Girl in the Woods

A Memoir

By: Aspen Matis

Narrated by: Stephanie Tucker

Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Girl in the Woods is Aspen Matis' exhilarating true-life adventure of hiking from Mexico to Canada - a coming-of-age story, a survival story, and a triumphant story of overcoming emotional devastation. On her second night of college, Aspen was raped by a fellow student. Overprotected by her parents who discouraged her from telling of the attack, Aspen was confused and ashamed. Dealing with a problem that has sadly become all too common on college campuses around the country, she stumbled through her first semester - a challenging time made even harder by the coldness of her college's "conflict mediation" process. Her desperation growing, she made a bold decision: She would seek healing in the freedom of the wild, on the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail leading from Mexico to Canada.

In this inspiring memoir, Aspen chronicles her journey, a five-month trek that was ambitious, dangerous, and transformative. A 19-year-old girl alone and lost, she conquered desolate mountain passes and met rattlesnakes, bears, and fellow desert pilgrims. Exhausted after each 30-mile day, at times on the verge of starvation, Aspen was forced to confront her numbness, coming to terms with the sexual assault and her parents' disappointing reaction. On the trail and on her own, she found that survival is predicated on persistent self-reliance. She found her strength. After a thousand miles of solitude, she found a man who helped her learn to love and trust again - and heal.

Told with elegance and suspense, Girl in the Woods is a beautifully rendered story of eroding emotional and physical boundaries to reveal the truths that lie beyond the edges of the map.

©2015 Aspen Matis (P)2015 HarperCollins Publishers

Fantastic!

Loved it! I couldn't wait to listen tonthe next chapter. The story is fascinating and the writing is beautiful.

Amazing!

It's such a wonderful story and is beautifully written and narrated! I hope to see more from Aspen Matis!

If you want a book on hiking, skip it.

This girl goes on a 2,600 mile long hike and barely mentions the scenery or anything else about the trail or the towns she visits. If you want to hear the long-winded and repetitive emotional journey of a spoiled and overly producted girl, this is for you. In the beginning of the book she gets raped. Which is an awful thing to happen to her. She mentions it every 3-7 minutes for the next 12 hours. You'll get hours of her emotional need to be loved by her parents and men in general and minutes of story about the trail. She walks 600-1,000 miles of the trail and spends 1-2 paragraphs talking about the trail and scenery. It's an autobiographical story and she still wrote herself as a hard to like character.

ok

was disappointed in the potentially fatal risks taken on the trail that doesn't seem reasonable for a experienced hiker. was also frustrated by the amount of focus on dating on the trail, was expecting more of a tale of grand adventure and personal growth. the start was a really impactful story of sexual assault and reflection on the societal influences/perceptions related.

It was ok

Had a hard time connecting with the author. Some of the things she does just seem like she is is very young and privileged. Maybe I just had a rough child hood.

A true story that's was tragically true.

What starts as a tragic story of innocence lost to rape becomes a young woman's long path to self acceptance and love.

A pure, honest memoir

This book is written very well, telling much more than just a depiction of a young girl walking from Mexico to Canada on the PCT. It’s a story of a young dependent girl becoming a strong, resilient, independent women. The way it’s written really resonates with the reader and especially would with young females. I’m a father of 4 daughters and I’m going to have them read this book because I know when they complete the book they will all have learned from Aspens mistakes the same way Debbie did in the book. They will gain confidence and know their self worth just as Aspen did. Great book highly recommend

“Wild” vibes

Good story although a bit dull at times . Very similar to “wild” in my opinion.

Narrator made me hate her

Something about the narrators vocal inflections, and tone of voice, and the way she said "did-int and "could-int" instead of didn't and couldn't, made her Sound like a spoiled rich girl all throughout the book. And she kept making so many bad decisions, I'm sorry, I just wanted to slap her( not really, I'm not a violent person, but Please, girl!!) I know we were all stupid when we were 19, and she had been especially sheltered, but after hours of this I could not sympathize. She was a very very lucky girl!

loved it....

loved it keep you attention all the way through it..will keep it and listen to it again...