Reviews with content warning for Racial slurs - Classic Starts(r) White Fang

Jack London takes the mind of the beast to our fingertips in such a way that it might very well be fact. His writing is direct, almost emotionless, contributing to a dense narrative of the wild world.

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maren_hemsath's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

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macklin's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

This poor dog.

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skylacine's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5

A really good xenofiction that is unfortunately bogged down by quite a bit of racism and ableism.

Full review at: https://skybookcorner.blogspot.com/2021/09/book-review-white-fang-by-jack-london.html#more

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scruffie's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I think I now understand why this books means so much to so many people. It is very hard to read through the unbearable hardship and cruelty it presents, but I am glad that I did so.

I would have given it 5 stars, if I weren't bothered by a few things.

First and foremost, I did not appreciate the racist comparisons between Native Americans and white people. The narrative had no need for them whatsoever in my opinion, and they only revealed London's own prejudice.

Also, the book repeatedly uses some slurs. I know that the times were different when the book was written, but some words were just as offensive then as they are now, and also there were already better words available at the time, so that's no excuse.

Lastly—and this is admittedly more personal than my previous points—it took me quite some pages (and time) to get used to London's use of the word "god", understand they way he perceives it, and stop being annoyed by it. I have no problem with the word in general, but putting the word in the mouth of the victim when talking about their perpetrator didn't feel right. It was around the middle of the book when I started gathering what exactly does the word mean to London.

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