James K. reviewed Heroic journey or two-pronged tragedy on 1/13/2009 + 5 more book reviews

I first became interested in this story because my niece was reading it for school. Her assesment: "Stupid". Mine is a bit different. This documentation of a young man's bitterness and his parents regret couldnt be more tragic. Though the main character saw his journey into the wild as a kind of epic persuit of purity and rejection of family hypocrisy, the underlying burden of unforgiveness he carried brought him to his end. I couldnt help thinking of Holden Caldwell from "Catcher in the Rye", the fatally immature and judgemental youth who decended into mental illness. Here, the end of a young life could have been prevented by him writing off the emotonal debt placed in him by his parents. He seemed unable to relinquish the griefs of his past and release those who had hurt him. For their part, his parents (especially the father) couldn't see their own hand in this journey of rejection until their grief brought it home too late. Ultimately sad but a thought provoking read and strong cautionary tale for any parent or child. Dont miss the excellent movie and moving cameo by a wizened William Holden.

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