The Wild Truth

July 21, 2014
Twenty years ago, Jon Krakauer wrote in Into the Wild the stunning story of Chris McCandless, a young man who walked into the Alaska wilderness and starved to death. At the time, Krakauer spoke with Chris’s sister, Carine, who allowed Krakauer to read Chris’s letters, but asked the author not to print them. Two decades later, in this fiercely honest and gripping memoir, Carine shares many of these letters and candidly reveals the harsh and violent family in which the two grew up. The siblings’ father constantly berated and physically abused his young wife, and, as young children, Chris and Carine comforted each other the best they could. “Our parents hurt us constantly, but they were our parents. We wanted to believe the warm moments showed who they genuinely were, not just another part of the show they put on.” Chris eventually found freedom when he took off on his own in the year following high school graduation, and before he entered Emory—his father demanded to know Chris’s plans for the summer, but Chris refused, making the threats fell empty. When Chris headed off on his post-college journey, he left Carine to cope with her parents, and to stake out her own life. In the end, this is Carine’s story. She honestly shares her successes and failures in work and relationships as she comes to the realization that she has tried to find in adult life what was lacking in her childhood: worth, strength, and unconditional love.

October 1, 2014
The author's older brother famously went into the Alaskan bush in 1992 and became immortalized by Jon Krakauer in the best-seller, Into the Wild (1996). As portrayed here, Carine and Chris McCandless grew up in a household suffering from psychological and physical abuse at the hands of parents who shared a tumultuous relationship. This scorched-earth memoir has a certain dark appeal, but readers looking for insight into why Chris sought comfort in the wilderness and tried to emulate Thoreau will likely be somewhat disappointed. Carine writes of her painful search for love, numerous failed attempts to make peace with parents she loathes, and her lifelong affection for her brother, but reveals no secret truth as to why he chose Alaska. Drawing on previously unpublished letters from Chris and her own recollections, she seeks to answer the questions raised by the Into the Wild myth. But while readers will know Carine intimately by the final pages, they can not deny that yet again Chris is revealed through the lens of someone else's memories.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)