I agree that it would be best to ignore him, because I concur that the story of McCandless is seen too often as romantic instead of cautionary. However, it did

I agree that it would be best to ignore him, because I concur that the story of McCandless is seen too often as romantic instead of cautionary. However, it didn't seem to me that Krakauer painted McCandless as too rosy. He seemed to integrate both the accomplishments and the stupidity that led to those accomplishments pretty well. He seemed to show McCandless as a very capable and nice person, who in stubborn hubris abandoned and hurt his family and ended up dying. Not holding him up as a flawed hero like many fans of the book, and not sneering at him like many (rightly) do. A self-condemning tragedy, not an exultation or condemnation.