Girl in the Woods: A Memoir

On her second night of college, Aspen Matis - a girl so sheltered that her mother literally dressed her every day of her life - was raped by a boy she had just met. Because she invited him to "spend the night" after the rape (the sort of confused reaction that is more understood now than it was then), the college didn't acknowledge the rape. Not only did they dismiss her claim, but they even moved her rapist into the dorm with her, forcing her to abscond to living in a hotel room that ended up being flooded by sewer waste. No small surprise that a traumatized Aspen (then known as Debby) decided to flee school. Always having loved to hike, the writer decides to cover the entire Pacific Coast Trail, from Mexico to Alaska, in hopes of reclaiming her sense of self, and perhaps finding an autonomy and courage that had always eluded her.

I am a bit of a junkie for true-life adventure stories, I've read scores of them, from self-published ebooks to the high profile bestsellers, and Girl in the Woods is a solid addition to the field. While the story itself is not particularly unique (girl has trauma and loses self, girl walks trail, girl finds herself and a husband to boot), Ms. Matis has a natural, easy style to her writing that makes the pages (and the miles) fly past. I read the first half of the book in one sitting - after picking it up just to look at the first few pages - and finished the whole thing within a day.

She brings to life so many aspects of thru-hiking: the other thru-hikers who become your tribe (whether you like them or not), how you get accustomed to stepping over rattlesnakes as if they were sticks, surviving on parmesan cheese and chocolate frosting from a can, and the glorious experience of "trail angels" - such as the locals who left a recliner, jugs of water and piles of fruit by the trail, for tired hikers to take a break. You experience the stress of drinking water in which a dead mouse was floating (and drinking it slowly, as if that will make you less likely to get sick), and copying by hand the xeroxed "water report" that tells you exactly how to find water in a world that's going dry. It's a great read.

Unlike another reviewer, I did not find Ms. Matis unlikable - I found her deeply human, a young sheltered girl who keeps making mistakes, but in that way, she's like all of us. And I appreciate her courage to tell the truth, even when she's being foolish.

I do wish that the book was a little bit more about her finding her own independence, instead of using the trail to discover that boys do like her, and boys can be good, and here's a boy to marry! But that's asking her to write a different story, not her own, which is unfair.

Bottom line - if you like to read these kinds of books (and who doesn't?), then Girl in the Woods is a good choice. Enjoy!

Warning: This review contains spoilers.

When Aspen Matis sent off on the Pacific Crest Trail, which stretches from Mexico to Canada, she hoped to recover from the trauma of being sexually assaulted her first week at college, and also prove to her overprotective parents (and herself) that she could truly be independent. After her college dealt poorly with the aftermath of the rape (though that would not be the end of it), Aspen decided to rekindle a recently discovered love of hiking in the wilderness, and armed with a few items of clothing, a backpack and a GPS navigator (which her parents insisted on), she set forth. On the way, she would face various challenges, including running out of water and food, struggling through snow shod just in running shoes, and catching a nearly fatal disease. She would also deal with sexism from some of her fellow hikers (which make up about eighty-five percent of the thru-hikers). As a child, Aspen had been dressed by her mother and frightened to go places on her own, but by the end, she became a young woman who wasn't afraid to step over rattlesnakes and past nearby bears, make trips solo in harsh conditions, and even find a man who would eventually become her husband.

Oh how I wanted to love this book. From the description, I pictured it as a kind of feminist manifesto. However, the reality (and I suppose the author can't be blamed for how it's packaged) was quite different. The author is a gifted writer when it comes to conveying the natural environment of her journey. The setting springs to life through her vivid prose, and if the rest matched that, this would easily be a five star review. However, the personal parts often read like diary entries, the dialogue is littered with four-letter words, and the ending struck me as sugar-coated, especially with what you learn in the acknowledgements. I admired the author for how she donated to RAINN and returned to Colorado College on their invitation to speak about the rape. I'm glad she went on to have a successful life, both professionally as a writer and personally. However, as a narrator, I felt that while Aspen was very honest about her relationship with her parents, she often failed to realize just how her behavior impacted her fellow hikers on the trail. There were a lot of minor things in the book that felt glossed over or omitted in order to make the narrator appear more of a victim (and I'm not talking about the rape). (Yes, I had tons of questions. What kind of father just lets this kind of behavior go on with his wife without any intervention? And even without help from one's parents, kids get a lot of info about such things as "stranger danger" from school, other adults and pop culture. How is it possible in this day and age to be a vulnerable single woman and willingly get into a car driven by a strange man, especially after having been raped?) This isn't meant to come off as blaming the victim, but I found the narrator's constant lack of basic common sense made it hard to always sympathize with her.

