South Sea Tales (Tale of the Pacific) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Jack London (Author) "John Griffith London, the novelist, short story writer, essayist, and journalist whose own life proved as dramatic as his fiction, was born in San Francisco..." (more)
Key Phrases: hau tree, cocoanut trees, six fathoms, Captain Davenport, Red One, Abel Ah Yo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
?He was an adventurer and a man of action as few writers have ever been . . . the excellence of his short stories has been almost forgotten.??George Orwell -- Review --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review
“He was an adventurer and a man of action as few writers have ever been . . . the excellence of his short stories has been almost forgotten.”—George Orwell --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 324 pages
• Publisher: Mutual Publishing (October 1985)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0935180141
• ISBN-13: 978-0935180145
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,511,845 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars This is not South Sea Tales, December 30, 2003

By	TopCat "hal96a" (Minneapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: South Sea Tales (Modern Library Classics) (Paperback)

One star is not because the Jack London stories in this book are not wonderful. It is because this book is not South Sea Tales by Jack London, which I first got from my grandfather's bookshelf and was one of the most memorable reads from my youth. It is a collection of sea stories, including four from South Sea Tales, but I have found a copy of the original stories at Barnes and Noble. One might guess that some of the stories were dropped because, like Huck Finn, they use dialogue and espouse attitudes that we now know better than to live. The stories are still great and do not deserve to become un-stories. This collection is misnamed and misleading.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good solid 1900's sea stories, October 17, 2000

By	David M. Chess (Mohegan Lake, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Eight good stories by Jack London, about the people and places of the south Pacific in 1908. Also a good long introduction by A. Grove Day which should (like all too many "introductions") only be read *after* reading the stories.

Most of the people in these stories are, of course, either victims or perpetrators (or both) of one of those long painful Western exploitations of a less civilized ("less civilized") part of the world. London knows that that's what's going on, and he writes with sympathy for all concerned, and without the more self-conscious bemoaning that would be expected of a XXIst century writer. To the modern reader, then, he can sometimes seem cold-blooded, but seldom disturbingly so.

The prose is fine and spare most of the time, and never gets in the way of the tale. The places and the tales are memorable. There is not a great variety of character and setting; the eight stories together could almost be a single novel. His voyage on the Snark (which inspired these stories) clearly left him with a strong and single impression of this place and these people, and he conveys that impression skillfully along to us.

Definitely worth reading.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Collection , November 28, 2005

By	Auriga Distribution2 (Front Royal VA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: South Sea Tales (Modern Library Classics) (Paperback)

London does not disappoint in this collection. His observations are as sound today as they were in his time. It was fascinating to see that London even experimented with science fiction in his story the Red One.

Sean O'Reilly
Editor-at-large
Travelers' Tales
Editor of 30 Days in the South Pacific