The Wilderness Journals of Everett Ruess

Rating:
Summary: One man's search his fulfillment in life
Review: I just finished reading this book and was impressed with a new appreciation of Everett Ruess. Ruess wanted to live life the only way that he thought was right for him, which in his case meant wandering through the Southwest with his burros, painting and writing poetry, and befriending whoever he meant. This volume collects his only two surviving journals, one dated 1932 and the other 1933. He is also known to have kept journals in 1931 and 1934, but these have disappeared. The 1932 journal documents his travels in Arizona, while the 1933 journal covers his meanderings through Seqouyah National Park in California. He writes about his day-to-day activities, the people he meets, the books he reads, and the thoughts he has. It is all engrossing. For an interesting experience I recommend reading these journals in conjuction with the letters covering the same period in W.L. Rusho's Everett Ruess: A Vagabond for Beauty. The letters often provide interesting commentary on his adventures, and the journals provide insight into some of the letters. I recommend this book to anyone who prefers the road less traveled.

Rating:
Summary: An illumination of the inner Everett Ruess
Review: Outwardly the Ruess diaries read very much like a straightforward chronology of his travels during 1932 and 1933, but in amongst the factual information are disclosed insightful nuggets of self-criticism, doubt and despondency that help in rounding out the incomplete picture provided in his elsewhere-published letters. Unfortunately, his mother had erased many lines that were likely the most revealing and confessional passages. Nevertheless, one can still read between the lines and piece together a portrait of the complex character that he was.
A valuable document of a remarkable youth.