PositiveVol 1. BrooklynA vivid analysis of Strayed’s Wild is the backbone of Alden Jones’s The Wanting Was a Wilderness, but it does more than tell you what makes a good memoir. Jones shows how it’s done ... Not only does the book offer a roadmap for the budding memoirist, but Jones goes a step further, bushwhacking a trail for writers to follow ... Jones’ story is not a travel log. It’s an exploration of a particular time in her life, age 19 — just a year past living at home and high school, when most are still figuring out who they are ... Where The Wanting falls short is length. You come for the analysis of Strayed, you stay for the personal journey, and you’re left wanting 200 or more pages of Jones to read. But that’s forgetting the utility here: to show how memoir is achieved. It’s not to say that this is a book merely for the student of writing. Yes, there’s something here for fans of Strayed and those hikers out there who, like Jones, just aren’t outdoorsy. But, critically, The Wanting invites readers to explore their own story, whether they decide to tell it or not.