Lost Face [Hardcover]

Jack London (Author), 1stWorld Library (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1421832593 | ISBN-13: 978-1421832593 | Publication Date: March 1, 2007

It was the end. Subienkow had travelled a long trail of bitterness and horror, homing like a dove for the capitals of Europe, and here, farther away than ever, in Russian America, the trail ceased. He sat in the snow, arms tied behind him, waiting the torture. He stared curiously before him at a huge Cossack, prone in the snow, moaning in his pain. The men had finished handling the giant and turned him over to the women. That they exceeded the fiendishness of the men, the man's cries attested. Subienkow looked on, and shuddered. He was not afraid to die. He had carried his life too long in his hands, on that weary trail from Warsaw to Nulato, to shudder at mere dying. But he objected to the torture. It offended his soul. And this offence, in turn, was not due to the mere pain he must endure, but to the sorry spectacle the pain would make of him. He knew that he would pray, and beg, and entreat, even as Big Ivan and the others that had gone before. This would not be nice.

Editorial Reviews

Review

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--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

From the Publisher

Jack London (1876-1916) is author of Call of the Wild, Sea Wolf, and White Fang, among many other works. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 132 pages
• Publisher: 1st World Library - Literary Society (March 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1421832593
• ISBN-13: 978-1421832593
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jack London's little-known short story classics, March 7, 2009

By 

David Hann (Lawrence, KS USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lost Face (Paperback)

This collection of short stories contains the well-known classic, "To Build a Fire," and that story deserves its place at the summit of American short stories. What the collection Lost Face has, however, are several other Jack London short stories that are sure to hold your attention. The title story, "Lost Face," depicts how a man's ability to keep his head in a dire situation saves him from a fate worse than death. My personal favorite in this collection is "That Spot," a great story for anyone who has owned or had to deal with a difficult dog. The narrator of "That Spot" remarks that there was something about Spot that made him uneasy, and the reader soon understands what that meant. This is a great collection of short stories, one which I recommend to anyone who likes Jack London's writing.

5.0 out of 5 stars Much more than just "To Build a Fire", January 23, 2012

By 

Karl Janssen (Olathe, KS United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lost Face (Kindle Edition)

Lost Face is a collection of seven short stories by Jack London, all of which take place in Alaska or the Yukon Territory around the time of the Klondike Gold Rush. It is most notable for being the collection which contains "To Build a Fire," the classic story of a man trudging along the Yukon Trail, alone but for his dog, who finds himself struggling for survival against the 75-below-zero cold. It is London's most famous and widely read piece of writing, about as perfect as a short story can be, and sure to be read in junior high school English classes for centuries to come.

In addition to this renowned masterpiece, Lost Face is loaded with unexpected gems. I had never heard of the other six stories in this collection, and I was greatly surprised at how good they are. By the time Lost Face was published in 1910, London had already published five collections of Klondike tales, ranging from the excellent (The Faith of Men) to the OK (Love of Life). In the latter book, London showed signs of exhausting the subject matter and running out of ideas, but here in Lost Face he comes up with seven very solid, original, exciting tales.

The title story, "Lost Face," recalls the odyssey of a Polish freedom fighter who is imprisoned by the Russians, then escapes from the mines of Siberia and ends up in Alaska. He finds himself faced with torture and death at the hands of a Native American tribe, and desperately tries to come up with a way out of his predicament. "That Spot" is a comical tale in which the narrator recalls a dog he owned during his prospecting days in the Yukon; a magnificent, powerful, keenly intelligent beast who absolutely refused to perform the slightest bit of useful labor. In "Flush of Gold," two travelers on the sled dog trail stop at a cabin on Surprise Lake, where dwells a beautiful, mysterious woman who pines for a former lover. As one of the men relates the woman's history to his companion, the reader discovers the bizarre love story that darkens her past. "The Wit of Porportuk" tells of an Alaskan Indian chief, famous for his generosity and extravagance, who runs up big debts to a miserly money lender. When the time comes to collect the debt, the lender, Porportuk, sees it as an opportunity to claim the chief's beautiful daughter El-Soo for his mate. The girl, however, being very clever and well educated, comes up with a scheme to avoid becoming the greedy old man's property. Neither party's plans prove entirely successful, however, and just when you think you know where the story's going, it turns in a shocking and unexpected direction.

Comparing the stories of Lost Face to London's Klondike tales of a decade earlier, one really gets a sense of how much he progressed as a writer. These seven tales are rendered in smooth and beautiful prose, skillfully plotted, and remarkably vivid in their depiction of time and place. Reading Lost Face transports you to the bygone world of the exotic North. Through London's eyes, it's a wild and unpredictable place where the powerful beauty of nature is ever present and invigorating adventure is commonplace.