The Call Of the Wild: The Original 1903 Edition (A Jack London Classic Novel)

When I first started reading this book it caught my attention. I had always wanted to read it since I was a teenager but now I have some time to myself. As I said before when I first started reading this book I couldn’t put it down. I was captivated and on the edge of my seat. However, as time passed after putting it down life got in the way but whenever I thought about it I would go back and continue reading. Not all books grab my attention such as this one did but I loved it from start to finish. There was never a dull moment. What a great read!!

As a child, growing up in Colorado during the 1940s and '50s, reading was an escape from the everyday life of school and daily chores. Two authors stand out in my memory as major influences on my interest in adventure and the natural world. One was Edgar Rice Burroughs, the other was Jack London. The first time I read The Call Of The Wild I was totally blown away. In Buck I found the ultimate animal hero surviving in a savage world. Since that time I have re-read this book many times and with each re-reading I came away with something new. In time I would see things in the narrative that I had never noticed before. This is indeed a multi-level book, giving you glimpses of London's philosophy on life. How he used Buck as a sounding board to voice his own feelings on man's place in the universe, the meaning of honor, courage and loyalty. London wrote with the knowledge gained from living a life of adventure. Ranching, panning for gold in the Yukon, at sea he was an oyster pirate and a sealer and, for a time, bummed around as a hobo. Basically the story is a simple one, following Buck from his soft life in California to his new life as a sled-dog the frozen north. During his transformation Buck would meet many men, some good, some bad, all shaped by the brutal life they lived. Buck would also meet all kinds of dogs from the soft southerners to the savage wolf-like northerners. And he would have an enemy--a large, white Siberian husky named Spitz. In this world of snow and ice Buck would be forged into powerful fighter and a sled-dog without peer. London's narrative is brutal and straight forward as he traces Buck's metamorphosis from pet to killer. There are scenes of incredible savagery and scenes of mystery: the fight to the death between Buck and Spitz; fire-visions of Buck's prehistoric self and the strange half-man that shared a long ago camp fire with him. London may be guilty of anthropomorphism as he endows Buck with feelings of pride, sorrow, love and hate but the story has stood the test of time and will continue to do so as long as there are readers who love nature and hear the siren Call Of The Wild.I had no problems with this Kindle edition.LastRanger

Call of the WildJack London was an American author, journalist, and social activist that has written other famous works such as White Fang.He was one of the first fictional authors to be famous world wide. He was born on January 12th, 1876 and died on November 22nd 1916 of Uremia, accompanied by drug overdose. Call of the Wild was published in 1903 and is one of his most well known novels. The story starts out in Santa Clara valley in California on the estate of a rich man and his family. A gardener on the estate that had a gambling debt to pay sells buck; a huge Saint Bernard and he is shipped to Canada and used as a sled dog to trek to Alaska during the gold rush.The Call of the Wild was great for many reasons and I personally enjoyed it even more than White Fang. It is easily a 5 star read and very interesting. Here are some of the reasons why I love this book so much.One reason is the nature. From the sun glistened pastures and estates of California, to the snow covered mountains and worn trails of the Klondike, the author’s description of the scenery never ceased to amaze me.Another reason that this book appealed to me is the detail and in depth description of even the small things, from every bristling hair standing up on Bucks back to the fragile squirrels scuttering up towering oak trees as the gleaming snow fell from the white, cloudy sky.One of the biggest reasons I enjoyed this book is the length. Never in my reading of the book for one second was I bored, there are no slow parts that you feel are a challenge to read through. It is packed with action and excitement around every turn. Dog fights and even death are jam packed into this book as well as emotions and love for some of the characters. Some parts of this book may make you want to cry, while others keep you laughing or on the very edge of your seat reading until you realize you’ve read the whole book. Then you’ll want to read it again!This is a great story and a very memorable, short read, and I highly recommend that you read this classic as well.