I'm actually finding this difficult to finish. I love hiking and enjoy all the aspects and descriptions of the trail included in the book. Some of the trail writing has almost a romantic poetic feel to it. But, then this writing is interrupted by the the thoughts and personality of Aspen Matis. It almost feels like a teenager wrote the book and then a really good ghost writer came in to do some clean-up. The language and thoughts expressed by Aspen Matis seem crude, rough, and derogatory. They interrupt the flow of the book making it hard for me to enjoy and I am left with wondering how she could write such beautiful words about the scenery if she dropped out of college. That being said, even if a ghost writer is involved, I still find the book dwells in a repetitive way on the rape and relationship with her parents. If you are looking for a book about over coming something in your life, perhaps you will enjoy this. I think I was more interested in the challenges and experience of the trail and how that impacts anyone, not just someone hiking to reach a new state of mind. If you can get past the emotional drama, you will probably really enjoy the descriptions of the beauty of the trail.

Aspen can tell a story and she expresses herself well but I found myself wanting to tell her off. I suppose her enmeshment with her mother, which was pretty crazy, set the tone for her own behavior. I felt badly for Iceman. Glad he finally did the right thing. Wow what a messy situation that was. Of course we must remember the writter is very young and lots of kids that age make interesting mistakes!

I must say any person hiking the PCT is to be congratulated.

This is a memoir that asks the question: Should readers give a review based on who a person is in their memoir or, on their prose? As a writer I lean toward reviewing a book based on how it is written vs whether I agree with how the person lived their life (those are two separate conversations but we only get to leave one review). In this case, there are many reviews based on whether the reader connected with or agreed with the author, or not. If I had an option to review the book solely based on how Debby/Wild Child/Aspen (or whatever name she chooses) played out this time in her life, I would give it a 2 or maybe a 3. The 3 would be an acknowledgement that making a lot of really illogical calls, over and over again, can be pretty common when one is only 19. But I give it a 4 because, despite her obvious internal confusion and the painful process the reader is inserted in as she sorts it out, her writing is authentic and solid and the story is well put together. And to Debby/Wild Child/Aspen I will say, keep hiking and keep writing.

The book is described as an "exhilarating true-life adventure" and "inspiring memoir" so I decided to read it. I found it to be completely opposite of those descriptions. Aspen disappointed me with her poor decisions and her reactions to the situations she created. I tried to find value in what she was doing on her trek but was distracted by her immaturity.

It's interesting how much I could relate to Aspen Matis while reading this book. (Keep in mind a huge chunk of this will be about me to get to my point. Or try to anyway). ***Potentially triggering***

Growing up, my mother always took care of me which is amazing and I love her for it, but as I got older she was still doing things like picking out my clothes for me, brushing my hair, etc. When I was young, my shoelace came untied and I had no idea how to re-tie it. My teacher ended up having one of the other students tie my shoe which was so embarrassing. And up until I was 14(? I think) I had no idea how to put my hair up in a ponytail. If it came undone at school I had no idea how to fix it, and my hair has always been really thick and it's all puffy/tangled if I wear it out so I hated not having it in a ponytail. When I was old enough to start shaving... well okay, no, first of all when all the other girls started shaving, I still wasn't which people thought was funny. When I DID finally start, my mom was shaving my legs for me. Finally when I was in high school I managed to convince her to let me take care of myself a little bit. She did. To this day I'm still not sure why she did all of that. She was very strict too and wouldn't let me do things like hang out with friends for a few hours after school or have sleepovers, etc. I think she was just being protective and not realizing that she was OVER-protective.
(I'm making her sound like a bad person. She's not. Honestly I think she's the most amazing woman on the planet - she's kind, generous and loving and I'm 100000% happy that she's my mom. She just took care of me a little too well sometimes.)
By the way, I've never talked about this but Aspen proved that you can grow up into your own person and that you really shouldn't be ashamed of your past - so here it is and out goes my shame. (Thank you Aspen)

