Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'll admit it right off the bat, I'm not sure this genre is my cup of tea. I didn't like "Three Cups of Tea," I abhorred "Eat, Love, Pray" and I didn't like "A Million Little Pieces" one bit. Having said this, I saw that most other reviewers described this book as "gripping," "compelling," and "heartbreaking" and I hoped that I would feel the same way when I finished reading "Wild." But, after forging my way through a couple hundred pages, I can only describe this book as monotonous, tedious and emotionally unsatisfying. I wanted to love this book. I wanted to love this author. I wanted to walk beside this woman on her journey of self-discovery and live the emotions she lived, and feel the transformation she was bound to undergo. I wanted to feel her boots on my feet, taste her fears in my mouth, and nod in understanding at each new revelation that came her way. What I found is that I couldn't keep focussed on the story for more than a paragraph at a time. I read, then skimmed, read, then skimmed, hoping to find the well-crafted story I had read so much about. Instead, this book read like a never ending whine fest. If I had to read about the chafing on Ms. Strayed's hips from her overloaded back pack just one more time, I think I would have thrown my iPad out the window. There seemed to be no real arc to the storyline, just one frustrating ordeal after another. If any character transformation occurred, it must have occurred in the last few pages of the book, a long way past where I stopped reading. It is true that Ms. Strayed talked openly and honestly about graphic details of her life, but that didn't connect me to her character in any meaningful way, and without this connection, I didn't care enough about this woman to read on. I trudged and I trudged and I trudged right along beside the author as far as I could go, but eventually I was compelled to toss my metaphorical boots over the edge of a cliff and bring my journey through the pages of Wild to a premature end.