"Call of the Wild"
Jack London
I’m pretty sure that I started Jack London’s book years ago...but I don’t remember ever finishing it. Now I know why I didn’t stay the course. The book is violent. Violence was a way of life during the Alaskan gold rush, and Buck is right in the middle of it. However, London shows his extraordinary knowledge of how dogs think and act. I’m caught wondering if all dogs given the same opportunity as Buck would work their way back to their primeval selves? (of course they would have to survive first) The novel left me without a “happily-ever-after” nor a satisfying conclusion at all. Buck just lopes off into the sunset.
Compared to the 2020 film… Hollywood took A LOT of license with the story. Since dogs don’t talk, it makes sense that someone would need to narrate the story. Unfortunately, the movie falls short in that Buck’s character was completely computer generated, falling short in the believability department. On the plus side, there was not as much violence as in the book.
On a side note: As a child I went on a field trip to Jack London’s home near Sonoma, CA. The Wolf House haunted my childhood with images of the fire that burnt London’s dream home to the ground. There remains a cabin on the site which is a state park...time to revisit.
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