I too was raped, when I was 20. I was in a psych ward because of depression and self-harm. The nurses, etc. do "checks" every 15-20 minutes to see how everyone's doing. When a male and female are in a room alone together, someone is supposed to be supervising constantly. Emphasis on "supposed to be" seeing as that didn't happen and they weren't even doing the checks as often as they should. So the guy who was in the room with me started taking advantage of me and I had no idea what to do so -sort of similar to Aspen - I kissed back (and a few other things that I won't go into detail about) hoping that if I gave him just a little bit of what he wanted he'd leave me alone after. He didn't.
Just like Aspen, I was basically told that it didn't happen. When the police got involved, the guy who did it literally told them that something happened "but that [I] wanted it" and yet no one believed anything happened. I was yelled at by the nurses and treated like a delusional child by the police officers. I've hated myself and felt dirty since then, and honestly still blame myself.

I get it. I get what it's like to not know how to be your own person. I get what it's like to be told you're lying (especially about the most traumatizing thing in life). I get what it's like to hate your body, and how that gets so much worse after a sexual assault. And how sex doesn't feel good/right after that - the few times it happened for me anyway. I get what it's like to just not feel capable of doing certain things. I get it.
But I also get that "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." For Aspen, that was taken literally (and she later finds out that by doing so, she was also taking a huge step emotionally/mentally).

Aspen did an amazing job with this book. Yes, I completely understood how she felt because I'd been through some of the same things. But for anyone who hasn't, she manages to describe things in a way that anyone can understand. Well okay, obviously not fully because it's much different to read about it than it is to go through it but she still paints a very good picture. In "Girl In The Woods" she let us into her mind, into the darkest corners that most people don't let see the light of day. She describes her journey so well and you find yourself cheering her on. This is the kind of book that you end up feeling a strong connection to the author because of how open, honest and real it is.
In my third book, "The Darkness And The Light" I tried to create that connection. To let the reader feel what I feel (uh not literally, I wouldn't wish that on anyone, but you get the idea). And while I feel like at some points I succeeded, I don't think I captured life in the same way Aspen did. And I admire her for doing so in such a great way.

So, my long and rambling point to all of this is basically that Aspen Matis is an amazing writer. That she teaches you to try, to take control of your life and yourself, to make yourself your first priority. That she's so strong and encourages you to find that same strength within yourself. Oh, and that you really need to read this book.

Not good, not bad. She keeps calling herself a writer, but it appears from this book, she's got a ways to go to earn that title. I did appreciate the details about walking the PCT I felt were missing from WILD. Nevertheless, there were too many lose ends and too quick a resolution. Don't expect much from this book other than a decent description of the trail and some of the people who walk it.

I really enjoyed this true life adventure. This young lady became a "hiker" early in life taking several major trails and enjoying the wilderness. Then after a harrowing beginning to her life away from home at college she set out on the walk of a lifetime. Not many people are willing to attempt this journey, an especially to attempt it alone.

Aspen sets out to conquer the continental trail of the West Coast from Mexico to Canada. She will hike through the desert, through mountains, across snow covered fields, ice fields, etc. She will hike in extreme heat and then in below freezing weather.

Her journey was a cleansing of her soul. It was an adventure that she needed to regain her confidence and trust in herself and her abilities. I enjoyed reading about her adventures and the encounters that she had on the trail. I don't think I could ever imagine a life of hiking like this. Her story is riveting in so many ways and you will cheer her on and wish you could encounter some of her adventure and be glad that you didn't have to face some of the struggles that she did.

The only other nature book that I enjoyed this much was a book on the life of a Forrest Fire Watcher who manned a Fire Tower in the mountains that kept him and his dog away from civilization for six months of the year. Both stories filled me awe for the accomplishments that someone can make when they set their minds to it.

