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I have recently enjoyed two books, both from remarkable women, in their memoir on how they find a new purpose after personal catastrophe.   Not that they are the kinds of book I seek after, but more that they sell pretty well,  and take up good positions in libraries and book stores.

The first one “Gift of Hope” by Danielle Steel with an earlier book review in October. If “Gift of Hope” is about courage, empathy, love and a voice for the homeless; this book    is a personal journey full of adventures, physical and mental challenges, at times crazy but more often  inspiring how a solo hike in the nature helps the author from lost to found.

“Wild”, published in 2012, is an honest memoir of the author’s eleven-hundred miles solo hike of the Pacific Crest Trail in the mid 90s. The solo hike took place after her mother’s death, her divorce from a caring husband, her drop-out from college, and that she ends up with heroine and an addictive boy friend, when she was only twenty two years old.  She has nothing more to lose and has made the most impulsive, yet life changing decision to hike the Pacific Crest Trail along the west coast of US, with no experience as a long-distance hiker.

Strayed faces almost insurmountable physical and mental challenges in the first few weeks; from the monster backpack to carry, the over-tight hiking shoes, the blisters and pain, to the pitiful money she has at each planned stop, where she would receive a supply box and twenty dollars to last till next stop on the trail.  Yet she survives those weeks by herself, and often warmed by brief encounters of fellow hikers.  As nature is, Strayed and the hikers are occasionally forced to bypass snow laden path of the trail and adjust their journey – there is this metaphor how Strayed count her toe nails lost to the trail, at the end of the journey, the nature has claimed 6 and she keeps 4.

The first few chapters talk in length about the physical and mental demand; while subsequent chapters are more of a storied reflection of her own personal childhood, her relationship with mother, ex-husband and friends, and what she would like to become.  Her personal experience is captivating – at times heart- warming as she runs into kind-hearted fellow hikers; at times dramatic as she loses her hiking shoe and walks miles on sandals; at times horrifying as she faces bears, rattlesnake and not the least, intimidating man with questionable intent; at times as she reflects her own past failures; yet, she forges ahead against all odds on this seemingly crazy journey of herself.  As Strayed gets further and further in her solo hike, things start to change.  She finds the courage to connect back to past; and she heals herself by facing her past while living her present and finding her future.

This is an inspirational memoir of an incredible journey of the author, both inward and outward.

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