Introduction

Fans of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild will root for Anne Abel as she intrepidly sets out alone for Australia at the age of sixty, seeking to capture some Bruce Springsteen energy and fight off her lifelong, debilitating depression.

At the age of fifty-nine, Anne has never been to a concert. Then, as a way to spend time with her son and daughter-in-law, she reluctantly goes with them to local arena to see Bruce Springsteen—a man she knows nothing about. For three-plus hours, Bruce Springsteen’s energy, humanity, and enthusiasm lift Anne and make her feel like she has a chance. For three-plus hours, she feels alive.

A year later, after having one desk too many thrown at her, Anne quits her community college teaching job . . . and then she panics. She suffers from severe recurrent depression, and she is terrified that without the structure and focus of teaching, she will be at risk for falling into a deep depression. Having been inpatient twice at a psychiatric hospital, undergone three regimens of electroconvulsive shock therapy, and tried over twenty medications, she knows she needs a new and different plan. Then she remembers how hopeful and alive she feels at Bruce Springsteen’s concerts and that he will be touring in Australia in four months. So, even though she hates to travel, hates to be alone, and didn’t even know what a Bruce Springsteen was a year ago, Anne books the trip. Eight concerts, five cities, twenty-six days. She hopes that harnessing some of Bruce Springsteen’s energy will keep her out of the abyss.

Anne doesn’t go on this trip to change. But change she does.

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Excerpt

At my first Bruce Springsteen concert, after sitting with my son and daughter-in-law and husband, looking at wedding pictures on their phone while we waited for two hours for the concert to begin, I suddenly felt myself rising to my feet as if I were being lifted by the energy of the crowd around me. Down on the stage, I saw a man with a guitar, strumming and strumming and strumming. Singing and singing and singing. And tapping the heel of his foot with such energy that it radiated from down on the stage all the way up to me in the third tier of the four-tier stadium. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

From the author:

1. In Chapter One how did you feel or what did you think when Anne walked out of the classroom and decided she was never going back?

2. Did you learn anything about inpatient psychiatric treatment by reading about Anne’s stays at Sheppard Pratt?

3. Do you know of anyone who chose to cope with severe depression in an unexpected and unorthodox way like Anne did when she decided to go to Australia?

4. Anne travelled alone as sixty-year-old woman. What are your thoughts about her experiences as a solo traveler?

5. Anne was embarrassed to tell people that she was traveling alone across the world to see Bruce Springsteen. She thought people would think she was pathetic because she had nothing better to do with her life than chase an aging rock star. Have you ever done something that you felt people would look down on you for, but done it anyway?

6. How did you feel when you read that Anne’s friends did not want to hear about her experiences in Australia, and that they did not want to see her as a person with positive energy. They were only interested in seeing her as a depressed person.

7. Have you ever had to deal with jet lag? How did you deal with it? What did you think about Anne’s getting to Australia and jumping on an exercise bike before even going to her room?

8. How did you feel when Anne went running to The E Street Band members in the first hotel to ask for selfies? Were you surprised?

9. Anne writes that she did not want to meet Bruce Springsteen in person because she did not want to be disappointed to learn that his real persona was less than the persona he has onstage. Anne writes that it would have been difficult for her to continue following Bruce Springsteen if she learned that he was not a good person. Have you ever been inspired by someone and that found out that they were not who you thought they were?

10. What do you think about Anne’s meeting Barbara Carr and the impact their conversation had on Anne’s ideas about her relationship with her son?

11. What do you think contributed to Anne’s acquiring a positive ball of energy for the first time in her adult life, during her trip?

12. What was your reaction to Dr. Bhati’s asking Anne to tell him a story from her trip and then wanting to give her a sedative after she told him one?

13. In an effort to keep her positive ball of energy alive when she returned from Australis, at a silent auction, Anne bid on and won the opportunity to co-host an E Street Radio show. She then found out that the host was mean and dismissive. Did you think this would cause Anne to become depressed thinking that he would tear her to shreds on the air? Were you surprised that she decided that knowledge is power and that her best hope for surviving the show was to learn all she could? Have you ever been in a similar adversarial situation?

14. Do you think Anne would have been able to maintain her positive energy and self-respect if she had not severed relationships with Dr. Bhati and her many other friends?

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