Customer Reviews

Michael, Brother of Jerry

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

Less engaging than "Jerry of the Islands" but a good read. A must for Irish Terrier owners.

Caution, this is London's expose of the brutal training methods used by the trainers for the animal acts of the time. Half the book is descriptions of the typical abuses, some suffered by Michael, some by the animals around him.

This was London's last book and he was sick, tired and depressed during this time of his life. It's not among his best but it is powerful stuff, as is all of London's writing.

I happened across this book while looking for stories about Irish Terriers. I wouldn't normally read Jack London; his stories always seemed more to my brother's liking. However, this book quickly grabbed me because a lot of it is written from the dog's perspective. And those passages are spot on. Michael reminded me so much of my own Irish Terrier and how he thinks and reasons. It really got to my heart. When I finished reading, I made a donation to the ASPCA. And although I don't know much about Jack London, I'd bet he had an Irish Terrier himself, for sure.

I first met these two dogs back in the 50's,as a child in what is now Czech Republic, in a Czech translation from the 20's. I read them innumerable times and remembered every word. But I had to wait for almost 40 years before I found the original, English, version. The dogs' intelligent and brave personalities shine through as before, despite what now would be considered "politically incorrect", anachronistic attitudes.
Thank you, Fredonia !

JL was great at writing from the animal's point of view. you get the feeling he knew what he was talking about. there is no way you can read this book without feeling that the dog is a person, but also that this is a very realistic way of describing the dog's life. a dog gets kidnapped by a man, who turns out to be a rather nice fellow. adventure in this story, great dog psychology which always amazes me. i won't give away the dog's adventures but they are interesting, there is a lot of lovely details and particularly detailed descriptions of how the dog thinks, and the story is touching on a very human level.

This is London's expose of the training used for animal acts of the day, which starts in the Soth Pacific, using his South Seas experiences. London was sick, tired and depressed during this period of his life and it is not among his finest writing but is powerful stuff, as is all London.

This is a wonderful book, as is its prequel, Jerry of the Islands. It's a great dog story. But be warned, if a child is to read this book it should be under the guidance of an adult prepared to explain the extremely racist characters and situations. The story is no fluffy puppy story. It is exciting, the locations exotic, but some of the situations are brutal - it's a Jack London story after all, and the 'N' word appears at least a million times. Still, I'm not one for censorship, and it is a great opportunity to talk about just what happened to people of color, how they were treated, and why they might be justifiably angry about it.