The Call of the Wild has been sitting on my shelf for a very long time now, and since I needed a book to read for my March classic, I figured it would be a good choice. It’s short and it’s about animals. Sounds like a win, right?
The Call of the Wild by Jack London Published by Scholastic Genres: Children's Classic, Fiction
Pages: 172
Goodreads
Life is good for Buck in Santa Clara Valley, where he spends his days eating and sleeping in the golden sunshine. But one day a treacherous act of betrayal leads to his kidnap, and he is forced into a life of toil and danger. Dragged away to be a sledge dog in the harsh and freezing cold Yukon, Buck must fight for his survivial. Can he rise above his enemies and become the master of his realm once again?
Okay so I have quite a list of grievances to make for The Call of the WIld, but instead of listing every single one of them, I’m going to highlight just a few.
The main character is a dog, not a wolf.
Well you could have fooled me. Why put WOLF DOG on EVERY SINGLE COVER of this dang book if it was a freaking mountain dog mix? NO WHERE it does talk about Buck being a husky, so if he’s not a husky, STOP MAKING HIM LOOK LIKE WOLF.
They literally just fight all of the time.
Seriously half of this book is dogs fighting. I think it was effective the first time, but after that I had a hard time keeping my eyes open. Reading about gnashing teeth, snarling, tearing flesh and blah blah blah got awfully old.
There’s more animal abuse than I’d care to read about.
When the dogs aren’t fighting they’re basically being starved or beaten. The time Buck finally encounters someone nice and non-abusive (who I’m proud to share a last name with!) was the only time I was able to pay slightly more attention.
Dogs aren’t really all that majestic, you know.
Jack London needs a little dog education. He’s painting dogs out to be amazing and magnificent, when really, we all know they’re just derpy af like this:
Did you read Call of the Wild? Do you agree that dogs are actually derp machines and not super magnificent creatures?
A.S. Thornton has evolved from book blogger to author with a particular fondness for writing forbidden love in ancient deserts. When not writing, she’s caring for dogs and cats as a veterinarian. You’ll never find animals at the center of her writing, though, because those fictional worlds don’t have veterinarians and her literal brain can’t accept that the poor critters would be without parasite prevention. Thornton’s debut, DAUGHTER OF THE SALT KING is available wherever books are sold.
Kiss Like a Girl
It’s too bad this book didn’t work out for you. I can’t handle reading about animal abuse either. But your feature image is beautiful!
Ali
Thank you! Hey, at least the book has a gorgeous cover?!
ShootingStarsMag
I’m pretty sure a teacher read this one out loud to my class in grade school, but I don’t remember really enjoying it. hah It sounds kind of boring to be honest. Sorry you didn’t like it!
-Lauren
ShootingStarsMag just posted Nina Nesbitt: A Concert Review
Ali
Yes, if you’re JUST reading it for the story (and not studying what it’s a great piece of literature), you have to be into the subject to find it more entertaining!
Kelsey
Because of the time it was written, animals were an important means of transportation, so I imagine their ability to endure human cruelty and abuse while hauling people across a bitter landscape is a different kind of magestic. I also think buck’s final goal is to become wild, like the wolves. He feels the call of the wild, and for him that would be a wolf howling. The jargon might make the whole story more tedious, but putting a book in the context it was written is important and understanding the goals of the main character are important to understanding the plot of a classic. I don’t recommend reading Black Beauty if this isn’t your style. The original cover was just dogs pulling a sled.
Ali
You’re absolutely right! I definitely read this story just *as is* – not taking in into any of the other aspects of why it is conisdered such a great piece of literature. If I were to sift through it more thoroughly and really take the time to digest it, I bet I would have enjoyed it (and appreciated it) loads more. But since I just read it as a story, it wasn’t for me. Oddly enough, I did like Black Beauty (though I thought I was going to hate it)- that one surprised me)! Thanks for taking the time to comment Kelsey (:
Greg
Ha love this! And yeah I think I tried to read this once and was like nope, not happening. lol but awesome post!
Greg just posted Sunday Post #242
Ali
Thanks Greg!!
Krysta @ Pages Unbound
This review made me laugh. 😀 I guess someone put a majestic husky on the cover at one point and now everyone’s worried people won’t know the book is The Call of the Wild if they switch it up??
Ali
Lol I think once I realized the dog wasn’t a husky it was all downhill from there XD
Jessica
I haven’t read it as an adult, but this was my favorite as a teenager (I was a strange kid, okay still strange ). I liked it not for its literary quality but for London’s exploration of dog and the wildness inside all of us. Buck’s call is the yearning for something that he knows is there but just out of reach, something that humans experience on a daily basis. Yes, dogs can be silly :), but sometimes I look in my big fluffy German Shepherd mix’s eyes and see the same call. I see the intelligence, the loyalty, the desire to understand, and I marvel at what a wonderful creature he is. Anthropomorphizing, maybe, but heartfelt, yes!
I love your IG feed! Keep up the great work!
Ali
It’s okay to anthropomorphize – I do it on the daily XD And I will say German Shepherds are probably one of the few “classy” breeds that are not as derpy (though they can be super spesh too XD)! And thanks for the IG compliment (: Means a lot!
Bec @ Readers in Wonderland
I read this way back in primary school (Grade 7 so I was 12 or 13). I liked it at the time for an assigned read, but I don’t think I’d enjoy it so much now….
Dogs are the biggest dorks of all
Ali
Hahaha I’m so glad you understand!!