A stolen California dog is sold north to the Klondike gold rush, finds the one man he loves, and finally answers the call of the wild.
A short, hard book that moves like a sled team: four chapters of cruelty, then a love story, then the wolves. It is violent and its picture of the Yeehats is one-sided and dated, but the pace and the ending hold up. In my view, four and a half out of five.
Every guide comes as a video and a full written article. Pick the one you need: the review is spoiler-free, the ending explained is not.
A full-spoiler Call of the Wild summary read as a price list: the $150 theft, $300 from Perrault, the sale with no price, the $1,200 offer Thornton refuses, and the ending. Counted from the Project Gutenberg text.
The Call of the Wild is an adventure novella by Jack London about Buck, a dog taken from a California estate to the Klondike in 1897. We read the text of Project Gutenberg ebook 215, which is a little over thirty thousand words in seven chapters.
Below you’ll find a summary read as a price list: every figure the book puts on Buck, from the $150 theft to the $1,200 offer Thornton refuses, and the one sale with no price at all. The page has full spoilers, ending included.
A short, hard book that moves like a sled team: four chapters of cruelty, then a love story, then the wolves. It is violent and its picture of the Yeehats is one-sided and dated, but the pace and the ending hold up. In my view, four and a half out of five. Read it if: you want a quick classic you can finish in an afternoon; you like survival stories seen from an animal's side; you are studying it for class and need the plot and the ending; you enjoy books where the setting is nearly a character. Skip it if: you do not want scenes of animal deaths and violence; the one-sided portrayal of the yeehats and period language will stop you; you want a long, layered plot: this is about thirty thousand words.
A full-spoiler Call of the Wild summary read as a price list: the $150 theft, $300 from Perrault, the sale with no price, the $1,200 offer Thornton refuses, and the ending. Counted from the Project Gutenberg text. The Call of the Wild Summary: Every Price Tag on Buck →
Jack London's novella follows Buck, a pampered 140-pound dog from a California estate. In the fall of 1897 he is stolen, sold north to the Klondike gold rush, forced to pull sleds, and slowly goes back to his wild instincts. After the man he loves is killed, he joins a wolf pack.
Buck's master John Thornton is killed when the Yeehats raid the camp. Buck kills many of the raiders, then answers the call he has been hearing and runs with the wolf pack. The last pages say the Yeehats tell of a Ghost Dog that runs at the head of the pack.
By our reading of the Project Gutenberg text: about $150 total changes hands in the theft, then Perrault pays $300 in government money. François calls Buck worth a thousand dollars, Hal buys the team for a song with no figure given, and Thornton refuses offers of $800, $1,000 and $1,200.
