Customer Reviews

The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics)

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

 

 

This collection combines Jack London's classic dog stories: The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and five other shorter works with similar themes and, of course, dogs. These are some of the finest pieces of fiction in American Literature, and as such are must-reads for anyone, though certainly the stories themselves will appeal chiefly to males. The scent of testosterone is all over the stories, stories about men traveling the Yukon in search of gold or delivering the mail, camping in sub-freezing temperatures with little company other than perhaps a partner and a few dogs. The few female characters are generally like Mercedes in The Call of the Wild, utterly unsuited to her environment and even a hindrance.

Still, the stories are universal thematically. They are primarily about nature, and the effect of environment on the development of both humans and animals. Of course, the classic The Call of the Wild is about the faithful pet dog Buck who is stolen to be a sled dog in The Yukon and emerges transformed into a wild dog so in tune with his nature and natural environment that he is known as `The Ghost Dog of the Wilderness' for his ability to stealthily hunt in a way even his fellow wolves cannot top. White Fang flips this proposition on its head and shows us a wild wolf tamed by the love of a man. The shorter stories play variations on the theme, but all relate men and dogs engaged in or against their natural behaviors in some way and to different effects.

Another reason these books are so great is because London's prose is simple and clear. (He was a major inspiration of Hemingway's) And the stories are exciting. London does drama well, and this is clearly shown in the early scenes of White Fang, where two men are hunted by a hungry pack of wolves, and in the best of London's short fiction, "To Build a Fire", in which a freezing man fights nature in his attempts to build a fire and thus save his life.

This collection is an easy five stars.

One may not like Jack London as a person because of his strong socialist, and social darwinist, beliefs. But one can't deny his brilliance when it comes to his dog/wolf stories. "Call of the Wild", "White Fang", "Batard", and others are simply stunning. The brutalities of the wild, the slow transformations of the canine protagonists, the realism of humanity: it's all here, and they are what make these stories. I give this book an A+.

The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories (Oxford World's Classics) is a group of exciting adventure stories of dogs and life in Alaska. It has lots of action, and it is a well-known classic. I read it when I was younger, and I remembered enjoying it. So when we decided to go to Alaska this summer, I bought it to make my trip to London's cabin and museum more meaningful. I have not been disappointed.

IT'S AN EXCELLENT ADVENTURE STORY FOR PEOPLE OF ALL AGES BUT PARTICULARLY WONDERFUL FOR CHILDREN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 10 AND 18. EXCELLENT GRAFIC WRITING. I FIRST READ IT WHEN I WAS 11, AND STILL REMEBER THE STORY WHICH I COULDN'T PUT DOWN. I AM NOW 75!

great service, the book came quickly and in very good shape, the price was right. I trust Amazon to deal with good suppliers and I would use this book dealer again. I read this as a young girl and decided it was time to read again.

I'm reviewing a shorter compilation of Jack London stories not currently available on Amazon, but all of the stories are also in this book.

I bought the book to revisit the "cold weather stories" such as Call of the Wild and To Build a Fire while holed up last winter in my snowy mountain redoubt. I enjoyed the cold adventures and descriptions of living and working outdoors in subzero weather before the era of goose down, Thinsulate, Gore-Tex and nylon. I was not too surprised to learn my recollection of these stories that I first encountered forty-odd years ago was not particularly accurate (not unlike other distant memories I investigate) and I enjoyed reading them.

Having said that, a lot of these stories are downright DEPRESSING...London was a well regarded writer and commercial success in his short lifetime. But he was apparently a tormented person, driven to alcohol and suicide by age 40. His dark view of human nature and the need for and desirability of radical socialist revolution is a theme of several stories. One of them, The Dream of Debs, fantasizes about a bazaar socialist rebellion in San Francisco. The "working class" secretly colludes to hide away food for themselves and then calls a general strike that brings the "ruling class" to its knees by imminent starvation. The result is that everyone gets their pre-strike jobs back with greatly improved income and working conditions for all the strikers. It never occurs to London, apparently a "true believer", that some of the "rulers" might not reopen their businesses as they would lose money or that they would cover their increased costs by raising prices to the workers' detriment as consumers. Oddly, London could not fathom that his story's affluent protagonist would do anything after the strike except rehire his house full of domestic servants at much increased wages, even welcoming back those who stole his food and abandoned him to battle starvation. Weird...

Nevertheless, these stories are well written with vivid, pithy language, colorful descriptions and surprising plot twists. They are excellent reading for would-be writers of all ages and, at least regarding the "traditional" stories, are excellent tales of heroic adventure in the frigid late-19th century north country.

I once read this book when I was around 11 years old. Back then I pretty much got all of the details of the book. I again read White Fang this summer. White fang is about a fearsome wolf named Buck. Buck always stood above all of the dogs. He led his team of fellow wolfs on a race over 2,000 miles long. In the book Buck proves his strength and his courage time and time again. I must give a warning to the younger readers out there that there are some violent dog fights that Buck gets into so if you are not into the whole fighting scene you might just want to skip those parts. If you like a classic book with action and adventure than White Fang is the book for you.