The Stranger in the Woods is the true account of Christopher Knight’s 27 year hermit journey in the Maine woods. No human contact, no conversation, no care for the outside world, just survival, and his own heartbeat against nature. He stole to survive, but took only what he needed. What’s remarkable about this book, besides its subject, is it achieves something consistent in its truth and a consistent question: Why?
Why do we need people and contact? Why do we succumb to society’s expectations? Why don’t we push harder to connect with universal truths? Why do we not pull away more from assumptions of who we should be.
Knight’s story is not a sensationalized spew of intrigue, mystery, and crime, but an honest and connective account of someone who escaped authority and accountability for almost three decades. In a way, I came to respect Knight and his commitment to something he truly believed in, even if he knew it was wrong (if you think of it in terms of fiction, he’s a flawed antagonist, doing what he believes is right).
What worked so well for me, is that Finkel lets the silence between Knight’s actions breath, giving us time to process both the magnificence of Finkel’s journey along with its mistakes.
Finkel interviewed Knight extensively (though Knight was always reluctant and evasive), and he contextualizes Knight’s words with a blend of philosophy, psychology, and history. The book asks: Is solitude an illness, a spiritual awakening, a radical rejection, or just a preference?
Above is a photo of Knight’s camp. I felt the weight of being alone with Knight throughout the book, and I sympathized with him. At a certain point, I perhaps even wanted to follow in his footsteps (just an interesting thing to think about).
And why did my mind go there? Because Knight’s mind simply switched, as all of ours has at some point (even if to this extreme.) There was no traumatic event or dramatic falling out. He just walked into the forest.
There is a powerful detail Finkel shares in Knight’s memory that haunts and fascinates me: Knight never felt lonely in the woods and simply forgot what it felt like to need people.
Have you read The Stranger in the Woods? What did you think? Comment below.
If you haven’t read it, you can reserve it in the BCCLS system here.
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Written by:
Sean Willey
Information and Digital Services Assistant
Hoboken Library Staff Picks 
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