Cheryl Strayed was suffering from grief, and as grieving people usually do, she was acting out of character in her private life. Then, when she saw a book about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail at the checkout counter of a store, the idea of hiking this trail alone hit her.

Thus, the trail became something like a therapist’s couch for her. The book starts from the beginning including all that the author did before she started on her trek and finishes with her completing the 1100 hundred miles of the Trail.

This book impressed me greatly, not because of the trials and tribulations of doing such a hike or even the author’s wonderful descriptions of the scenery and all that she saw and experienced, but because of the way she so sincerely and openly showed the readers the workings of her mind and her emotions through flashbacks, recalls, or just plain reflections of the hurts she felt, hurts inflicted on her by events, people, or herself. As I read, I hiked the trail, came face to face with bears, rattlesnakes, and a fox, and grieved at life’s inconsistencies with her, as if I were her, and I also wondered about and appreciated the people she met on the way while she hiked.

This book is a very moving travel piece, one of the best I have ever read, even though I have read other stories about people walking other trails and roads like the El Camino.

the sincerity and the voice of the speaker

know if there were other books of this caliber on any kind of travel

is Cheryl Strayed, who is also the author of Torch and Tiny Beautiful Things.

it left a lasting impression on me.

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Created Sep 08, 2016 at 8:53pm • Submit your own review...