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The Call Of The Wild & Selected Stories (1960)

by Jack London(Favorite Author)

3.83 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1569602174 (ISBN13: 9781569602171)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Book Essentials Promotions, Inc,

review 1: There were parts that were too violent for me but I got through them, and am glad for it. Buck is part St. Bernard and part shepherd, living in southern California on a comfortable judge's estate in 1897. The gold rush has begun far, far to the north, and dogs are needed for hauling through the snow. Buck is stolen, sold, and transported up the West coast. He eventually lands in the Yukon Territory, hauling messengers and mail for the Canadian government. He is beaten and hardened from a pet into a fierce working dog, leader of his pack. The farther he grows from his domesticated upbringing, the more he feels the pull of his distant ancestry, the call of the wild. If a man can catch a glimpse into the mind of a creature at once cunning, carnivorous, yet loving, Jack... more London must be the best. Great story, simply told, and beautifully written.
review 2: Up until now I'd had only two experiences with Jack London: that time Data met him in Star Trek and random, loving quotes from Parks & Recreation. Thus I was quite surprised when this, the first of his writing I've ever read, turned out to be neither incomprehensibly anachronistic or unbearably hokey.In fact, The Call of the Wild is very readable and enjoyable. It tilts a bit towards the hokey every now and then, admittedly, but London's genuine knowledge of northern environs and the bleak possibilities therein keep one's eyes from rolling most of the time. As to the dated-ness of the writing-- well, there are some problems there.Mostly, London's treatment of First Nations peoples is unfourtunate. I'd wager it was relatively positive for its time, given how other authors would have written, but it's often cringe inducing to modern eyes. It may be that London has first-hand knowledge of some of the tribes of which he writes or maybe not, but in either case I found their usage troubling. In particular their use in The Call of the Wild borders on making them cartoonish western film villains. The other stories in this volume are more or less the same, perhaps worse. Any time one picks up a book, a "classic", from an earlier time one can expect racist depictions and concepts--and of course, and sadly, this isn't limited to books of the past. Here there was never enough time for it to turn me off the story, but I wouldn't blame someone for avoiding this on these grounds.The best story in the collection is its namesake, The Call of the Wild. Enthralling and saddening, always thoughtful, the title piece will keep you plugging along even as the setting, characters, and tone change drastically within a few pages. As I hinted at above, the ending gets a little hokey, but it's rather like JAWS: if it had you until then, it'll have you for the last five minutes. Similarly like JAWS, there's a lot of working class hero bullshit up in this, if one pegs the hard-journeying northern prospectors and government workers as working class. To be fair, London is quick to point out the flaws and untimely realities of the lifestyle and its people, but his otherwise loving depictions are often a little thick. Still, even while flirting with worship his passages ring with truth and the experience of a careful observer. You can't say London was bad at what he did.The rest of stories are much less engrossing. They aren't horrible but they don't have the time to develop much of a connection or the punch to live up to the opening salvo. There is the possible exception of Diable-- A Dog, which had a nasty enough spirit to follow up The Call of the Wild. Otherwise I dragged my feet through the last half of the book. There's good writing there but it's often more of the same and without Buck's charismatic narrative to lead us.So, three stars. Very glad to have picked it up, and I hope to read more soon. less

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