Like all good travelogs, this one is romantic and personal. It is more than just the story, yet less than the biography, of Chris McCandless. Jon Krakauer establishes his credentials as a biographer of a misunderstood recluse, and passionately defends the confused genius of a youth obsessed with answering (or even knowing the answers to) the larger questions of life. The intensity and depth of the youngster who called himself Alexander Supertramp is special. He could well have and should have lived through the summer of 1992 in Alaska.
The simplicity of the goal to "live off the land for a while" makes it easy to pass judgments on, for newbies, rookies, regulars, experts, or veterans alike. That's exactly what makes this story and this book an interesting read. It would be silly to typecast him into any one bucket, whether one might appreciate his unique ideologies or not. Although the book does a great job of hero-worship with substance, it sometimes misses coherence and dabbles more into the he-said-she-said than is required. It will be interesting to see how Jon Krakauer and Sean Penn handle it in the movie scheduled for release later this year.
