I've been seeing this title and author for sometime and decided to put it on the TR list. Finally got round to it and I enjoyed every single bit of the story of Buck. Born to a comfortable life, Buck was a typical pet dog, going on hunting trips with his young masters and being the king of the house. His life changed completely when in a twist of fate, he was betrayed by the gardener and was sold to the Harsh Northland. The story took place during the gold rush and Buck was sold to become a sled dog. My heart ached a bit when he was beaten to submission by the "trainer" with a club. Buck adapted quickly to the harsh condition of the bitter cold North with his wits, strength, and will. Buck was determined to take over Spitz as the top dog, which threatened spitz and resulted in many a fights. Buck with his intelligence and physical finesse finally won Spitz in a fight and emerged as top dog. The days blended into one another with the sled dogs traveling thousands of miles to transport mails and such. Days were good as the drivers were experienced and treated the dogs with care until one day, the dogs were sold to two inexperienced men (and a woman), who overloaded the sled, covered the miles too slowly, ran out of food, starved the dogs till one by one they died. Buck was only safe when the group landed in John Thornton's camp. Buck refused to leave the camp as he was exhausted and suffered from severe malnutrition, and Morton stepped in to stop the beating from his ignorant and cruel master.
Despite morton's warning not to travel across the precarious icy land in spring, the group ventured on and was swallowed alive into the vast, merciless landscape.
Buck adored the man who saved his life and seemed to be set for a happy-ever-after ending. All was good but Buck constantly saw and felt the past which belonged to his first ancestors. The wild called to him and he often responded to it by venturing alone into the forest for days. However his love for Morton always brought him back to the camp. Such happiness ended when the entire Morton camp was slaughtered by the natives. Buck was furious and similarly attacked and killed the natives, gaining him a reputation of ghost dog. Buck lived his life with wolves and acknowledged his ancestry as a majestic wolf dog and roamed the wild.
I love how jack London injected a touch of humantiy into Buck and how wonderfully the emotions and thoughts of Buck were portrayed. I love the wit and strength of Buck and how his love for his master knew no boundaries. The story was heart-wrenching in a few places when Buck suffered from mistreatment from his owners and when Buck lost morton.
Fantastic piece of writing.
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