Lauren

Wild  

            A New York Times Best Selling book takes you through an adventure of a lifetime; at every turn there was an unpredictable plot twist, making you fall more in love with the book with each word.  Cheryl Strayed, the author, shares her miraculous story through her book Wild, where she vividly describes her journey in hiking across the Pacific Crest Trail, in order to help find the person she wants to be in the future.

            Anyone who has read this book will know that her use of pathos really draws you in and makes you not want to stop reading. The emotions that Strayed writes with helps paint an unforgettable picture in your head; it makes you feel for what she is going through. There is a part of the book where she tells us about the last breaths of her mom’s life and how painful it was to watch her pass away. Strayed makes you stop and think about how you would react if your mom suddenly passed away, it makes you wonder how you would cope with it all. Strayed not only explains her emotional roller coaster but also makes it so you feel the emotions that she felt at one time in her life, you will laugh, cry and become angry just like she had. Although, some may say that her emotions may have gotten in the way of the real message of the book. They feel that they covered up what she was really trying to prove with the message. On the other hand though I feel that the emotions is what adds to the message, it is what makes the message more believable.

            Strayed targets young girls to read her book but more specifically young girls who are going through a hard time. She conveys a message to them, that when things get tough you don’t want to lose yourself with in it. This meaning that, you want to stay grounded and continue being yourself, don’t change yourself because of the hard times. When you do lose yourself though, sometimes you need to take a step back and finding your self again. For Strayed that was hiking the Pacific Crest Trail, but the challenge for finding herself was learning not to give up when the going gets tough. Some may say though that Strayed hiked the Pacific Crest Trail to run away from the problems she had instead of facing them. Yes, she did leave her problems behind but she did it to help make herself a better person, because before then she was doing stuff that she would regret in the future.

Exciting, emotional and intense are only some of the ways one could sum up this book. Cheryl Strayed really tries to connect to the audience through using a pathos appeal. At the same time, she makes the book have a good message thet many can use in there own lives, today. She is very easy to relate to and is a great role model for struggling young girls. Strayed teaches you not to give up, no matter the circumstances. I Highly recommend this book to anyone girl or boy because it is truly an inspiring story that you shouldn’t miss out on.