Book Bearings
The Call of the Wild
- 128 pages · about 2 hours
- First published 1903
- 1,700 editions
- Free to read
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1 About this book
Buck, a big, powerful dog, lives a comfortable life on a judge's ranch in California's Santa Clara Valley. In 1897 the Klondike Gold Rush creates a hungry market for sled dogs, and Buck is stolen, sold and shipped north. In the Yukon he has to learn to pull in harness and to fight for his place among the other dogs, passing from one owner to another. All the while the old instincts of his wild ancestors grow stronger in him. Jack London, who had spent about a year in the Yukon, published the novel in 1903.
- Nature stories
- Dogs
- Adventure
- Human-animal relationships
- Fantasy
- Animals
- Gold discoveries
- Lobos
2 What to expect
A short adventure novel told from the point of view of a dog: a pampered pet is stolen and sold as a sled dog in the Klondike Gold Rush, where he must toughen or perish. It is about survival, instinct and the pull of the wild, written in vigorous, plain prose with vivid northern landscapes. It is quick to read and often brutal, with dogs beaten, starved and fighting.
Good for readers who want: a classic adventure, dogs and the far north, and a short, intense read.
3 Read it free, right here
A free scan from the Internet Archive opens right here on the page, with no sign-up.
Read it on the Internet Archive4 About Jack London
Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
5 More by Jack London
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