I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did.

On more than one occasion I’ve averred my growing interest in the memoir genre. It is my firm conviction that everyone has a story, and that all stories are worth sharing and – as long as they are sincere and honest – should be accepted as non-judgmentally as possible. Of course, that puts certain things “off limits” for reviewing. I will not critique the beliefs, motivations or actions of the author, even though they may be very different from my own.

Still, I believe that honesty on my part as a reviewer DOES require admission of the specific areas of my own inexperience and therefore to some degree lack of rapport. Specifically, I have never experienced rape myself, nor has it happened to anyone near and dear to me. In addition, my own philosophy and practice of parenting has been so diametrically opposite to that practiced by Mrs. Parker as described by her daughter that I really found it almost impossible to credit this behavior. And, finally, I’ve never felt the urge to attempt long-distance, endurance hiking; hence to even begin to accept that doing so is anything other than insane requires a significant stretch for me.

Given these fiats, I have to evaluate Aspen Matis’ memoir as an astonishingly powerful piece of writing for a person as young as she is. Her descriptions of her hiking experiences and the terrain she traversed are breathtakingly vivid. The characterizations of her family members and the others she encountered during the journey are sensitive and engaging; even the not-so-charming characters are depicted with a certain sympathy and definite reality, including those who are presented only in brief vignettes. Most important, the development of her psychological insight as the story progresses is incredibly authentic and valuable. There really is wisdom here far beyond Aspen’s age.

One thing only really bothers me at the end, and that is the ambiguity of what has actually happened with Dash. There is only one comment in the epilog, and another very cryptic note in the acknowledgements, but this is a loose end that distresses me immensely. Since this is an “Advance Reader’s Edition” that I’m commenting upon, perhaps this concern will be addressed in the published edition.

Not just bad....terrible. I will not, unfortunately, forget this book soon - it was that hard to get through. I kept plugging away at it hoping it would get better, but no such luck. If you want a repetitive, self-important, whining diatribe from an over-indulged spoiled brat who has no writing skills, this is your book.

The subject matter of the book is timely and relevant. Aspen Matis' story is one that deserves to be told. That being said, I have a difficult time reviewing this memoir because it's often difficult to separate the reverence I feel for the author's experiences and the way I was affected by the author's tone in places. Matis was sexually assaulted on her second night at college, and she chose to defy her parents in pursuing justice. As we have seen countless times before, she found little help in her college's mediation process. She decided to hike the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada- a journey that took five months- as a way to heal and to rebuild her life. The descriptions of the hike were my favorite parts of the book. I was astonished by her bravery and by the way she persevered through the physical and emotional obstacles she faced. Like "Wild," I was in awe of her immense courage. However, like other reviewers have stated, her tone was exhausting at times. Her anger towards her parents seemed irrational in places. But as I said, this is her story. This is her survival. I just couldn't dismiss the sense of entitlement and somewhat juvenile tone that tainted her very gripping personal narrative. If you have ever rolled your eyes during an episode of "Girls," then you know what I'm talking about. I'd recommend this book, though. She is a talented young writer who shows a lot of promise.

Aspen Matis' true story of her journey from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) drew me in from the first pages. I've read many books about the PCT and AT (Appalachian Trail) and long to be able to "thru-hike" or at least hike them in sections. One common thread among most of these hikers/authors is that they take to the trail to find themselves. Many of them are young and restless, and some are emotionally damaged and find solace in the woods and vistas of the trails.

The author begins by telling the reader her backstory - of her overprotective mother who physically dressed her every day until she was in high school, her distant father, and her upper middle class suburban Boston childhood. She never really fit in with her schoolmates, and never had a date or a boyfriend. When she moved 2,000 miles away to college in Colorado, she intended to have a fresh start and to reinvent herself far from her controlling mother. Two days after she arrived, she was raped by an acquaintance and her safe and tidy world shattered.

