funny. Strayed is a hiking novice: she hobbles about in too-small shoes, while lugging around about 20lb of water in a dromedary bag. One of the most famous scenes, in both the book and the subsequent movie adaptation, sees her repair her tiny boots with duct-tape – only to lose one down the side of a mountain. Even shoeless, Strayed remains undefeated.
Literature also played an important role in Strayed’s personal journey. During her travels, she devours book after book. She grows stronger, reading at night the tales of writers who have gone before her – with only a miner’s headlamp to light the page. She is saved, in part, by the power of words and shared experience.
In much the same way, I found her words building me up. The end of the book, without giving too much away, is poignant, thoughtful and perfectly rounds off the narrative. Reading Wild helped me realise that every step forward is a step into a new future, new hope and new opportunity. And however scary you find that, what you can’t do, and must never do, is stop walking.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/aug/15/books-to-give-you-hope-wild-by-cheryl-strayed