Reviews
felt like i was in 5th grade reading a chapter book. what a lovely feeling.
Somehow I never read this book in school which amazes me. London does a phenomenal job of describing the Alaskan wilderness, but what was most amazing about the book was the depth and voice he gives to White Fang. I don't see how London was able to write a book so well with such a lack of dialog.
A good read for fans of London's work.
Jack London is one of the authors I used to read when I was a kid. Since White Fang is known as his masterpiece and is related with my good old childhood memories I wanted to give Jack London another shot. And actually it did go well. The call of the wild is a story about the personality development of a dog from childhood to adolescence. His name is Buck and starts his life as an outstanding pet and ends as a wild wolfish dog. And this is more like Buck’s book instead of Jack London’s because of this book includes many details about Buck’s everyday life almost like a diary. So, the book opened me a new window and has given me many lessons about caring, freedom and love. So that was the way. No fair play. Once down that was the end of you.
white fang slays
what personal vendetta does my teacher have to force me to read this??
I confess, The Call of the Wild had me choking on tears a few times. Give me a story about the plight of a common dog, and I will be balling like a child. That scene with Hal, Charlie, and the vapid Mercedes? Their end couldn't come fast enough. Jack London put so much emotion into the short novella, it was downright hard to read in places.
I'm going to include White Fang with this, but both of them were phenomenal. I cried endlessly with them, they were sad, cute, and just a really good adventure!
I have forgotten the last time I read a book so beautiful. It's a cliché adjective, but it is appropriate. Call of the Wild is a short novel set in the 1890s during the Klondike Gold Rush. Since it involved climbing through a lot of snow, people needed dogs, for transportation of goods as well as themselves. Dogs that were sold, abducted and stolen were subjected to months of toil and cruelty. And one of those poor souls was the main character of the story, Buck. I have no particular liking or dislike for animals. I don't mind them being around me, but I don't go around petting them. I expected this to be a story heavily revolving around the dog's perspective and picked up this book just to see how this guy could fill so many pages, with the story of a dog; the content was bound to get repetitive. This is one of the books, I thought I wouldn't like, but ended up loving. It is very unusual. The author often went outside the perspective of the dog - you wouldn't realize the pages turning, and there's a certain freshness and energy to the story throughout. After the sudden change of circumstances in Buck's life, in the first chapter which heralds the transformation of a pampered pet into a beast; there is a disillusionment - and the new reality filled with a chain of transient, cruel, owners(with clubs as a means of 'discipline') teaches him the 'law of club and fang'. *The first part of his journey is about survival. *The second part is his life with his final and favorite owner. *The third and final is the Call of the Wild. If I start describing them, the review might end up longer than the book. I'd rather point out two aspects of the book I especially liked. 1. The author is a master in setting a scene. This is when Buck is in a fight with Spitz, another dog. "Spitz was untouched, while Buck was streaming with blood and panting hard. The fight was growing desperate. And all the while the silent and wolfish circle [other dogs watching the fight] waited to finish off whichever dog went down. As Buck grew winded, Spitz took to rushing, and he kept him staggering for footing. Once Buck went over, and the whole circle of sixty dogs started up; but he recovered himself almost in mid air, and the circle sank down again and waited." This brings to my mind the boxing scenes from movies like Raging Bull and Million Dollar Baby. The imagery is so sharp, almost movie-like. 2. The 'Call' has both figurative and literal meaning. There is a recurring theme of the transformation of Buck being explained to be due to the Call of the Wild. This figurative 'call' is the call of his ancestors. "And not only did he learn by experience, but instincts long dead became alive again. The domesticated generations fell from him. In vague ways he remembered back to the youth of the breed, to the time the wild dogs ranged in packs through the primeval forest and killed their meat as they ran it down. It was no task for him to learn to fight with cut and slash and the quick wolf snap [ don't you hear the crunch!?] In this manner had fought forgotten ancestors. They quickened the old life within him, and the old tricks which they had stamped into the heredity of the breed were his tricks. They came to him without effort or discovery, as though they had been his always. And when, on the still cold nights, he pointed his nose at a star and howled long and wolf-like, it was his ancestors, dead and dust, pointing nose at star and howling down through the centuries and through him." The language is simple and beautiful. The novel is short and sweet. The prose is poetic. "Never was there such a dog.. .....when he was made the mould was broke." The whole book is filled with descriptions of Buck, which would leave any reader in awe of this exceptional creature. Worth multiple reads.
This ended up being much better than I thought it would be based on the first page. It's not a perfect book, being a bit choppy in places, but it is engaging and visceral. I'm not big on dog stories, but I found myself identifying with Buck in many ways both endearing and disturbing. Overall, a nice little (short!) book.
