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14th out of 108 books
—
53 voters
The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories
We need London's mythical wolf almost as much as we need the wildernesses of the world, for without such ghost-animals from the depths of the human subconscious we are alone with the depths of the human subconscious we are alone with ourselves." -From the Introduction
This volume of the best of Jack London’s famed stories of the North includes The Call of the Wild, London’...more
This volume of the best of Jack London’s famed stories of the North includes The Call of the Wild, London’...more
Paperback, Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics, 416 pages
Published
August 1st 1994
by Penguin Books
(first published 1906)
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Mar 16, 2008
Bronson
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
books-i-read-with-my-kids
What a wonderful book. I haven't read this since I was in 7th grade and didn't finish it before my book report was due - my teacher caught on and really got after me for trying to turn in a book report on a book i didn't finish. I read this to my 8 year old and we both loved it. The story of Buck, a mild "southland" dog that is stolen and sold to work in the Yukon pulling dog sleds for gold seekers. He finds his wild roots and becomes one of the hardest working and most loved dogs of the north....more
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The version I have read has two stories The Call of the Wild is about Buck a half breed domesticated dog from the Southlands who is kidnapped and sent to work on the sledges in the north. The other story is White Fang a mongrel wolf that is brought in from the wild to work also on the sledge for humans.
Both stories are polar opposites of each other where one descends from tame to wild and the other from wild to civilization. London delves into the minds of these animals, their thoughts and emoti...more
Both stories are polar opposites of each other where one descends from tame to wild and the other from wild to civilization. London delves into the minds of these animals, their thoughts and emoti...more
Apr 18, 2012
Pete
rated it
2 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommended to Pete by:
Piers Denholm Young
This man was undoubtedly a good writer, his concise, tight occasionally prosaic phrasing works well, reminding me a little, and only a little, of William Goulding.
Each books stands on it own merits;
Call of the Wild
4-Stars
Excellent! Stars White Fang in a cameo role, some great descriptive prose which captures a sense of the Alaskan wilderness well as well as contextualising the brutality of man and beast.
White Fang
2-Stars
Call of the Wild in reverse; brutality of the wilderness, hate,savagery e...more
I have to say Jack London is the best author I've ever seen! I really love this story. The first time I read it is about 13years old. Because I love animals so I choose this book to read, but it's Chinese. After I read this English edition. It seems I came back to my childhood. I really like White Fang. And I have a desire to have a new dog like him. He is so smart, so brave, sooo handsome(from this book I can see). Although he has some bad experince, like being ill-treated by his several owners...more
"Jack London could see the world very clearly through a dog's eyes. We learn a lot about dogs from reading these."
"That dog fight sure was gruesome, but for some reason I am unfazed by the consumption of one or more humans."
"I like dogs. These stories were about dogs. I like these stories."
"Jack London also only wrote stories about doggies. These were his most important stories."
"Life is not always happy."
"I did not learn anything about life that was more important than the statements listed ab...more
"That dog fight sure was gruesome, but for some reason I am unfazed by the consumption of one or more humans."
"I like dogs. These stories were about dogs. I like these stories."
"Jack London also only wrote stories about doggies. These were his most important stories."
"Life is not always happy."
"I did not learn anything about life that was more important than the statements listed ab...more
As I've said in a previous review, I'm listening to stories on line hence my review of that venue. I love animals and most stories about animals so I chose these two after having not read them since I was about twelve. I forgot how sad and angry I was in much of the stories as the dogs are being abused by "man". Mr. London portrays a time in history when life was rugged and tough just to stay alive. The gold rush days in Alaska brought out all the loonies, wanna be's and survivors of this kind o...more
Seriously, guys, I dreamed about ice and snow for at least 3 days after reading this book.
London does great things with a relatively simple cast (I would love to meet Malemute Kid, personally). Admittedly, I liked some of the short stories best. They had a grit and realism to them that Call of the Wild seemed to lack, at least from Buck's perspective. London's ability to drop a whole set of characters through ice or detail the icy death of a man incapable of building a fire with his frozen finge...more
London does great things with a relatively simple cast (I would love to meet Malemute Kid, personally). Admittedly, I liked some of the short stories best. They had a grit and realism to them that Call of the Wild seemed to lack, at least from Buck's perspective. London's ability to drop a whole set of characters through ice or detail the icy death of a man incapable of building a fire with his frozen finge...more
Jack London was really, really good at what he did, and what he did was craft stories about dogs (or with dogs) where the main focus is the animal and its place in the world - the tug between the Wild and the comforts of civilization. The biggest question in The Call of the Wild and White Fang (which was sometimes referred to as The Call of the Tame, apparently) was always "At what point does the wolf become a dog, or the dog the wolf?" Many books will make you question what it means to be human...more
Having just finished Wolf: The Lives of Jack London, I decided to re-read Call of the Wild. What a different lens through which to read this book. London's understanding of returning to the primitive and to the powerful as viewed through his evolutionary naturalistic perspective provides a paradigm for both humans and animals to return to their roots. In this way we shall, according to this view, regain our authenticity and perhaps produce a prouder more dignified species a la Nietzsche. The par...more
Jack London's The Call of the Wild left me wondering in happy thoughts but at the same time, sad thoughts.
