The Sea-Wolf [Large Print] [Hardcover]

Jack London (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0786263938 | ISBN-13: 978-0786263936 | Edition: 1

When fate lands Humphrey Van Weyden on board the Ghost, a sealing schooner bound for Japan, little does he know of the weeks of brutality which lie ahead. Captain Wolf Larsen is feared and despised by all on board, and only the chance arrival of Maud Brewster spurs Van Weyden into action in a desperate attempt to free them both from the terrifying power of the Sea-Wolf.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 483 pages
• Publisher: Thorndike Press; 1 edition (April 7, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786263938
• ISBN-13: 978-0786263936
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,389,325 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars So he wasn't Lucifer afterall..., June 3, 2005

By 

OAKSHAMAN "oakshaman" (Algoma, WI United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Sea-Wolf (Hardcover)

_This is not a book that one easily forgets. True, you can read it as a simple adventure story of life on a turn-of-the-century seal-hunting schooner, but it is far more than this. It is essentially the story of Wolf Larson- and Wolf Larson is the entire mainstream of 19th and 20th century America in microcosm.

_Larson is no simple brute. He is, rather, a complex brute. He is a master of men and a master of the seas- but that is ALL that he is. Larson is an intelligent, driven, ruthless master of industry (in this case, seal hunting.) He has succeeded through his own abilities, hard work, and talent- or so he would have you believe. Truth is, brutal backstabbing, deception, exploitation, and disregard for the law has played an equal measure in his rise and dominance. You see, Larson believes in the rule of the jungle. He believes in it so much that he is driven to prove that this is all there is to existence. He must always seek to degrade and destroy anyone who seeks to rise above this state. This is also why he must disregard the possibility of the existence of a human soul. Larson is an intelligent, hard-nosed materialist that simply cannot conceive of anything beyond a social Darwinist hell of survival of the fittest. And Wolf Larson must be the fittest of them all. As much as money means to Wolf, it is really power over other beings- men and animals that means the most to him. Without this power to sadistically degrade and dominate others, the money would have no meaning. Ultimately that explains why he has risen to command his own vessel at all costs- he is a control freak that MUST be in absolute, totalitarian command of his whole world. This is why he only mans his ship with the lowest, most bestial types of human being, and does everything in his power to make them worse- not unlike many modern corporations. This is also why the sudden presence of a higher sort of individual, with ideals that transcend mere survival and materialism are so totally threatening to him.

_There are moments when one is almost tempted to sympathize with the Wolf as a champion of freedom- until you realize that in his sort of world his "freedom" means that everyone else must be a slave.

_Ultimately, the Wolf meets the inevitable fate in a world ruled like the jungle. When he loses his sight and strength, the monsters that he has surrounded himself with turn on him. In the last measure there is nothing great about Larson after all, for in facing death he proves to be a petty, murdering, weakling that would rather take all those around him down with him. It seems that despite his grand pretensions, he was no Lucifer at all, but merely a sick, pathetic, sociopath incapable of making the leap into being truly human.