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White Fang: Timeless Classics
White Fang: Timeless Classics
White Fang: Timeless Classics
Audiobook (abridged)1 hour

White Fang: Timeless Classics

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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About this audiobook

Life is a constant struggle in the frozen wilderness of Alaska. For a wolf-dog called White Fang, every day is a fight for survival- until he's taken in by a young American mining engineer. White Fang's world turns upside down when his new owner takes him home to California. How does he react? Is it likely that a wild wolf-dog can adjust to civilization?

LanguageEnglish
Release dateJan 1, 2011
ISBN9781612475271
White Fang: Timeless Classics
Author

Jack London

Jack London was born in San Francisco in 1876, and was a prolific and successful writer until his death in 1916. During his lifetime he wrote novels, short stories and essays, and is best known for ‘The Call of the Wild’ and ‘White Fang’.

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Reviews for White Fang

Rating: 4.052631578947368 out of 5 stars
4/5

38 ratings25 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I bought this book at a book fair at school when I was nine. I cannot tell how many times I have read it. As a child, I mainly read it for the 'wolf' story, but as an adult, I have appreciated the deeper aspects of the writing. London was big on analyzing why people do what they do, not always correct imo. It's still a good read, forget the movie(s).
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    White Fang is the story of wolf/dog who descend from Kiche, a wolf/dog who runs the wild in ??anartica? The story begins with two man traveling across the dark frozen tundra with 8 dogs a sled and a coffin. But the wolf continuously attacks all the dogs and the one man traveler. The wolf is then found by it's "owner" gray bear where White Fang grows up, learning to become a fighter to survive in the pack for food and for his life. The vocabulary and the writing style takes some time to get your mouth around. This is an intriguing and sometimes intense story, but not a fast read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    If you have kids you are trying to interest in reading more, White Fang is a great book suggestion. Especially if they are boys yes go ahead call me sexist. The story is gripping. the language is gripping, and London paints a scene like no one else. It's a book that kids can understand, but it is not a kids book, which I bet your children or nephews or nieces or whatnot will appreciate.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I used to confuse this with London's "Call of the Wild," and stupidly so. White Fang is three times meaner than Buck ever became. Hee. Curious that London's pieces have become Young Adult classics over the years.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    White Fang is ¼ dog and ¾ wolf. He is born into the wild, but since his mother is ½ dog, she brings him back to live with people. Over the course of his lifetime, he has to learn to adapt to many different worlds. London does an amazing job of telling the story from the wolf/dog’s point of view. Although, I find it very, very difficult to get past some of the abuse that happens in the story, it is an amazing book about an amazing animal. The way the story is told depicts exactly how I think an animal’s mind would work.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. White Fang is a novel written by Jack London, much on the same topic and of the same style as his classic novella Call of the Wild. In Call of the Wild, the story is told from the point of view of the kidnapped sled dog, Buck. Likewise, in White Fang, the protagonist and narrator is a wolf/dog hybrid named White Fang. Born in the wild to a wolf father and half wolf, half dog mother, White Fang soon becomes domesticated as a pup in a nearby Indian village. From there he passes through various stages of life in Canada, Alaska and finally California.London’s writing is fascinating and the imagery is first rate. White Fang’s progression from a wild animal, to domesticated sled dog, to fighting dog and finally to family pet (interestingly, exactly the opposite experience of the protagonist in Call of the Wild) is vastly entertaining and educational.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I expected to like this more than Call of the Wild because it was supposed to be London's book where he got all nitty-gritty about writing from the wolf's perspective in a real as opposed to a kind of anthropomorphic epical way, and there was some good stuff in that vein early on, with the baby wolf figuring out how the world works, and I think the "nature faker" label is somewhat unreasonable to apply to him unless you were expecting actual nature writing and not tall tale shit. (But only somewhat, since the fact that White Fang's narrative arc is basically that he is wild and magnif and then bad humans make him ornery and vicious and then good humans bring him into the light of civ gives the ecocritic-type, let-the-animals-be-animals-irretrievably-Other criticisms levelled against London by Teddy Roosevelt (!) at least three legs to stand on.)No, the problem with this book has nothing to do with nature--it's London's atittudes toward humanity that are the problem. We see how nails-tough Grey Beaver and the other native people who first semi-domesticate White Fang are, but then when he wanders into the white man's town he sees--apocalyptic revelation!--that those "gods" (humans are gods) are as nothing before the pale gods, and you're like, why exactly, given that the white people in this are mostly a bunch of drunks and fuckups. London's racial ideology is accompanied by this thing where the scion of the judge's family in California comes in and stomps the vicious lumpen goldpanners who are forcing White Fang to dogfight ("You beasts!" he shrieks, fists flying, superman curl coming unstuck. "You beasts!"). And White Fang is redeemed by being brought into the manor of the patriarch, the Judge of the Law. London himself said this book was an expression of "worship of power" and evoked Nietzsche, but it's a pretty thin Nietzscheanism--more Leibnizian all-is-for-the-best-in-this or Calvinist elect: those who rule are the strongest by virtue of ruling, not vice versa. Like, this guy's a socialist???? But then you read further that London saw this book as a fable-retelling of his own stratospheric rise from working-class kid to millionaire author, and you're like, no, he may think he's a socialist but he's actually the worst kind of fuckhead.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A strange, strange book. But powerful.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is the story of White Fang - 3/4 wolf and 1/4 dog. It tells of White Fangs parentage, his birth, his early days in the wild, his meeting with men and learning to live with them, of his meeting with white men and learning to live with them. Along the way, he learns some terribly hard lessons, and also learns some great joys as well.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    So infinitely better than Call of the Wild. I really enjoyed this book. White Fang had so much more personality than Buck and White Fang's perspectives of the world, his myriad interactions with everything around him, and the wonderful characterizations of the people in White Fang's life really invited the reader to truly care for him.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I love this book. I have read this upwards of 20 times, and it never gets old! His description of wolves is almost magical. Very interesting perspective and easy to read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I loved this book....I've read other books from the point of view of animals and they have all seemed to fall flat..but this book was so exciting and inciteful. I felt that the writer truly understood the canine mind. You absolutely fall in love with White Fang and want to stand up for him, cheer for him, or cry for him throughout the book...it's a heartwarming story.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I loved this book. It chronicles the life of a wolf(half dog) through the harse wilderness, brutal treatment at the hand of man, and then ultimately friendship and love. The book is written from the aspect of the wolf. Truly a great book. Highly recommend for dog lovers!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this book in Danish when I was about 10, and it made a strong lasting impression. For that reason I'll give it at least 4 stars, although don't know how I would had rated it if I had read it as an adult.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Pros: this is a lovely, lovely book. It follows the tale of an Alaskan wolf from birth to his meeting with a human who shows him compassion and love, forming a bond stronger than any he's formed in his life. Beautifully written, evenly paced, it's classic Jack London.Cons: I'm pretty sure this book was at least partly responsible for starting the whole "OMG I LUV WOLFZ!!!" trend among our young people in the last few years. Especially teenage girls. I'm talking about the kind who talk about how beautiful and majestic wolves are and how ugly and awful humans are and they would just love to live with the wolves forever. Urgh.Also, I guess you could interpret some mild racial stereotyping in that White Fang's first master is a native who becomes an alcoholic.For these two offenses, I deduct one star. But it's still a great little novel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I liked it alright as a dog lover but was a little bored finding descriptions repetitious. Call of the Wild was much better in my opinion.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Avoided reading this for many years despite it being recommended by many. Guess the name suggested gory violence, and there is very little of that. The tale of this dog/wolf mix from puppy to adult is a loving, curious, sorrowful, and joyful adventure. The human/dog relationships depicted are realistic. A captivating read.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Classic story of a wold-dog hybrid named White Fang. It's kind of the reversal of Jack London's other work "The Call of the Wild" wherein the animal starts off in human society and goes feral. White Fang is born wild and ends up with a beloved master. The point appears to be that nature is savage and brutal ("Eat or be eaten!"), and that man can be even more savage and brutal, or let the power of love and gentleness overcome.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    White Fang is a very good book which I recommend to 4th grade and higher readers. I think anybody would love to read this action-packed book!!!!!!!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I don't want to get too critical of this book but it is ironic that the author reversed the very thing I liked best about The Call of the Wild: the ruthless ending. I suppose that this book ended with a ruthless event but not with a wildness of mind and life. I thought that parts one and two were simply brilliant. The beginning of the book was gripping and exciting and a great way to introduce the reader to White Fang.

