I must confess I'm endlessly fascinated by Chris McCandless, the young man who set off to live in the wilds of Alaska in 1992, only to die a little over three months later. 
 Krakauer is a good journalist, and he paints a colourful picture of McCandless's last days - the people he met, the places he saw, the struggles he encountered. By interviewing the people who knew the young man best, and by studying his journal entries, Krakauer is able to piece together a likely account of what McCandless's last days were like. He even attempts to solve the mystery of his death. 
 I believe McCandless captures our imaginations, because who hasn't wanted to leave civilization behind and strike our own path, especially when young? Who hasn't wanted to do the opposite of what was expected of them? That said, he was also infuriatingly selfish. When he gave his $25K in savings to charity and burned over $100 in cash, he didn't become independent - he became reliant on strangers, who - anxious over how unprepared McCandless was to survive in the Alaskan wilderness - gave him rides, food, material goods and various supplies. How does mooching off others and becoming a burden on society, however briefly, fit with his grand philosophy? 
 He was also needlessly cruel to his family, who committed the ultimate sin of wanting to buy him a new car for his college graduation. The author offers a further explanation that McCandless had learned of his fathers' affairs years before and was full of rage, but why not contact his sister, then? Or his mother? To love McCandless was to be forever wounded by him. 
 Though Krakauer delves a bit too far into "I am Man; hear me roar," stuff, including his own ill-fated mountain-climbing expedition in Alaska, he always pulls back and returns to the subject at hand before venturing too far off track. In the end, his personal accounts don't add much to the story, but they don't take away from it either. 
 I hope the McCandless family can regain some peace and joy in their lives, though they miss their son and brother horribly. And to all the diehard Alaskans who keep bitching about the publicity McCandless has received, saying he was stupid and unprepared and other nasty things - stuff it. Who hasn't done something regretful or ill-conceived in their twenties? McCandless's mistake just happened to be a fatal one.