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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
This book reminded me why it's always a good idea to pick up a classic novel. Jack London is a very skilled writer and he brought the characters in this story to life like few authors can. I found this book to be edge-of-your-seat engaging and enjoyable from beginning to end. Wolf Larsen was a truly despicable man but there was another side to his complicated personality that created plenty of suspense and desire to see what he would do next.
Humphrey and Maud dash for freedom from the cruel captain, but Japan is 600 miles away. Stars Jack Klaff and Shelley Thompson.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00k9rhv
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00k9rhv
Before Maud enters the scene, the book is 4-stars good. Wolf Larsen is such a fun character, being king brute who also enjoys navel gazing and realism. Humphrey is annoying, but whatever, he's the audience surrogate. The boat crew is fun. I had a whole write-up I planned about Jack London during this part: about his open celebration of 'going back to nature', his take on masculinity and if he thought there was such a thing as too much masculinity, Wolf and Hump's views on the world and how they feel still relevant in 2019.
Then Maud comes along. The rest of the story from this point on is probably one and a half stars tops.
There are only a few sorts of scenes from this point on. One is the kind where it's just a bunch of boat lingo thrown around, where, not having ever worked on a boat, I have no idea what's going on and just speed read through it. Example
"Slacking away on the boom–tackle and hoisting an equivalent amount on the shears–tackle, I brought the butt of the mast into position directly over the hole in the deck. Then I gave Maud careful instructions for lowering away and went into the hold to the step on the schooner's bottom."
dooooont care.
Or it's the protagonist talking about how much he loves Maud, the character with no personality besides having the same likes as the author and supposedly being a good writer. He. Is. Insufferable. Example.
'There must have been a touch of the melodramatic in my pose and voice, for Maud smiled. Her appreciation of the ridiculous was keen, and in all things she unerringly saw and felt, where it existed, the touch of sham, the overshading, the overtone. It was this which had given poise and penetration to her own work and made her of worth to the world. The serious critic, with the sense of humour and the power of expression, must inevitably command the world's ear. And so it was that she had commanded. Her sense of humour was really the artist's instinct for proportion.'
I had to deal with this crap, so you do too.
The final type of scene is Wolf Larsen does thing. Where Wolf does something stupid and tries to kill them and Hump and Maud do EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER to let him keep doing it. Because of their 'ideals' or something, but moreso so Jack could pad the story more and let Wolf do such fascinating things as...start a fire that Hump easily puts out. Ugh.
If you're going to make Wolf coincidentally crash with his boat on your undiscovered island, at least make him strong enough to be interesting! The stakes were so low that Jack had to pad it with the fucking boring boat description scenes from.above that drove me crazy.
Honestly, I think that's why I finished this as quick as I did. I mostly zoned out as Hump rambled on about his hots for Maud but was too much of a wuss to kiss her hand? Or how Hump hoisted the jib to the butt or something. So bad. So bad.
I was going to make this a 3*, but the more I talk about this latter half the more annoyed I get. Good lord.
Again, just read it until Maud shows up, and then start reading anything else.
edit: Nah, it's a 3*
Then Maud comes along. The rest of the story from this point on is probably one and a half stars tops.
There are only a few sorts of scenes from this point on. One is the kind where it's just a bunch of boat lingo thrown around, where, not having ever worked on a boat, I have no idea what's going on and just speed read through it. Example
"Slacking away on the boom–tackle and hoisting an equivalent amount on the shears–tackle, I brought the butt of the mast into position directly over the hole in the deck. Then I gave Maud careful instructions for lowering away and went into the hold to the step on the schooner's bottom."
dooooont care.
Or it's the protagonist talking about how much he loves Maud, the character with no personality besides having the same likes as the author and supposedly being a good writer. He. Is. Insufferable. Example.
'There must have been a touch of the melodramatic in my pose and voice, for Maud smiled. Her appreciation of the ridiculous was keen, and in all things she unerringly saw and felt, where it existed, the touch of sham, the overshading, the overtone. It was this which had given poise and penetration to her own work and made her of worth to the world. The serious critic, with the sense of humour and the power of expression, must inevitably command the world's ear. And so it was that she had commanded. Her sense of humour was really the artist's instinct for proportion.'
I had to deal with this crap, so you do too.