The rest of the book tells of her long journey on the PCT, and I particularly loved this part. She describes the Trail Angels who give the hikers food, rides to town and a place to sleep and shower; her fellow hikers with trail names like Firefly and Stash and SilverFox; and the waterfalls, deserts, craggy mountains and beautiful sunsets. The author (whose name was Debby Parker) adopted the trail name "Wild Child" and it certainly fit the confused, insecure, self-loathing girl who began to hike the trail.

There were times in this book I felt like shaking Debby until her teeth rattled for stupid, self defeating choices she made. But we are all stupid at 19, and I respect that she never gave up on her dreams and her goal. Over the course of the book, she matures quite a bit, and finally learns to love herself. The author gave such beautiful descriptions of the wilderness she traversed that I could almost feel I was along for the hike. I could feel the bone-chilling cold as she waded through snowdrifts and ice water, and the dehydration as she struggled through the desert under a relentless sun. She has a real talent for bringing words to life in a very visual way.

It would be hard to read this book without making comparisons to Cheryl Strayed's "Wild", which had a similar story. The main difference is that Matis is very young, and Strayed was older. Both of them decided to hike the PCT to figure out who they were and eventually conquered their emotional demons.

If you like coming of age stories, travelogues or books about the PCT/AT, you will love this book!

After reading reviews that described the author as spoiled, whiny, and immature, I had to weight in. This book is her spectacular attempt to grow past those exact labels. It's a memoir of a 19-year-old kid trying to heal herself by walking out of a life marked by two extraordinary obstacles. She grew up under the thumb of a pathologically controlling mother, who was still literally dressing her daughter at 15. Off to college with no sense of self or personal boundaries, she was raped in her dorm and blamed for it by college authorities. They even moved her rapist into her dorm.
As she walks, the author shares her struggles with her sense of self, her growth, her relationships with men, her regrets, and her self-destructive decisions with incredible candor. She does make many ill-advised choices on the trail which are understandable in light of her age and life experiences.
I found this to be a remarkable personal narrative full of beauty and suspense. I applaud the author's courage in writing it.

This book ought to be required college for Freshmen Orientation, as Matis details her harrowing story of being raped on her second day of college, her subsequent dropping out, and epic walk on the Pacific Crest Trail. The writer bravely goes into her own psychology, including her fears and regrets, which serve to make the tragedy of the rape, and the dismissal of the charges even more harrowing. Matis' debut marks her as a very young and extremely talented writer to watch for. She will make a great impact with this book, and her future work.

Aspen Matis's newly released memoir, Girl in the Woods, had me captivated from first page to last.

From the book's cover: "On my second night of college, I was raped. Shattered and alone, I fled to the Mexican border and headed north through 2,650 miles of desert and mountains to Canada, walking the height of America in search of home. This is the story of how my recklessness became my salvation."

More and more, we hear and read stories of walking as a form of therapy and healing. And I agree - walking clears the brain and allows time to think. The physicality of walking such a distance through so many climates is truly overwhelming and simply remarkable.

Matis led a sheltered childhood, allowing her mother to make many of her decisions, including dressing her (up until she was sixteen) Yet, on the other hand, she had attempted other solo extended hikes by lying to her parents about where she was. She purposely found a college a great distance from her childhood home to try and find her own footing. But she is unprepared in many ways, both mentally and emotionally for what life away from home will bring. And as the introduction says - the second day there....

I found the first few chapters of Girl in the Woods so compelling and couldn't put the book down. I couldn't wait to see where this walk wold take Aspen - both figuratively and literally. Real life is so unpredictable. Does Matis make choices that everyone would agree with? Absolutely not. Some of those choices put her life in danger - more than once. But, the courage to attempt such a journey has to be applauded. That journey is not just physical - Girl in the Woods is a 'coming of age' story for Matis as she struggles to shed her passivity and find her own footing in the adult world. A large part of that is dealing with the rape and her own sexuality.

The descriptions of the trail, the people and the scenery were detailed and vivid and had me imagining what it would be to do such a walk. But this couch potato will continue to live vicariously through others who share their stories. Inevitable comparisons will be made to Cheryl Strayed's Wild. The two women's walks were at different points in their lives and their journeys reflect that.

