Reviews with content warning for Blood - The Call of the Wild Annotated

I do not understand how this book is beloved. Am I missing something? It's full of racist, violent content that serves no other purpose than to say "the dog turned to its wolf roots". Cool? What's the comment on it, why should we care? It's boring but skimmable and I only bothered finishing it because it was short, hoping that I'd discover some profound idea hidden in the nonsense. I did not. I actively did not like this book, not even the writing could make up for it. Not worth the time to read.

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stinekristin's review against another edition

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adventurous dark reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.75

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thecavewoman's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

I very much enjoyed the second half of the book more than the first, but I think it is still a nice, relatively quick read.

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gilnean's review against another edition

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adventurous sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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karolinaz's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad slow-paced

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

0.5

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clevermird's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? It's complicated

3.0

Installment #12 on my quest to read the great classics of Western Literary Canon, The Call of the Wild is one of several works by Jack London that deal with the Alaska Gold Rush. I read it back when I was 12 or so, but it's been quite a while since then, and I was eager to see what it brought to the table as an adult.

The book follows Buck, a not-so-ordinary pet dog who is kidnapped and sent to the Yukon as a sled dog. There, he learns how cruel the world (and people) can be, but also unlocks an inner strength and connection to his wolf ancestors that he never could have dreamed of as he passes through various masters and journeys through the wilderness.

This book was okay. The writing style is a little. . . I hesitate to say outdated, because that sounds more negative than I want it to. But it's certainly not a narrative style that is used a lot in modern writing. It's very much "tell don't show", almost as though we're being told a story rather than experiencing it with the characters. It works very well for the story they're telling, but it's a bit of a shock if you aren't expecting it.

I feel like I should have more to say about this one, but it's kind of just "there" for me. The characters are relatively well drawn for how limited the interaction with most of them (apart from Buck) is, the character arc for Buck makes sense, etc. I enjoyed reading it well enough, but I guess it just didn't connect with me.

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queenkath32's review against another edition

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adventurous sad tense

4.0

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