I'd `forgotten' about this story. I'd never read it but listened to the audiobook as a child and at the time couldn't quite relate to it. Perhaps it was the mesmeric American drawl narrating that made my mind wander. So when I wanted to read something a bit different to take my mind away from other books just read, I thought I'd give it another try.You sense this book as much as you picture the scene as described, a trick that the author does brilliantly. London gets inside the head of a dog eerily well, in a way that only someone who has been very close to a dog can do. Such a person can tell you that what science says and what they know are very different and it's not just a case of projection. London keeps sight of the difference between dog and human but indirectly highlights some crucial understandings in that strange relationship. He also and importantly shows that each dog is its own being and that individual personalities matter as much to them as to us.This is not a story that humanises dogs. If anything it reminds us that they are not at all human. It never talks as the dog; only observes the dog and understands. There is a deal of savagery and brutality yet only when it is human to animal is this meant to show cruelty. The contrast between man and dog is clear and we know very well when we are to judge and when we are to realise something about our four-legged companions.Although this was played to me as a child, I would hesitate to call it a children's book. I was definitely too young to make sense of it all and would recommend that it might be lost on young children and at times too harrowing. At the same it's very difficult to read The Call of the Wild and not come away with a refreshed respect for the dignity and friendship of a dog.Only because of an enduring love for the one human who shows him love in return does Buck resist the call of the wild. There's a metaphor for mankind in there whether intended or not.The Call of the Wild is a book with no age limit, no gender gap, no reason at all not to read it. As long as you read it in the spirit with which it is written, it won't make you cry. If you read it with your pampered pet in mind, you may need a handkerchief on standby.

HOW have I managed to get to the age of ** without reading this??? I described it thus to my sister last night: 'I can't believe how brilliant it is, it's one of THOSE books.'For anyone who hasn't read it and doesn't know about it (yes, I know it's a classic and this is probably like saying 'for anyone who doesn't know what Wuthering Heights is about!), it's set in during the Klondike gold rush of the late 19th century, in Yukon Territory and Alaska. The story is told from the point of view of Buck, a St Bernard/Scottish shepherd dog crossbreed who lived a luxurious existence in a wealthy house in California, and is stolen and sold by the gardner to work for prospectors, a hard life indeed.Much of the book is about how he adapts to his changing environment, but more than that, how 'not only did he learn by experience but instincts long dead within him. The domesticated generations fell from him in vague ways he remembered back to the youth of the breed....they came to him without effort or discovery as though they had been his always.'I am sure that those who've studied this book will tell you that what happens to Buck along the way is a parallel of what might happen to man under such circumstances, too; well, that was how it seemed to me, anyway. I am not a 'dog person', but I loved Buck and the dogs with whom he travelled. He had masters who cared for him properly, and one horrible group who deserved all that happened to them, until he finally found his one true master. The passages about the relationship between him and John Thornton were so, so touching, but what I loved most was the discovery of his 'race memory', how he dreamt of and somehow knew about times so long ago, etched into his DNA.Of course, the call of the wild becomes stronger and stronger.... this is a wonderful book, not very long (I would have been happy if it had been three times the length), and I'd recommend it to anyone. So now I've found another author whose books I will be working through...next: 'White Fang'!

I read this book for giSHwhes which is The Greatest Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen and an annual event that you should totally take part in if you are not a gisher yet. Anyway, I read this book for giSHwhes which means I read it out loud on the stairs to a pseudo-Greek monument and museum in my hometown. With my dog and several dozen tourists as audience. While filming the whole shenanigans.This experience leads me to the following review of the book: The book is quite complicated. I tried to find good, simple paragraphs for my dog (kill or be killed! eat or be eaten!) but he was unimpressed. He wanted treats instead. I was hoping that at least the Japanese tourists would find the book entertaining, but they did not. In fact, during the whole video you can see that not a single tourist even bothers looking in our direction. Which might be due to the fact that this museum is next to a film school, so everyone is used to the weird.I give the book 4-star-review anyway because my dog is a Beagle and it is hard to hold his attention with anything other than bacon or cheese. And he did look at me the whole time while I was reading. Without being bribed. So that's impressive.

Very enjoyable read

"Humans inhumanity is all too human."Buck a domesticated dog is stolen for use during the gold rush in the Yukon; use is not a word I use lightly here, enslaved would begin to describe it better. This is not a childrens book by any standard; the description of cruelty of humans towards animals is brutal and unrelenting, also the descriptions of the survival of the fittest is not restricted in any way, expect gore and cruelty in bucket loads.This is a tale of adventure and survival, that takes you into a world where nature is king and master of men and animals, one mistake one miscalculation and your life is gone.I finished this short book in one sitting and enjoyed the resilience of buck but found some of the violence a bit disturbing.