This is my first time reading this book, although I have seen the movie. What surprised me was how the dogs were so brutally treated. I had trouble continuing after the “beat down” scene. But I did remember the movie enough to know that things would get better for Buck.

I loved how London portrayed the underlying “wildness” in animals. Man can also be included in that category. The story is told from Buck’s point of view- which to me was totally believable. I wish I could get into my dog’s thoughts at times-the things I would learn. Yet I know we have an understanding of each other!

“Buck was wildly glad. He knew he was at last answering the call, running by the side of his wood brother toward the place from where the call surely came. Old memories were coming upon him fast, and he was stirring to them as of old he stirred to the realities of which they were the shadows.”

Published: 1903

I don't quite know how I'm supposed to review this one. I know I enjoyed reading it though it depressed me and made me angry at times at the violence and cruelty people show to animals.
That I just can't stand.

As for the writing. it was addictive. I didn't think I'd enjoy a book with Buck being the narrative but it was really fascinating. Reading about how Buck changed from being a civilized and naive dog to a wild and cunning wolf was a great experience.

n  “Old longings nomadic leap,
Chafing at custom’s chain;
Apart from its brumal sleep
Wakes the ferine strain”n

I can see why it's a classic and adored by everyone. I would totally recommend this.

نداء البراري

عرفت الرواية من الفيلم المقتبس منها والذي يحمل نفس الاسم فقد شاهدته بالصدفه وفكرت في قراءة الرواية لتكن هذه تجربتي الثانية مع الكاتب جاك لندن بعد روايته الطاعون القرمزي التي أعجبتني كثيرا
والقصة هنا قصة كلب ولا أخفيكم سرا أني لا أحب الكلاب في الواقع أبدا ولكن أحببت بطل القصة هنا الكلب باك .. كلب مدلل عاش حياة الرفاهية في بيت القاضي .. حياة مدنية متحضرة مذ ولاتة لتنقلب الظروف ويجد نفسه انتقل الي حياة ذات طابع بدائي لا سلام فيها ولا راحة .. حياة مربكة مليئة بالشقاء والحوادث ليصادف العجوز جون وتبدأ صداقتهم وعلاقتهم اللطيفة
رواية جميلة عن الفقد والشجاعة والوفاء ومعاني كثيرة نتعلمها من الكلب باك
أسلوب الرواية سلسل وخفيفة تنهيها في جلسة واحدة لكن الترجمة السيئة أفسدت جمالها للأسف

A bit Intimidating to consider reviewing Jack London

Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Call of the Wild (Kindle Edition)

One of the great figures of American literature. You either like him or you don't. If lit. classes soured you on London, or if you have never read any of his work, there are worse places to start than "The Call of the Wild". "The Sea Wolf" for instance, is much grittier but is not for everyone. Try this or "White Fang" for great adventure, human (and dog) insight, and magnificent descriptions of the Great North. Note that Amazon seems to have combined reviews of various editions including at least one abridged edition. My review is of the free kindle edition, not some chopped version of this classic.

Эта повесть не столько о жестоком обращении с животными и грубой, эксплуататорской сущности человека, хотя и об этом тоже. Это гимн природе, ее великой силе и непреодолимом зове, подчиняющем себе. Это хвала собачьей преданности и любви. Это драма борьбы за выживание в лучших дарвинистских определениях, когда природа отбирает лучших и сильнейших, и из этого отбора рождаются странные волки с пятнами на шерсти.

Okay wow this one really hooked me. I had always heard of Call of the Wild but always ignored it. Finally, I broke down and listened to it on audiobook. I couldn’t stop listening to it.

If you’re like me, you didn’t know it was told through the perspective of a dog who has his world turned upside down. Slowing and surely he settles into his new life and thrives.

The human companionship. The action. The adventure. The drama. This has it all! I was very happy and didn’t want it to end. Thankfully Jack London has a lot of short stories that I can sink my teeth into if I ever get the itch. My personal favorite being The Leopard Man’s Story.

Want to shut your brains off and escape to a new world? Read this, you won’t be disappointed!

I recommend if you like:
Adventure stories
Stories told through the perspective of an animal
Human animal friendships
Action packed stories
Stories with heart

I would caution you if:
You want just a feel good story with no hardship
A longer story

I’m crossing some gems this Christmastime. I do not read many classics, and I don’t seek them out.. but oh my!

Narrated by Buck, the dog taken to become a sled dog. Through his internal musings, and the communication with other dogs, and his observations of humans, we learn so much about human’s treatment of the dogs, and of each other. The better humans, and the not so.. this is a gentle though very serious reflection of then human psyche and the difference between those who are greedy and nefarious and those who are so very good.

Many heartbreaking moments, the purity of the beast and those who know how to love, and perhaps not. Being the audience to Buck’s innermost thoughts was the best part, and without sounding emotional and flowery, it was an honour.

I listened to this via the Libby app and my public library, the narration was fuss free.. which was perfect for the story delivered by Michael Kramer.

Re-read with a buddy!

Back in the day... like when I was a kid, I read this and enjoyed the whole concept of a novel written from the PoV of a dog, but oddly, I read Cujo before this.

The results?

A skewed perspective. :) I love dogs and love the whole idea that London UNDERSTOOD them... but since then? I have the sneaking suspicion we're not even talking about dogs so much as the desire to run away from Victorian civilization.

Why was this so popular back in the day? Because everyone was sick of being so progressive. It's better to be an animal rather than a subject of Her Majesty.

