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Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Jack London's "The Sea Wolf"...A Review

43049*

My wife got the audiobook for Jack London's The Sea Wolf for our kids school and when I saw it, I just had to download it.

I'm glad I did!

But, to be honest, I was a little apprehensive about reading it. The last time I read a book about a sea voyage (not counting Kevin J. Anderson's excellent novel Nemo...) was Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Sailor and I had a really tough time getting through that.

Of course, I read Melville's book as I was just beginning grad school and I'll bet if I read it again, it wouldn't be as difficult. So I thought maybe this book might be similar even though they were written roughly a century apart.

I was wrong.

I found The Sea Wolf had an incredibly contemporary feel, at least to me. The story was engaging, even  considering the different styles of today's adventure tales. If I lived in 1904 when this work was published, it would be the equivalent of the latest summer blockbuster. Imagine, people excited to read a new novel the same way we think about wanting to see a new movie. There's an innocence in that.

If you haven't read The Sea Wolf, I highly recommended it. London packs his relatively short story with adventure, intrigue, betrayal, and even a love story. So, if I do go read Billy Budd, Sailor again, I think I'll also re-read this one.

* Photo used without permission from: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43049.The_Sea_Wolf?from_search=true

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