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A review by steveatwaywords
The Iron Heel by Jack London
adventurous
challenging
dark
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Reading London's dystopian novel that champions socialism against tyranny and oligarchy is to first step into its premise knowing what you're in for: more a socialist manifesto than a dramatic thriller. Though London tries to do both (even with an interesting framework of relating it as an historic document examined by a socialist utopia future), he is not successful. The "story" of The Iron Heel is not his point, so if you are looking for a thriller that will reveal a traditional plotline, this is not it. The book literally ends before the story is finished as the main character never completes her journaling.
So why read it? I enjoyed the read simply for its melodrama which, despite the frequent dithyrambic speeches by its all-knowing protagonist, offers some prediction both in the working ideologies behind contemporary politics and economic machinations, but more importantly how even most of the practices by oppressors are unexamined by them: they themselves do not understand what they are doing, but they know only that they must protect what they have in a system where the deck is already stacked. London sees much of this larger picture which--while true enough in the early 20th century--has all the basic tenets of what might be true today, if in hybridized forms.
This is not a successful novel. Other reviewers are right, I think, to compare to Ayn Rand. The novel is merely the vehicle for the political idealogue. Even so, at that level, entertaining, foreboding, and a too-likely forecast of power unchecked.
So why read it? I enjoyed the read simply for its melodrama which, despite the frequent dithyrambic speeches by its all-knowing protagonist, offers some prediction both in the working ideologies behind contemporary politics and economic machinations, but more importantly how even most of the practices by oppressors are unexamined by them: they themselves do not understand what they are doing, but they know only that they must protect what they have in a system where the deck is already stacked. London sees much of this larger picture which--while true enough in the early 20th century--has all the basic tenets of what might be true today, if in hybridized forms.
This is not a successful novel. Other reviewers are right, I think, to compare to Ayn Rand. The novel is merely the vehicle for the political idealogue. Even so, at that level, entertaining, foreboding, and a too-likely forecast of power unchecked.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, and War