I am fascinated with memoirs - the baring of someone's personal life for public consumption - and criticism. I can't criticize someone's choices and life - I can only say thank you for sharing. Does Matis find her happy ending? Yes - "the trail has shown me how to change" - and no - but that's another story. Isn't that life though? Moving ahead one step at a time, never quite knowing what's around the next bend. Girl in the Woods was a really good read for me.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Aspen is an incredible writer and her ability to describe things is remarkable. I would read anything else she wrote in a heart beat.

From a mental health perspective, the story is really about a whole lot more than being raped, but she doesn't fully express that idea until the end. She does talk about "my rape" a lot even though her issues are really much, much deeper - particularly her inability to create boundaries and make safe choices. It's easy to read it and criticize her because of this. You really journey through her own mental health and don't reach a place of healing until she develops some cohesion at the end.

If you're not familiar with rape, you'll also find it easy to blame the victim. She wants to be physical with the rapist but then she tells him to stop, tries to compromise, then asks him to spend the night to believe she wanted it. She doesn't scream out or try to run away but she does say no and he ignores her. This is not an uncommon scenario and it doesn't mean you're not raped and it doesn't mean you can criticize the victim. Could she have made wiser choices? Sure. That's what the book is about - her finding her voice, telling men no, learning to be independent and learning to love.

I would say the main criticisms I had were that I thought she could have summarized more of her mental struggles to make it more coherent but at the same time you really journey through her struggles with her. I thought she overused the term "my rape" and I had a slight aversion to that term. She seemed to own it as her identity and that seemed particularly unhealthy to me.

But more than that (spoiler alert) she meets the man she's going to marry and they do get married but in the acknowledgements she seems irritated with him because he went off to hike the PCT again and left her in New York. I wasn't really sure what to make of that and I found it weird after such a thorough description of their love story.

Even so, it's a great book I had trouble putting down. I highly recommend it.

This is another account of a young woman deciding to take a long walk in order to find her place in the world. While reading this, I was fighting the urge not to compare the story to Wild by Cheryl Strayed but found it to be impossible.

In this book, Aspen Mathis, trying to carve out a life for herself, or more accurately, to invent herself in college, unfortunately falls victim to rape. Far away from her home in Massachusetts, her dreams shattered, Aspen is discouraged from reporting the attack as her chances of justice in a faulty university conflict policy would likely end up backfiring on her. Left alone to resolve the incident inside of her, she becomes more and more depressed and unhinged over the course of the semester, she makes the decision to leave school. Instead, she would hike the nearly 3000-mile Pacific Coast Trail.

While initially, you might think this is a bad road (no pun intended) for a 19-year-old to travel on her own, over the next five months, Aspen transforms herself as she deals with the joys and cruelties of nature, step by step.

Over the five months of relying only on herself, she summoned the internal fortitude required not just for conquering a physical landscape but an emotional one as well.

Like Cheryl Strayed, Aspen confronted a lot of dangers en route, including rattle snakes, bears and various wildlife as well as environmental perils and challenges.

She also allowed the things that were no longer needed - guilt and shame and lack of confidence - to drift away from her spirit on the trail, emerging as the girl she had hoped to invent at the onset of the memoir - free and confident, but in even bigger and more profound ways than she could have imagined.

Never underestimate the benefits of physical endeavors in the face of deep emotional trauma. Everything is connected.

An emotional but satisfying read.

Actually, four and a half stars. The true story of a girl who was raped on her second day of college, quits school a month before the end of her first year, and hikes the Pacific Crest Trail. Aspen Matis has issues from when she was a child (who doesn’t); however, it is the trauma of rape that impacts her the most. There is an internal college hearing; Aspen admits, “I had no proof.” The mediator decides what happened was “inconclusive”. For Aspen, this meant the perpetrator was “innocent of rape” and that she “was guilty of lying.” Personally, I believe her story and am empathetic with what she experienced. However, given there was “no proof” what did Aspen expect the college to do? Expel the culprit? She never answers that question. Aspen doesn’t get the understanding or support from her family, friends, or the college that she needs. I’ve read the reviews that say she was partly responsible because she, in effect, led the wrongdoer on. Forget it, rape is rape, shame on those who think otherwise. Aspen is an experienced hiker; yet, she makes numerous rookie mistakes on the PCT that are potentially life threatening. I pondered why --- was she THAT distracted by what happened to her? The book is well written, perhaps long in places, maybe overstated in others. There is a nice blend between the PCT, life on it and the writer’s emotional experience. It’s a real portrayal. We all get knocked down in life. Some critics have written…poor little spoiled rich girl can’t make it…I disagree. This book is real, it speaks of the human condition. We all struggle to cope with life and our faults and flaws. Aspen Matis does find love and comes to terms with much of her past by the end of the book. Good for her. Is it is happily ever after? Is it ever?