We might not think very often of a dog's life and what it's like, but in silly ways a dog's life can be like a humans' life. Dogs do not always have a pleasurable life. Buck thought his life was pretty great until he was sent out into the wild. Buck and a lot of other dogs get taken away from their homes to go work in Canada because of the gold rush that hit the Klondike region. Men needed t...more
We might not think very often of a dog's life and what it's like, but in silly ways a dog's life can be like a humans' life. Dogs do not always have a pleasurable life. Buck thought his life was pretty great until he was sent out into the wild. Buck and a lot of other dogs get taken away from their homes to go work in Canada because of the gold rush that hit the Klondike region. Men needed t...more
To kill or be killed! is what Buck has to think about in Call of the Wild by Jack London, through his adventures through the Yukon. That philosophy is what kept Call of the Wild interesting for me. Story's based on real life experiences, for me, are the most interesting.
Experiencing the life of a Yukon miner, influenced Jack London to write Call of the Wild. Jack London wrote this book telling reader about how hard life is in the Yukon. London wrote Call of the Wild in a very serious voice. Tryi...more
Experiencing the life of a Yukon miner, influenced Jack London to write Call of the Wild. Jack London wrote this book telling reader about how hard life is in the Yukon. London wrote Call of the Wild in a very serious voice. Tryi...more
Aug 08, 2011
Erik Graff
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
kids & dog lovers
Recommended to Erik by:
no one
Shelves:
literature
In 1962 my mother arranged to travel by the HMS Milora, a freighter, from Duluth/Superior at the western tip of Lake Superior to Bremenhaven, Germany with me and my little brother, Fin. The trip through the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence Seaway and the Atlantic took weeks as we collected grain en route and were held up off Germany by a dock strike. It was wonderful. I saw icebergs, whales, porpoises, flying fish, luminescent planktons, mid-sea oil rigs and nightly adult movies in incomprehensib...more
It's not a book for a non-english speaker to understand clearly but the context of those stories in this book which written by Mr.LonDon are perfect for whom who love the nature, adventuring, or romance. The book’s including “The call of the wild”- a song of brave and truth, “Diable- a Dog”- a picture of hate, “The odyssey of the North” – a love and romance story, “To build a fire”, “to the man on trail”, and “Love of life”. Each story bring each own beautiful meaning to the readers. There first...more
Mar 29, 2008
Mara
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Recommends it for:
Outdoors people, dog-lovers, and people who like good tall tales
Technically, I only read "The Call of the Wild," but after reading it, I definitely will go on to read "White Fang" and more of Jack London. Don't think I gave him a chance in the past-this is probably because of the Disney movie "White Fang," which I did like, but was also slightly scared of as a kid. I'll never forget the first time I saw the body fly out of the coffin onto the frozen lake in that one scene. I'm told it's meant to be funny, but as a little kid, it was completely horrifying. Be...more
I scanned the shelves at work before a weekend trip and grabbed this purely because it was on our Oxford World Classics promotion and registered as something I've been meaning to read for a while.
The Call of the Wild is decidedly one of my favourite books - and goes with A Christmas Carol on the list of novels I could easily read again and again. It evoked a wonderful sense of wilderness and tormented me with a longing for snow and mountains again.
White Fang is a more layered and complex creatio...more
The Call of the Wild is decidedly one of my favourite books - and goes with A Christmas Carol on the list of novels I could easily read again and again. It evoked a wonderful sense of wilderness and tormented me with a longing for snow and mountains again.
White Fang is a more layered and complex creatio...more
Seems appropriate to read this during January (even though we've had 80 degree weather.) Plus it was a free kindle download. I luz FREE!
Quick read. Is that because of the accessibility on my phone? Probably. But I enjoyed the story, like I enjoyed reading about ferocious rabbits, in Watership Down. Parts of this were more gruesome than my sensibilities preferred. Somehow it's easier to read about the death of a human than the death of a dog. Go, Buck, go!
Quick read. Is that because of the accessibility on my phone? Probably. But I enjoyed the story, like I enjoyed reading about ferocious rabbits, in Watership Down. Parts of this were more gruesome than my sensibilities preferred. Somehow it's easier to read about the death of a human than the death of a dog. Go, Buck, go!
