EPEOLATRY

BOOK 3.5

The Call of the Wild (1903)

by Jack London

“He was mastered by the sheer surging of life, the tidal wave of being, the perfect joy of each separate muscle, joint, and sinew in that it was everything that was not death, that it was aglow and rampant, expressing itself in movement, flying exultantly under the stars.”

Christopher McCandless (a.k.a 'Alexander Supertramp' - Into the Wild) inspired me to read this.

The book is written beautifully but it's the story that's so ok ok ... There was a lot of action and much redundant character deaths, even lots of extravagant characters in it such that in the middle part it was quite difficult to distinguish dogs from people. Although Jack London's writing style is way awesome. This story is great momentarily but overall is not so fascinating.

I was expecting the wanderlust part more here but the story revolves more on the struggles and survival part of Buck (i.e. the dog) and which consists of quite unnecessary violence. I enjoyed climax the most as that's when the real 'Call of the Wild' comes into the picture.

After all, the concept I believe is great, a civilized dog's struggle for existence and returning back to his primitive instincts and adaptation due to several consequences he faces. The theme of 'Alaskan Klondike' is described quite vividly.