Fascinating book about a man who lived as a hermit for almost three decades before his discovery. Interesting reporting and meta commentary on the process of reporting the story.

While this book may not be for everyone, I thoroughly enjoyed it. An introvert by nature, I identify with the main character in more ways than one. I highly recommend this book!

I remember in 2017 (or thereabouts) reading an article about a hermit who had been found after living in the woods of Maine for over two decades. And I remember being fascinated by it. How did he live? Why was he now living in the inhabited world again? Etc. I am super glad I remembered this book was on my TBR and that it was available. It was fascinating to read more about the last true hermit (although is/was he really?), Christopher Knight.

Christopher Knight, prior to disappearing into the woods in 1986, was already used to living a fairly quiet life. He and his family members were all extremely introverted and kept to themselves, having few friendships or interactions with other family. So, when Chris disappeared his family didn't think much of it and didn't report him as missing. They somehow just knew he was gone from them, and society, and respected that. Nobody heard from, or saw him, again until 2013 when he was caught stealing food from a camp he lived close to in his adopted "hometown" of North Pond in rural Maine. Upon his capture, something he had managed to evade for over two decades, it was revealed that he had most likely committed up to 1000 thefts during his time as the North Pond Hermit. But in reading the book and hearing the account of the thefts, it is easy to see they were thefts of necessity, not greed. There's controversy to this day about whether that makes a difference in the crimes or not.

Knight refused to speak to anyone from the press or even his own family members once captured and detained but oddly enough he did eventually open up to one journalist, Michael Finkel, who managed to exchange several letters with Knight and have 9 1-hour visitations with him while he was awaiting trial. Through those exchanges, and I believe 2 visits post-jail, Finkel was able to get a clearer picture of Knight and his motivation for one, disappearing into the woods to live a solitary life, and two, how he managed to survive the harsh Maine winters and evading hikers, campers, fishers, and residents of North Pond during the summers when the place was extremely populated.

I really enjoyed this title. It answered many of the questions I had when I first read about it in that 2017 article and Finkel provided some great insight into the reasoning behind solitary life through other people in history who have chosen a more quiet, slowed-down way of living and through his interviews and discussions with psychologists. Chris Knight is an interesting man. Equal parts humble and self-righteous. Present day he is reported to live in a rural Maine town and work at an auto-body repair shop. He is (in 2023) 58 years old.

The entire book lacked a sense of purpose. It's a clutter of information, which oftentimes contradicts itself, that appears to have no aim. It feels like the rough draft of a thesis, with a bunch of sources thrown about, misinterpreted, and lacking cohesion.
While it supposedly tells the story of Chris Knight, there was nothing in the story that allowed readers to empathize with him or anyone else. The author talks a lot about himself, though never really humanizing himself either, and his experiences trying to talk with Knight. I found it particularly odd how ardent he was to communicate with Knight, calling all Knight's family members and showing up unannounced after the man clearly expressed his desire to be left alone. He provides no reasoning for this, really no emotional details about himself at all.

As someone who would love to be a hermit, this book was incredibly interesting - an account of a hermit who lived in the woods for 27 years, completely off the grid.

I'm sure at some time in our lives, we've all thought about chucking everything and wandering off into the wilderness. Christopher Knight did just that, and it's a fascinating story. The author not only tells the story of those years in the wilderness but also the heartbreak of Mr. Knight's family and the experiences of the people in the community around Mr. Knight's camp.

I enjoyed this book immensely, it kept my attention from beginning to end and made me think about some of the ways I can reduce the "noise" around me. Not that I'm planning on running off into the woods...