Not real impressed with Call of the Wild but White Fang was awesome and the additional short stories were even better. I went out and bought a collected hardcover of all London's writings after reading this. The story about the guy freezing to death while the dog he mistreated watches is amazing. You can acutally feel his panic as he tries to survive in the -70 degree weather of Alaska.
Reading this as an adult was definitely a surprised experience - I didn't remember how dark it was. Jack London's style was fascinating - the only emotion in the book is what I brought to it. He kept the story from an animal's perspective - no emotion, just relating to it as far as how it affected Buck's survival and well-being. Great read. Now to re-read White Fang...
I LOVED IT!!♥ It was amazing! The plot is structured and keeps suspense. It tells you the story in an animal point of view about a wolf. I first read it, because it was required to as my project. I thought the book was too long, and I don't really like big books because I'm lazy lol But yeah this story will make you feel emotional and show the pain of nature.
An amazing, classic child's tale that is part of the foundation of fiction and novel writing for modern writers. My parents read this to me when I was a child and I read it to my children. It is a tale meant to be shared by a family. This book was foundational to my sense of adventure and mystery in reading.
I believe I read this book as a child, but didn't remember anything when I reread it this summer in preparation for teaching it this fall. I wonder whether I'll be able to engage Utah 9th graders in some of the issues that prompted London's worldview, including his great respect for the ideas of Darwin. We'll see!
I loved Jak London when I was a kid, and the appeal is still there, but it grabs me less now that I'm thirty for some reason. I think there might be a category of books that are good, but have extra strong potency and resonanace if read during a certain age. Call of the Wild, Catcher in the Rye,Lord of the Flies. I know a lot of women who say that Little Women was better when they were kids than it was when they came back to it later in life. Just a thought.
Eh. It...wasn't as exciting as I thought it'd be. I mean, the stories were fairly cool and I did enjoy some aspects of them, but after getting 1/3 of the way through White Fang it started losing steam. Maybe these books are best to read one at a time? Call of the Wild was interesting enough, and Love of Life was a good gripping story. Yeah, probably better to read these one at a time.
Jack London's not a bad writer, though. He spares few details, and the way he portrays hierarchy and social order...more
Jack London's not a bad writer, though. He spares few details, and the way he portrays hierarchy and social order...more
When reading Jack London's work, I reach a cathartic experience that is usually only achievable by a powerful film (Schindler's List, Gladiator, Munich). However, Jack London is able to achieve that (at least for me) without the emotional orchestral soundtrack, or the film techniques used in modern cinema today. He is able to have me pause and contemplate the way I have lived my life and how I will continue. His sentences take me to a place where there is no iphone, ipads, ipods, no "generation...more
As soon as the cold weather hit, I was all over this book! I remember reading it in junior high and was a bit disappointed when I revisited it again. Jack London is an okay writer. He moves the plot along. He gets stuff done, but I guess I was just missing poetry in the prose. Meh.
Encore un petit London des familles. Dans une nouvelle traduction superbe, plus violente, plus près de l’auteur. D'ailleurs regardez le titre en anglais. Ce n'est pas l'appel de la forêt. mais l'appel sauvage. A lire évidemment. Un livre aussi un peu culte.
My dad wanted me to read this when I was in high school and I refused - probably because he told me to read it! I'm not one who enjoys animals being hurt, but realize this does happen. Good book - tells a story about the gold rush from a creature abused by it.
London shows his preponderance for Freud and Darwin in this tale of the Klondike and a dog Buck. Having lived in California for 13 years and visited Skagway, all the places came alive in this well-crafted description of a dog and a harsh existence. I love it.
Hey- a book about man and dog where the dog doesn't die! That's my kind of dog book. Sure, enough animal cruelty to make me sick, and every other dog meets a gloomy end, but... not Buck!
I recall reading this some 10-14 years ago and finding it drab. But maybe it's reading about the frozen north in the blazing heat of the summer that made it really appealing to me. Still unpleasant to listen to the dog-breaking scenes, but an interesting story nonetheless.
My favorite short story was Love of Life...more
I recall reading this some 10-14 years ago and finding it drab. But maybe it's reading about the frozen north in the blazing heat of the summer that made it really appealing to me. Still unpleasant to listen to the dog-breaking scenes, but an interesting story nonetheless.
My favorite short story was Love of Life...more
I read Call of the Wild and White Fang to monitor my daughters book club. I remember reading these as a teenager and liking them. I still am shocked by the violence possible and inherent in some human beings towards others and animals.
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Jack London was an American novelist and short-story writer whose works deal romantically with elemental struggles for survival. At his peak, he was the highest paid and the most popular of all living writers. Because of early financial difficulties, he was largely self educated past grammar school.
London draws heavily on his life experiences in his writing. He spent time in the Klondike during th...more
More about Jack London...
London draws heavily on his life experiences in his writing. He spent time in the Klondike during th...more
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