Nature and solitude, both so vital to the human condition, yet so rare in the crowded and materialistic culture of today. To escape into one’s own thoughts is a luxury lost to the past; an act once the default, now a difficult task that demands intention. Using raw emotion and poetic language, Cheryl Strayed reveals how a solo journey into the wilderness—isolated from the world and left alone to the echo of her own mind—could mend even the most violent heartbreak of unexpected loss.

After the sudden death of her mother, 23 year old Cheryl falls into a grief stricken path of self destruction, medicating her anguish with illegal drugs, wrecking her marriage with a man she loved, and feeding an intimacy addiction with liberal amounts of unprotected sex. Three years into the depression, as her family falls apart and her descent into heroin worsens, she realizes she must do something drastic to save her life. And so, with ignorance and conviction, she sets off to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. During her three month journey along the PCT, the solitude, surrounding nature, and kindness from newfound friends, all help ground Cheryl’s scattered mind, and ultimately bring peace to her grief.

Cheryl’s love of poems and dramatic flair lend to beautiful prose. Her incredible vulnerability allows her to reveal her darkest, sometimes shocking, thoughts, reminding us of the complexity of human emotion. There is an element to thought and emotion completely out of our control. Stream of consciousness is just that, a stream of flowing, unfiltered thought, that holds no reflection on our real desires or what we believe to be true. Thinking a bad thing doesn’t make you a bad person, and feeling one emotion, when you expected to feel another, shouldn’t make you guilty. Cheryl shows this brilliantly, staring straight into the eyes of the raw, often messy truth of her experience.

Although not grief induced, I did fall into a drug and alcohol fueled depression in my early twenties, and like Cheryl, experienced firsthand the healing power of nature. While part of my healing came through the sum of many mini adventures, as opposed to Cheryl’s single extended one, it was clear that a break from the bustle of daily life, whether through a weekend hike or year long adventure, is necessary for a healthy and stable mind.

While I enjoyed the beautiful language in Wild, and was moved by Cheryl’s vulnerability, I couldn’t help but feel that many passages were added and exaggerated for shock factor. Her self absorption and poor decision making get old pretty quickly. For these reasons I rated Wild three stars.

For those who are more interested in watching Cheryl’s journey than reading about it, the 2014 movie of the same name, starring Reese Witherspoon, is phenomenal. Director Jean-Marc Vallee captures the emotion of the memoir perfectly.