Book Review: Wild and Cobble Hill

Hello! Sorry it’s been a couple weeks since I wrote a review. It was the end of classes for subbing, and I’ve been busy. The books that I am reviewing are “Wild" by Cheryl Strayed and "Cobble Hill" by Ceicly vonZeigesar. “Wild" is a nonfiction, memoir about Cheryl’s personal hike through the Pacific Crest Trail in California. She walks 1,100 miles from Southern California to Oregon, Washington by herself with her hiking bag and little cash or real food. “Cobble Hill” is a fictional book that takes place in the wealthy suburb of Brooklyn, NY and follows around 10 characters, detailing their day to day actions. This book is more of an easy read, compared to others I have read this year. 

When reading the book, “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed, the best word I used to describe the book was perseverance. This theme shows up in the book as Cheryl hikes the PCT, her ability to carry a 70 pound bookbag for the duration of the summer, eating frozen dried foods for most of the trip, and not having enough money for basic needs multiple times on her hike. She meets many different hikers and people, and trusts herself to get through the entire trail. Other themes such as optimism, bravery, and independence are seen throughout the book too. 

Cheryl Strayed has her own personal website because she is a recognized and well known author. 

https://www.cherylstrayed.com/

It was slightly difficult to read “Wild" because it wasn’t a braided memoir, and it’s been awhile since I’ve read a book with a simple plot. This book may have been a better fit if I was reading with some friends who I could discuss the adventure that Cheryl was taking. There were flashbacks in the book, but the majority of the time Cheryl was hiking through the California wilderness. It’s interesting to read about how her hike changes day to day, depending on the weather, other hikers, and what she is thinking about internally that day. 

What makes the book more interesting is the different people Cheryl meets through hiking, staying at camp sites, and hitch hiking. Cheryl hitchhikes throughout the book when she has walked too much, or when she is concerned that she is lost. Her shoes don’t fit, and she has to order new ones.They caused foot pain and blisters, making it difficult to hike. There are also other physical problems that happen to her such as losing six of her toenails, and developing hip scabs because of the heaviness of her bookbag. 

The book touches on the consumption of alcohol on the hike. Cheryl drank with other hikers when she reached a rest stop on the map that has a restaurant, or when she met friendly townsfolk who offered to buy her alcohol when she was in town. Cheryl also had a few sexual encounters with multiple men on the trip, one particular instance she doesn’t use a condom because she got rid of her condoms at the beginning of the hike.   

Even though she met a handful of men on the trip, the ending of the story is cute and unexpected because she met her future husband at a well known ice cream parlor in Oregon, Washington on the last day of her hike. 

There are a few flashbacks throughout the book, mostly memories of Cheryl’s childhood involving stories with her Mom and her brother. There is a scene in which Cheryl and her brother have to put down their mom’s horse, and it is written in vivid detail. Cheryl is extremely upset and bothered by the experience because she loved her mom, and her mom is dead. Cheryl’s mom’s horse, Lady, being put down was slightly a traumatic experience for Cheryl. Cheryl’s mom loved her horse, and Cheryl and her mom’s relationship was very close.  

Chapter 16 is where Cheryl’s mom is being cremated, and Cheryl puts the ashes of her mom in her mouth. I’m not exactly sure how to explain this scene because Cheryl doesn’t provide a lot of commentary on the action. I think it was because Cheryl was in shock, and she couldn’t imagine life without her mom. 

It’s difficult because sometimes in the book Cheryl explains her thought process, but other times she just follows through with her emotions, and she doesn’t stop to think about the consequences of them. It is also difficult because as a reader, I know that she is on the hike for self- reflection and discovery, but there wasn’t a lot of mention of spirituality or trust in God. Cheryl seemed to trust herself a lot, and she also seemed to trust nature. During her hike she accepted that her mother passed away, and followed clues in the sky in order to feel better. 