"Girl in the Woods" gripped me from the first page. Memoirs aren't my usual genre, but the premise and the writer herself were very intriguing, so I picked the book up and I'm glad I did.

The story has a huge emotional impact that starts off strong and steadily gains throughout the narrative. I felt the writing was strong, direct and clear while maintaining a unique sense of character and atmosphere. Aspen Matis is brave and extremely talented, and I hope to read more from her in the future. This was a wonderful book. While often difficult to read due to subject matter, overall it is beautiful and I recommend it.

This is a truly engrossing memoir and an honest one. The author gives us all her thoughts while she was coming of age without apology. She admits all the wrong decisions she made as well as right ones.

This of course is her story of the hike she made on the Pacific Coast Trail from the border of Mexico to Canada. Hikers will love this and non-hikers will get the vicarious feel of what it is to undertake such a hike. Either way, I do recommend this as a true coming-of-age memoir.

OK, I love the outdoors and hiking. I liked Bill Bryson's Into the Wild. So I figured I would like this book as well. And I did like it for the wild imagery and description of the grueling miles. But I ended up being even more engrossed in the personal story of Matis coming of age.

I'm actually kind of surprised how engaged I got into her personal story. Especially since at times, I truly did not like her as a person. For a vast amount of the book, I felt that she was using her writing as a vengeful airing of all the wrongs that her attacker, her family, her college, her fellow hikers had done to her. As the book progressed she seemed selfish in her desires and directionless beyond her five month plan to walk the PCT. But then, surprisingly near the end of the book, things clicked and she realized that her family was doing the best the could in their states as flawed humans. She also started to own her own responsibility in events as she also came to grips that she was not responsible for her rape.

Reading this sudden understanding, it all seemed too quick and clean, but it felt very true and sincere. Suddenly, her literary voice that had so annoyed me through the bulk of the book seemed a brilliantly frank confession of who she was on the trip. I also felt like I had some great insights into the mother daughter relationship that has always baffled me. There seems to be a need for a daughter to hate her mother for a while to establish independence and then a loving acceptance. For Matis this mother/daughter relationship is magnified by a truly hovering parent who controlled her life. But I love that Matis also saw her compliance to that.

As for the experience of hiking the trail. She gives a great description of the community and culture that has grown around the PCT thru hike. I loved hearing all the stories of Trail Angels who leave treats and lend support to the hikers on the trail. They prove to be truly life saving through Matis' trials and experiences. I loved the tales of commeraderie as well being shocked by the tales of gossip and slander. Throughout the book there is a frankness of how broken we all are, and even in this strangely self selecting group, our humanness comes along.

Matis' imagery is strong, and she describes sights she sees along the way. Although I felt much of her vision was myopically set on making miles down the trail, which also felt genuine. The hike is definitely about moving to meet the goal of completing the hike. The description is about the drive to get to the end of the trail. Seldom are there smell the roses moments, which is probably true for thru hikers. But there are moments when the feet stop moving and beauty is taken in, and she conveys these moments well. I especially enjoyed her experiencing the desert lights early in the trek. But most of the book is wrapped around her relationships on the trail and with her family and her struggles with defining herself especially in context of being raped.

All in all, I'm very impressed with this memoir. I can't say that I would have given it 5 stars if I had abandoned it early, but I finished it very satisfied and feeling better for having read this book. Its a triumph on several levels.

