Girl in the Woods: A Memoir
Written by Aspen Matis
Narrated by Stephanie Tucker
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
Girl in the Woods is Aspen Matis's 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 nineteen-year-old girl alone and lost, she conquered desolate mountain passes and met rattlesnakes, bears, and fellow desert pilgrims. Exhausted after each thirty-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.
Aspen Matis
Aspen Matis is a writer living in Greenwich Village, where she's finishing her degree at The New School and working on a novel.
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Reviews for Girl in the Woods
50 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the most honest books about a young woman finding her self in the world
As a great person once said we are a product of all our experiences until we decide not to be1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This memoir did not manage to engage me emotionally. Too much self grandiose for me.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Too self-conscious. Like an extended selfie shot, where the subject is continually composing herself for the camera. It was hard to maintain empathy with her as this self-consciousness constantly intruded. (This is different from the true self-awareness of an author like Brianna Madia, for example, who has written on a similar theme.) I suspect that if Matis returned to her story and rewrote it some time in the future, it would feel more solid and authentic. I'm not detracting from her experience: rather, commenting on the way she curates it.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Aspen 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.