Unlike anything I've read before.
this short novel is all about inner strength, that power of will that one has and how it used facing life never-ending challenges, from the perspective of a dog (Buck) you get to experience both the cruelty and love that mankind has to offer, along with the fight for supremacy with its own kind. With themes of courage, strength, hope and not giving up, this novel is recommended to anyone who is going through shit in their life at the end everything will be alright as long as you willing to fight ... also, this novel provides awesome dogs names for all you dogs lovers out there
Rilettura 4.5⭐
Oh dear…I don’t think I liked this book…at least not as much as I thought I should or as much as others did. The story was really good and had a somewhat happy ending….but there was so much death, abuse and other negative things. I almost DNF this book because I could barely stand the dog beating. I think I actually regret reading it. Too much death….I was hoping for a lighthearted adventure… 🙁 Maybe my mood wasn’t right for reading it at this time. As for the story, without the abusive parts, It was pretty good. I really liked Buck and his sense of honor, adventure and his voice overall. I’m glad it ended sorta ok for him atleast. The writing was ok too….but the last few chapters seemed really rush and without as much detail compared to the first chapters. It’s a really small book that covers many years…so the details level isn’t extremely high…but I liked the writing overall. I’ve considered reading White Fang…but I may have to avoid it if it’s similar to this. :/ This will probably be a good book for someone less sensitive than me.
4,25 The Call of the Wild: 5 To Build a Fire: 4 Bâtard: 4 Love of Life: 4
3.5 stars. Dog people, don't hate me! Be assured, this lower rating is NOT due to literary displeasure, bad plotting, dog hatred, etc. In fact I found this book to be really beautifully written, fast-paced, and surprisingly allegorical. The Audible version was on super sale, so it seemed an apt story to enjoy while getting some laundry done on an appropriately frigid afternoon. Nevertheless, it turns out I am too much of a cat person for this tale to have struck any kind of profound chord within me. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I did appreciate it. And let's be honest, something would have to be terribly wrong with me to not have found that ending really satisfying. Go Buck!
A great, well written, very descriptive book written by Jack London. Filled with adventure, mystery and intrigue. Humphrey is cast overboard in a ferry crash and is “rescued” by the Ghost with a brutal captain known as the Sea Wolf. You follow Hump’s voyage aboard this seal hunting ship as he is forced to work, educate and even become brutal himself in an attempt for survival and eventually escape. A true psychological adventure of its time. **trigger warning: graphic violence toward man and animals.
A great short story to end a long weekend of looking after kids and general domesticity!
Wholesome classic, but quite old-fashioned and I guess I was expecting more? I zoomed through the book in a matter of hours, and the plot struck me as quite simplistic and rather cliche but I guess that's more a matter of the time period than any fault of the book itself. Cute read.
Der Goldrausch in Alaska, aus der Sicht des zunächst haustierzahmen und nach und nach im guten Sinne immer wilderem Hund "Buck" erzählt. Obwohl diese Geschichte bereits 1903 veröffentlicht wurde, liest sie sich deutlich frischer als ein Buch, das bereits fast 120 Jahre auf dem Buckel hat. Das war ein netter Beginn in das Lesejahr 2021.
An interesting book about a dog and his feeling that the wild is calling to him. There are definitely some more graphic scenes (a lot of what we would think of as animal abuse) and some outdated terminology we would not use today, but it was a nice book about the pull between animal's loyalty to man and their instinctual desire for the wild.
3.5 stars. Dog people, don't hate me! Be assured, this lower rating is NOT due to literary displeasure, bad plotting, dog hatred, etc. In fact I found this book to be really beautifully written, fast-paced, and surprisingly allegorical. The Audible version was on super sale, so it seemed an apt story to enjoy while getting some laundry done on an appropriately frigid afternoon. Nevertheless, it turns out I am too much of a cat person for this tale to have struck any kind of profound chord within me. I didn't particularly enjoy it, but I did appreciate it. And let's be honest, something would have to be terribly wrong with me to not have found that ending really satisfying. Go Buck!
For some reason I had never read this before. It was fantastic and I cannot wait to read more Jack London. Once I got to the middle of the book the chapters started flying by. I grew up with dogs, but haven't been a dog person as an adult. This book definitely brought back some memories for me. I was surprised how attached I became to a non-anthropomorphized animal character.
Lo, I have read another Jack London book. Loved this one as much as Call of the Wild. Life achieves its summit when it does to the uttermost that which it was equipped to do.