From the first few pages you are hooked and anxious to find out what happens later in the book. It reminds me of The Places In Between by Rory Stewart except in this case the trail is from Mexico to Canada and the hiker is a young woman. Rather than trying to find out the nature of the country, a major portion of the book, the main focus, is soul searching. Sure to cause discussion regarding relationships, drugs, hiking culture, and mother daughter relationships, this book will be a great read for book groups or college groups. What could a young woman do differently? How ought young men behave? What is central to our lives? Perhaps if David Foster Wallace had gone for a hike in the woods, or a walk in the woods with a friend, things would have worked out differently for him. And as I write I know a new movie is coming out titled A Walk in the Woods – and remember really enjoying that book. There is far less humor here – zilch as I recall. But for a young woman alone on the trail, what will she find as she hikes among so many strangers? Fascinating – first non-fiction work by Aspen.

It seems that the Appalachian Trail is so twentieth century and everyone is now writing about the PCT. I wanted to like the book but I didn't.

The "girl" in question was a nineteen-year old woman who decided to walk the Pacific Crest Trail. But she didn't prepare, didn't have maps or a compass. She couldn't read the GPS that was forced on her by her parents. She was dependent on others from start to finish. And she was always afraid of others.

One of the pleasures of long-distance hiking are the fellow hikers you meet, walk for a while and then leave to meet others. But she was afraid of "strangers", especially men. I understand that she was raped in college, which would make any woman wary of other men. But the PCT is almost all men, another fact she could have learned before the hike.
She keeps saying that she's changed and that she's now in control of her life. But she wasn't. I won't give the main ending away. But at the end, she is still dependent on a man and her father to figure out where they were on the PCT. Yes, she finished the trail and for that I'll give her full marks. But what did she get out of it? And will she ever hike again?

I've heard of sheltered people, but the poor author was severely sheltered growing up. Although she had male siblings, her mother overprotected her. She dressed her--even in high school! Of course, the author didn't realize this was abnormal until the damage had been done. You sympathize early on with Aspen wanting to be independent, especially after the trauma of the rape and the disappointing responses from her family. I could understand how she loved the outdoors and the good memories from childhood. But it's hard for me to fathom hiking the Pacific Crest Trail alone from Mexico to Canada. This was a therapeutic adventure that you take right along with Aspen in every word she writes. Recommended.

This was a very, very, very good book. Thank you, Aspen. Many of other reviewers just don't get it. Thank you for your authenticity and for sharing with us YOUR story. Well written. God bless you.

In this beautifully written memoir, Aspen Matis recalls how, on her second night of college, she was raped, and later hiked the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail to heal. It's a story about the power to overcome a crippling emotional trauma, which grew from Matis's gorgeous New York Times Modern Love essay. (http://www.nytimes.com/…/fa…/a-hikers-guide-to-healing.html…)

GIRL IN THE WOODS is brave and it's important. It's about finding your inner strength and finding the courage to carry on, in any circumstances. You'll be thinking about it and talking about it long after you've finished.

After a rape that occurred shortly after starting her college life, Aspen drops out of school and decides she is going to set out to "resort" herself. She takes a hike of over 2000 miles to get her head together.
This book was written even before "Wild" was done.
Highly recommended.
This is a journey of self -discovery and healing that I think you will enjoy reading.

Aspen has a unique and magical voice. Her story felt like poetry. She shifted my perspective about college-aged girls from the US and I was surprised to see such wisdom emerge from a 25-year-old. I couldn't put the book down. Brilliant!

A very moving tale of two simultaneous journeys, and I think the PCT hike must have been the easier of the two. A powerful book to inspire all of us who need healing. So affecting, so enjoyable--I wanted to skip Christmas to keep reading.

I really enjoyed this book. Couldnt put it down.
I found it relatable, even though I have never hiked the PCT!
The writing style was great! The rawness was wonderful! I loved it!!!
if you remotely liked Wild by Cheryl Strayed, you will LOVE this book.

I really enjoyed this book. Couldnt put it down.
I found it relatable, even though I have never hiked the PCT!
The writing style was great! The rawness was wonderful! I loved it!!!
if you remotely liked Wild by Cheryl Strayed, you will LOVE this book.