Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - The Call of the Wild

Reviews tagging 'Racial slurs'

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

9 reviews

b_austridge's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

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actualresultsmayvary's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? N/A
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.5

Spoiler

What an odd and pointless book.
It tells four totally unrelated stories which are linked only in their setting and that they vaguely involve dogs or wolves. They are also totally different lengths with one taking up over half the book and another only 18 pages.
The stories themselves are depressing, graphically gory and literally don't have a plot. They are just miserable snapshots mostly of dogs being abused but also of just general grim suffering.
There is also regular racism (as you often see in books from this time period).
It is beyond me to understand what possessed London to write and publish this book and how on earth it became a penguin classic.
The literally only saving grace of this book was that it was so short!

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happy_introvert's review against another edition

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adventurous dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No

1.5

So little happens in this book that it's hard to review without giving anything away.

Spoiler

The whole plot consists of dogs being stolen and passed from owner to owner who severely abuse the dogs and use racial epithets as dog names.

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scruffie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

I'm beginning to feel that London revels in cruelty and has much respect for the "survival of the fittest". Don't get me wrong, Buck is a great dog, but it seems to me that London pays a lot of attention to ancestry, genes, and race (and, most importantly, discriminates on it). Now that I've read both White Fang and The Call of the Wild I don't think I'll be reading any more of his books; he really tips my racism sensor and I've been annoyed enough by this.

For what it's worth, I liked the ending.

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