The final type of scene is Wolf Larsen does thing. Where Wolf does something stupid and tries to kill them and Hump and Maud do EVERYTHING IN THEIR POWER to let him keep doing it. Because of their 'ideals' or something, but moreso so Jack could pad the story more and let Wolf do such fascinating things as...start a fire that Hump easily puts out. Ugh.
If you're going to make Wolf coincidentally crash with his boat on your undiscovered island, at least make him strong enough to be interesting! The stakes were so low that Jack had to pad it with the fucking boring boat description scenes from.above that drove me crazy.
Honestly, I think that's why I finished this as quick as I did. I mostly zoned out as Hump rambled on about his hots for Maud but was too much of a wuss to kiss her hand? Or how Hump hoisted the jib to the butt or something. So bad. So bad.
I was going to make this a 3*, but the more I talk about this latter half the more annoyed I get. Good lord.
Again, just read it until Maud shows up, and then start reading anything else.
edit: Nah, it's a 3*
Sea Wolf is a difficult book for me to review because while the set-up, character development, and philosophical musings about the meaning of life are elements I found genuinely enjoyable and left me intrigued about how it would all turn out, the romance felt incredibly ham-fisted and out of place, and really detracted from my enjoyment of the third act.
Humphry's character development, which is the driving force behind how we're supposed to understand the plot, is completely undermined after the appearance of his love interest given that the gauntlet thrown by Wolf Larson in act one is for Humphrey to learn to 'stand on his own legs'. But with the introduction of Maud, all of his actions link to his love for her rather than a desire for independence.
Similarly, the ending falls flat because it does nothing to suggest that he's learned anything from his experience on the Ghost and indeed, it appears that with Maud at his side he's prepared to fall back into his old life.
Finally, I was very let down by how Wolf Larson's final moments in the story were glossed over and overshadowed by an already disappointing ending given that he is both the titular character and arguably the most interesting and complex one.
All in all, I thought Sea-Wolf would have benefited from some serious edits in the third act that sadly, never occurred and ruined, for me, what otherwise would have been a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human and the tug-of-war between instinct and valor.
Humphry's character development, which is the driving force behind how we're supposed to understand the plot, is completely undermined after the appearance of his love interest given that the gauntlet thrown by Wolf Larson in act one is for Humphrey to learn to 'stand on his own legs'. But with the introduction of Maud, all of his actions link to his love for her rather than a desire for independence.
Similarly, the ending falls flat because it does nothing to suggest that he's learned anything from his experience on the Ghost and indeed, it appears that with Maud at his side he's prepared to fall back into his old life.
Finally, I was very let down by how Wolf Larson's final moments in the story were glossed over and overshadowed by an already disappointing ending given that he is both the titular character and arguably the most interesting and complex one.
All in all, I thought Sea-Wolf would have benefited from some serious edits in the third act that sadly, never occurred and ruined, for me, what otherwise would have been a fascinating exploration of what it means to be human and the tug-of-war between instinct and valor.
good. really liked it. will seek out other London writings.
I thought this was a really good story of a fantastic villain.
Two things I wanted to do with this book:
1. I wanted to figure out if every crew member of "The Ghost" was named. London tells you how many sailors there are, and names a lot of them, but I kept wondering if, like the Right Fielder in the Abbott & Costello routine "Who's on First," any of them went unnamed.
2. The story takes a hard turn around 2/3rds of the way through and it becomes less of a "grotesque crew on a sailing vessel" but more of a straight up "castaway story." And I have a love/hate relationship to castaway stories. Fortunately this one wasn't a bad one.
Wolf Larson is a terror: an amoral beast that the protagonist is fascinated with. There are times where it is almost embarrassingly homoerotic. I think London knew that, which is why he threw in a female to keep the plot moving.
A really good sea story.
Two things I wanted to do with this book:
1. I wanted to figure out if every crew member of "The Ghost" was named. London tells you how many sailors there are, and names a lot of them, but I kept wondering if, like the Right Fielder in the Abbott & Costello routine "Who's on First," any of them went unnamed.
2. The story takes a hard turn around 2/3rds of the way through and it becomes less of a "grotesque crew on a sailing vessel" but more of a straight up "castaway story." And I have a love/hate relationship to castaway stories. Fortunately this one wasn't a bad one.
Wolf Larson is a terror: an amoral beast that the protagonist is fascinated with. There are times where it is almost embarrassingly homoerotic. I think London knew that, which is why he threw in a female to keep the plot moving.
A really good sea story.