Opening thoughts:
Seems like a decent enough premise. Just glancing at the pages it doesn’t look like a hard read at all. I’m going to be giving my thoughts after each chapter since there’s only 7 of them. Addendum: Starting with chapter 2 I wrote this while I read.
Chapter 1:
Man poor Buck :(. The prose and style of the writing really is something else. I really felt the attachment Buck had to his family only for it to be ripped away. There’s almost no dialogue and yet the story is told so well. Don’t really know how to describe it, just that it’s pretty different from stories I’ve read in the past. I hated the captors and felt sad for Buck.
As for the other dogs, I don’t know much about Curly besides coming from the same dog seller as buck. Then there’s the white fur dog, who hasn’t been given a name I don’t think. He’s a thieving asshole. And then Dave, who’s a sad boi. Also, who the hell names a dog Dave? Am I crazy? Because I’ve never heard that name before.
Anway, I'm interested to see where it goes. This has been mostly set up so far, but interesting.
Note: In between Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 I took a month long break and have been exposed to and gained an appreciation for “literary fiction” or what I’m told is the proper term for what I’m talking about is “interpretive fiction” instead of “escapism fiction” which I’m so used to reading.
Chapter 2:
Well rip Curly I guess. I would feel bad but I hardly knew you. This doesn’t seem like the type of story to care about developing characters much, I guess with the exception of Buck, but more about just Buck’s adventure. I could be wrong, but it just seems to be riding along with Buck on his journey.
So now we’re getting more dogs, and I also figured out that the white fur dog is named Spritz, Billie and Joe. And some old mean dog named Sol-leks. I really doubt that these characters will matter for long honestly.
Buck’s development is pretty interesting. Becoming more animalistic as he is forced to conform under the “rule of tooth and club.” You could draw similarities between this and the prison system, forced to abandon morals and become more like an animal in order to survive, and in the story Buck is in a kind of slavery, which mainly wrong because we can view Buck as a pusedo-human in this story. But this is just my thoughts, most likely thinking too deep into this children’s story.
Chapter 3:
Come on Spritz, that’s uncalled for. Your whole group is being attacked by wild dogs and you are going to just betray Buck like that. I hate this guy now.
And then after Dolly goes mad, Spritz has the audacity to attack Buck after he finishes running for his life right in front of the humans. I really like the dialogue between the humans here. It feels satisfying for another character to acknowledge how awesome Buck is, plus I agree that Buck will probably end up killing Spritz.
I like the whole idea of the dogs being engulfed by their duty. It reminds me of the satisfaction working with a team to accomplish a hard thing can bring, the comradery and accomplishment. It makes me feel mad at Buck for running the solidarity of the team and jeopardizing the “mission”.
Oh yeah I fucking called it about Buck killing Spritz. I hope now though that he unites the other dogs again though, now that Spritz is gone.
Chapter 4:
Nice, leader Buck time. Time to get the job done. Though without Spritz for conflict I doubt this will last long. Especially because I remember some old man in the movie and I’m nearly halfway done with this book with no old man to be seen.
I think it’s interesting how Buck doesn’t really miss his old life much, instead thinking about the impactful moments in his new life. You could say that his old life is gone, distant to him and only a memory now.
Dave’s fate was really sad. The more I read the more this story seems to push the idea of responsibility, and that even if you are enslaved there is great glory and pleasure to be found by toiling with your burden proudly, until the weight of it physically crushes you.
Chapter 5:
Carrying on with the theme of duty there’s the incompetent leader. The man and especially the woman are extremely frustrating to read about, you can feel the dog's anger at them. It gets worse the more you read, the team slowly dying off because these humans suck at their job. The mail sled worked them relentlessly, but it was mechanic and efficient which is far better than just incompetent.
I guess John is the old man I remember from the movie. It is a little late for him to show up, I recall him being a huge focus, but I don’t know how faithful that movie was. It’s nice to see someone stand up for Buck, but I’m not sure what the conflict will be anymore. There’s still over a quarter left and the trail has given out, so if this man is a guy with a sled he can’t go further north. So I’m not sure what’ll happen since up until now this story has been about Buck as a sled dog.
Chapter 6:
I find it interesting that he feels that with John he feels stronger love than he did with his original family. I would’ve assumed that he would be longing for that life back, but I guess after going through so much hardship and being saved by a man that bond would be deeper. This feels a little too good to be true, and I’m waiting for tragedy to strike. It’s the same feeling I guess you’d feel as Buck, having things rough for so long unable to accept that things will stay good.
Lol, Buck just slashing open some guy’s neck. I just find it a really funny moment and it’s satisfying to see how fearsome he is
I actually thought the old man was going to die in the stream. It would be really fitting for Buck’s character arc I think, to lose the human he had grown so close to. He said the only thing holding him back from the calls of the wild dogs was his love for John, so if he died I bet Buck would go into the wild.
Just have to say that Buck moving that sled was cool as fuck.
Chapter 7:
Oh dang, wolves are here now. Side note, wolves are fucking massive. So how is Buck way bigger than this wolf? Maybe only some wolves are big, but this seems like an inconsistency. I also didn’t understand how they were traveling in negative 50 degree weather for weeks on end, maybe I’m just dumb but that sounds pretty impossible. I mean does it even get that cold in Canada and if so can people actually be out in it without dying?
Wow, Buck having to choose whether or not to heed “The Call of the Wild.” It’s almost like it’s the damn title of the book! A decent theme, having to choose between the call to adventure and your current life, since the call to adventure necessitates sacrifice. I assume that from the title of the book, this is the main theme. And since it is so plainly obvious that this is the main theme, Buck will definitely decide to go with them in the end.
Yeah no fucking way Buck succeeds against a pack of 20 moose. Killing one head moose sounds like too much, those things are fucking massive.
And Buck manages to get him, and fights him for days until killing him. Just… wow.
And boom, tragedy happens. Figures, can’t have nice things smh.
Nice ending, totally called it by the way.
Conclusion:
This review is a bit of a mess, and I hesitate to call it a review. More a catalog of my thoughts while reading. I tried not to add any fluff and am more happy with the style I adopted later of just putting my thoughts down instead of trying to review each chapter. All in all it was a decent book, everything past chapter 1 I read in the same night I’m posting this, so it kept my attention. I don’t really have too much else to say, I think that even though you can get themes from this story, really the main point is just following Buck and his journey. Even though he is really personified, Buck still manages to feel like a dog and not a human. Unlike the Warriors series which just makes humans cats and gives them some gimmicks, things like being quick to be conditioned and his wild nature coming forth really cement the fact that this is an animal, not a human that the author decided to call a dog.
I don’t really feel fit to rate this, it’s pretty different from what I read. I’d recommend it, but it wasn’t something I think I’ll reread or think about much in the future.
