For the Back to the Classics' prompt "a classic about an animal, or with an animal in the title" I decided to read something completely different from my usual reads and decided on Call of the Wild. A book that many in my community absolutely adore, but one I delayed reading for several years.
I selected the audiobook version of Call of the Wild and what I thought would be a boring chore to complete, turned out to be a really fun "read". Buck lives a content life. Half St. Bernard, half shepherd, he is top dog on a California ranch. But the gold rush in the Klondike has produced an enormous demand for sled dogs, so when a gardener at the ranch needs to pay off a gambling debt, stealing and selling Buck is a quick way to do it. Having never been mistreated, Buck soon learns that man can be the cruelest animal.
-Tantor Media
There was a lot of commentary about the greed, violence, and the folly of Man. About nature and how transient the laws of civilization are when faced with the harshness of survival. Such themes are sometimes difficult for authors to convey without seeming too nihilistic or sententious. However, I liked London's approach to it. Especially, with how Buck's experiences were used to convey those messages and move the story forward.
I'm especially glad that my version of Call of the Wild included a brief biography of Jack London. There were many fascinating things about his life that I was completely unaware of until now. The short biography was immensely helpful in understanding his thoughts and motives and it made the reading experience much more interesting as it provided more depth to the story. ~Narration~ My audiobook came from Tantor Media and was narrated by Patrick Lawlor. It's really difficult for me to get into audiobooks due to pacing and voice acting. That wasn't at all the case with this Tantor Media version. The French-Canadian accents were a little odd to me, but besides that I really enjoyed Lawlor's voice acting. My rating: ????
2 Comments
2/19/2021 03:27:14 pm
I think I might have this one. I also may have read it at some point I know I have seen at least 2 movie variations of it and I enjoyed the movies.
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4/1/2021 08:07:25 am
This was the story I chose too for the prompt. I also found it fascinating to read more about Jack London.
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