Chris McCandless, an upper-middle class, all-around attractive, do-good kid who obeyed his parents and finished college at Emory with a high GPA died alone from starvation here in the United States. (bold mine)
"... here in the United States" jumped out at me. Why did you mention it? We have so much that no one should starve? Our available educational opportunities can prevent someone from doing something stupid? Something with which he was ill prepared to deal?
I started to write, "He died of starvation in Alaska." but then I thought about the fact that Alaska is part of the United States and I didn't want to exclude it as it being so exotic as to make starvation 'acceptable.' (I found myself while in Alaska saying things such as, "When we get back to the US." and had to correct myself over and over repeating, "When we get back to the lower 48."
Finally, the whole reason I just can't let this story go are the unanswered questions: Why WOULD such a smart boy attack an adventure and be so ill equipped. He had tramped across the US for two years. He was no longer a teen. He had finished college. I think he was 25 when he died.
Krakauer does an excellent job of reporting the facts, giving possible "excuses" for McCandless' misfortune (misfortune - huh? misfortune is a broken ankle!)
Just now reading the cover of the book, I must change a bit of the wording of my review. McCandless attended college on an endowment. When he finished Emory, there was $25,000 left in the fund. He gave the total amount to AMFAR (an effort to combat starvation). Irony. The book is full of irony.
