Review: Wild by Cheryl Strayed

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.

Told with suspense and style, sparkling with warmth and humor, Wildpowerfully captures the terrors and pleasures of one young woman forging ahead against all odds on a journey that maddened, strengthened, and ultimately healed her. 

Review: I've been wanting to read this book for ages and even though it's been sitting on my kindle for quite some time now, I decided to download it on audiobook and make it my commute listen for the week. I think I chose a good book for the commute because this story was really uplifting vna demo owing and left me feeling ready to tackle things head on as I arrived at work at 7am so that's always got to be a good thing. 

I have to say that I knew absolutely nothing about the pacific coast trail before picking up this book but I loved the idea of a women going on a. Life changing hike all on her own. A chance to prove her independence and a chance for some real soul searching. It convinced me that I could never do anything like that. Despite the feeling of empowerment that it gave me. 

I really liked the writing style of this book, it was one of those non fiction bos where you feel like you are simply in conversation with the author, those make great audiobooks too, and so you don't feel liked you're being talked at or force-fed information. This style of writing is still definitely worthy of reading every single word and is still of a good level of formality but it makes the reading process much quicker and much more digestible. The facts and figures of this book are peppered with interesting anecdotes and stories of things that happened in the past which are called to question by moments that happen along the PCT. 

I definitely learnt a lot about the trail itself, about camping and hiking and general and about the effect that taking on a solo mission like this can have on you. It was really interesting. However my favourite thing about this book was listening to how Cheryl felt along the way. How she coped when things didn't go so well and the times she felt fear of what was ahead and sadness of what she had left behind. I think this book would have a good appeal to a wide range of audiences because of the two separate aspects to this story and I think it's definitely a book to read if you are a female feeling in need of a little empowerment!