How Rebellious! How delicious!

No, no, we don't understand that concept today. *applies just a little more colored gel to his mowhawk*

So good.

I love a good adventure.

The writing, just like in London’s The Scarlett Plague, was crystal clear and seemed very modern for its time. I can’t believe this was written a hundred and twenty years ago.

The third person narration was perfect and worked seamlessly between Buck’s “thoughts”, people and the world around him.

Also, I found this to be quite a sweeping and epic tale for such a short number of pages.
I’m very, very impressed.

Perfect recommendation for young adults, I’d say.

On page five I realised I wanted a happy ending. I needed one. Didn’t even want to think about the possibility of something bad happening to Buck, and this is, I believe, the best praise I can give to this BIG little story.

Oh, my gosh…

I’ll never forget you, Buck.

جالبه که 122 سال پیش، توی همین ماه‌های دسامبر و ژانویه و طی سی روز، جک لندن یه داستان در مورد یه سگ نوشت و هنوزم می‌شه خوند و لذت برد
اینکه توی اون زمان داستانی با تم فرگشت نوشته تحسین برانگیزترش هم میکنه. بعد اونوقت توی زمان حال بخوای در مورد فرگشت حرف بزنی، یکی با مغز اولیه‌ش میاد بهت می‌گه "تو اگه می‌خوای فکر کنی ابا و اجدادت از نسل میمونن، همینطوری فکر کن! منو یکی با دستای خودش صیقل داده!

Novels narrated from a dog’s point of view are rarities. I distinctly remember reading two, Fluke by the late great James Herbert, and Cujo by Stephen King (only partly from the dog’s POV). If the author’s talent is up to the task, it is quite a nice change in perspective (though I am sure you wouldn't want to read fiction from a canine perspective all the time unless you are a dog, even actual dogs don't want to do that, I have asked a few).

Set in the Yukon during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush, The Call of the Wild is narrated in the third person but almost entirely from the dog’s point of view. The protagonist is Buck, a huge St. Bernard-Scotch Collie.

At the beginning of the book he is living a happy life as a pet of a judge but is soon stolen by the judge’s gardener and sold to dog traders, one of whom beat the stuffing out of him to teach him his place in the world (as the trader sees it). After this traumatic and transformative experience he is soon sold off to Canadian mail dispatchers. The story of his life as a sled dog is quite harrowing, featuring a fight for supremacy among his teammates, being sold off again to inhumane ignoramus and almost starving to death. Buck goes through the wringer and survives admirably thanks to his tenacity, cunning, fortitude and general badassery. The title of the book The Call of the Wild only becomes a theme toward the end of the book, but I won’t spoil the book by elaborating on this.

The book is generally very well written though but there is very little dialog, as the dogs are not Disneyfied / anthromorphosised talking animals. The hardship and abuse endured by the sled dogs is quite harrowing. If you think you’ve got it bad try being a sled dog (though if you are reading this the contingency is an unlikely one). The author Jack London clearly has a lot of affinity for dogs and feels a moral outrage at the abusive treatment they often receive from human beings. He also has an insight into dogs’ mentality as this passage demonstrates:

“But the club of the man in the red sweater had beaten into him a more fundamental and primitive code. Civilized, he could have died for a moral consideration, say the defence of Judge Miller's riding-whip; but the completeness of his decivilization was now evidenced by his ability to flee from the defence of a moral consideration and so save his hide.”

“In short, the things he did were done because it was easier to do them than not to do them.”

Ah! I wish my dog was so eloquent! The process of “decivilization” of Buck is a fascinating one, in order to survive he has to turn feral and it later transpires that Buck has some kind of primordial instinct for turning wild. That said he also has an almost conflicting desire to be loved by a human master, and for doing the best job he can as a sled dog, and later as a bodyguard and companion. What he also has above all other characters in this book is an indomitable will to live, and eventually to be free.

If you love dogs this is a novel not to be missed. It is quite short, only about 170 pages, and there is an excellent free audiobook version from Librivox, very well read by Mark F. Smith (thank you sir!).

Art by nikogeyer

I am running/walking a lot through this current crisis, so I decided to listen to something I would not ordinarily read, something I read as a boy. I just got through The Brothers Karamazov, so need a few light ones to clear my head. This is also about courage in the face of danger, as my last one, If I Die in a Combat Zone, so in that sense it fits.

I don't want to be divisive in this already divided world, but I am a cat person, almost never read any books about dogs, and this is not only about a dog among dogs, it is told from the perspective of a dog, which initially in re-reading was like nails on a chalkboard for me. But you know, what am I gonna do, I'm out, I could switch to music. . but I already know, London loves dogs, as is clear from "To Build a Fire," and so many other stories, I'm tolerant of differences, okay, respect to the tough guy, I'll keep reading the book. And that story,"To Build a Fire" re-read it and a graphic novel adaptation, a few months ago, and love the lean and mean story.

And so this story begins to lure me in, a dog stolen, used by a cruel master as a sled dog in the Klondike, Alaska, a dog on its own away from its master in the lower forty-eight. Faces down battles with men--who generally are meaner and more stupid than dogs--and other predators. And then he gets the call of the wild, to go deeper into the north country, to lead a pack of wolves, a brave rogue dog, he can do anything! The stuff of legend! An adventure story with a dose of inspiration. It's good. I recommended it to my kids and recommend it to any of you who read this decades ago. 3.5, well-written story of a certain realist kind.