Sunday, January 20, 2008

3 Down, 49 To Go

Book: Into the Wild - Jon Krakauer
Album: In Our Nature - Jose Gonzalez

Into the Wild is a tough book. Not tough in any of the traditional senses though. It is not conceptually difficult nor is it difficult to read. It evokes an emotion thought that is difficult to place and haunts like a spector over you. Clearly the author relates to McCandless and attempts to convey the feeling that McCandless would have experienced during the story. The author did an admirable job of portraying the story without being heavy handed nor cold and unfeeling.

The book makes me both never want to leave the developed world and completely disappear. The boy's story is at once compelling and frustrating. Demonstrating the stuborness that people have inside them and how some absolutely refuse to back down from their principles. However there is something inspirational about how McCandless refused to give up on his principles and how he wanted to return to nature. He was able to survive for much longer than I expected and was able to succeed in conditions I doubt I could.

In Our Nature is the back to basics approach that McCandless certainly agreed with. An album composed of just a guy and his guitar. The songs are largely about peoples own selfishness and greed, anti-war and anti-suffering style songs. Yet the songs do not come off as preachy. Maybe it is the fact Gonzalez is more subtle and less blatant than most other singer songwriters. Either way this albums feeling and sound leaves an impression similar to the book.

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