Book Review: "The Call of the Wild" by Jack London

*Get the book on Amazon here*

This short novel was another book I managed to avoid throughout junior high and high school, and now that I'm firmly ensconced in middle age, I decided to give it a go- I'm so glad I did.

Buck is a half-St. Bernard, half-shepherd dog living the lazy life with a judge and his extended family. He is kidnapped and sold by one of the judge's employees, and is shipped off to the Klondike Gold Rush, where he is mercilessly beaten and broken, and turned into a work dog. London tells Buck's story from Buck's point of view, as different owners come and go, until he finds his ideal master in John Thornton. Buck learns to survive, then thrive, but he is often drawn by an (un?)imagined call to the wild, to be as free as his wolf ancestors.

All my reading life, I was led to believe this was a mild story about a man and his dog (*yawn*), and their adventures. Instead, "The Call of the Wild" is a harsh, often violent and gory, tale of Buck's survival. This might explain the failure of some recent film adaptations, which seem to be stuck in the "family-friendly" reputation of the book. I was captivated by Buck's situations, and repulsed by the harsh realities. Reading as Buck "turns wild" is both exhilarating and melancholy. London's reputation has suffered over the past few years. He was an alcoholic, free-love-practicing Socialist who was terrible with money; and has now been charged with the ultimate cancel culture crime- racism. I'm usually able to separate the author's personal life from the written work, better than I can do the same between film makers and films, and London's words quickly made me forget any Wikipedia entries and self-righteous social media protests against a man who's been dead for over a century.

I happened upon this copy in a book lot I received a long time ago, and this edition was complete and unabridged. The foreword and afterword were written by Dwight Shain, but the afterword gets John Thornton's name wrong THREE different times on one page, which is very sloppy publishing. I don't know if I'll happen on another London story, but color me pleasantly surprised at this.