Overall I liked the book, though there were times that I thought the hike was too long. It was important for me to Google the sites that she was at, that way I could fully visualize the book. Her writing style is clean, and the flashback memories were important to the book to understand Cheryl as a person, and why she chose to hike the PCT by herself. One of her ending quotes sums up her thoughts and feelings towards the future, “It was my life – like all lives, mysterious and irrevocable and sacred. So very close, so very present, so very belonging to me. How wild it was, to let it be.” Her perspective has changed from anxious to calm, and it shows that she is capable of handling her future even if she is unclear in which direction to go. 

“Cobble Hill” is a commentary and satire written about modern day life in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York. The author, Cecily vonZeigesar is also the author of Gossip Girl. She is originally from London, and went to Colby college and then Arizona State. VonZiegesar does a good job illustrating the modern life of many characters who all live within the same neighborhood. There are ten characters mentioned in the book, a famous male singer, a well known writer, a school nurse, a stay at home mom, two academics from London, a toddler, and two teenagers. The story contains many different individual plots from the different lives of the characters, and the reader sees how each different character’s narrative unfolds. The book is a good read because it’s quick to read compared to other fictional texts, there isn’t any flowery language or extreme amounts of editing I have seen in other books. I wish this book held more literary merit, but it’s missing the small details that are seen in classics, and there aren’t any motifs or overarching messages from the book. 

Because VonZiegesar also wrote Gossip Girl, I was expecting more focus on the relationship between the high school characters Shy and Liam. I was also expecting for the characters' emotions to be more intense throughout the book for dramatic purposes. 

The main message from the book is to be grateful for what you have, and to pay attention to your surroundings. There is a house fire at the climax of the book, and many of the characters were at a neighborhood party celebrating a London holiday. Mandy and Stuart’s house is on fire with their young child starting the fire by accident, and then running inside the house. One of Liam’s school friend’s saves Ted, the child, by calling 911.  

From a character standpoint, I wish Mandy would have focused more on her career in the book. I also wish Shy would have had some girlfriends to talk to about her growing relationship with Liam. I could see a sequel made for this novel, although it does take place post Covid and the book does a great job highlighting the significance of community and being a part of a neighborhood. Another interesting fact is that the book starts and ends with a character’s (Ron’s) book signing. During the time of the book, he wrote a fictional book because he is a writer, and it is interesting to see how he pulls information and events from his daily life and adds it to his writing. 

There are some silly parts in the book where Liam and his friends become fake models in order to receive free clothes from a popular brand. Mandy, who is the singer’s wife, is pretending to have MS and steals her neighbors' packaged food prep boxes from their porches/ doorways because she doesn’t want to go to the grocery store. 

In conclusion I liked the book; it was a quick read and I enjoyed the characters and the different narratives.

After reading "Wild", I thought it was important to talk about her quote book. I read “Brave Enough” by Cheryl Strayed a couple years ago, when I had to move back in with my parents. “Brave Enough” is a quote book from Cheryl’s work, pulling from “Wild” and from “Tiny, Beautiful Things”. There are so many inspirational quotes in this book about being brave, finding oneself, listening to your gut, and trusting yourself. It’s interesting to see all of Cheryl’s inspirational quotes in one place, and it’s a good book to read when needing inspiration or feeling upset about a situation. This book is different from "Wild” because Cheryl’s words and quotes are much more direct towards a reader who is struggling with life decisions, being authentic, and finding self- acceptance.  

Some of my favorite quotes:

“Transformation doesn’t ask that you stop being you. It demands that you find a way back to the authenticity and strength that’s already inside of you. You only have to bloom.”

“Trust that all you've learned was worth learning, no matter what answer you have or do not have about what practical use it has in your life. Let whatever mysterious starlight that guided you this far guide you onward into the crazy beauty that awaits.”

“We don’t reach the mountaintop

from the mountaintop. We start at the bottom and climb up.”

Thank you for reading!