    All in all, I enjoy this book very much... I just thought it got too sappy and lovey-dovey in the end. Also, I did not really enjoy the deification of humans to the extent it was used. The first couple of references would have sufficed to make the point of the wolf's point of view.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I read this book a few years ago, and have constantly gone back to it because I just enjoyed the story and London's style of writing that much. 
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Beautiful writing about the life of a dog/wolf in the Yukon. Life in the wild changes as White Fang is first "owned" by an Indian, later by a terrible man named Beauty Smith who makes him into a fighting dog, and last by a kind man who becomes very attached to the dog.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Powerfully written and heart wrenching. The story of an abused wolf-dog- beat, abandoned, and only let loose in a dog fight ring. Made vicious and wary of all, but still going strong, waiting for a kind heart.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Though I responded with boyish enthusiasm to 'The Call of the Wild' many years ago and it re-echoes in memory, I had not read 'White Fang' or any of London's other books until now. I don't think 'White Fang' quite compares with its companion novel stylistically - the later chapters in particular are too obviously allegorical and predictable - but it is equally rugged, energetic and thrilling. London excels at seeing the world through the dog wolf's eyes, and he also manages the difficult and necessary task of shifting the narrative viewpoint occasionally to move the story along at critical points. He is least successful with his human portrayals, especially the dialogue which reads as if it has been written on cardboard with too thick a pen, but he is entirely at home in the Yukon where it stands on the cusp between traditional existence and 'civilisation' in the trail of the gold rush. His evocation of the animal and human struggles in these harsh surroundings - with very survival constantly under threat - is supremely vivid and vital, inked as it were in blood.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I drive a lot for work and get bored with listening to the radio after a while. A lot of times I'll listen to audiobooks but they're so expensive that I haven't listened to one in a while. So I was happily surprised when I found White Fang and The Call of the Wild on audio for $4 apiece at Half Price Books. If you are not familiar with this store, I am very sorry. It's absolutely wonderful (but not near as wonderful as our own Recycled Books here in Denton - I really love that store).So I remember reading The Call of the Wild when I was kid and I think I saw a movie on White Fang at some point in my life but they're both very fuzzy and needless to say I had the two confused in my head. Well, maybe not confused but merged is the better word. I had somehow remembered a wild half-wolf dog that was captured and tortured to fight other dogs then rescued and taught be a sled dog who eventually went back to the wild. Yeah. Just remember it had been a long time.After listening to the two back to back, I believe that The Call of the Wild is my favorite of the two simply because I'm not fond of the narrative in White Fang. The narrator keeps referring to people as "gods" in White Fangs eyes. Also, he sees power as coming from material possessions. This is a human qualification and I have never seen animals give deference to another animal because of possessions. They base power on strength. It is possible with some animals that the leader may have access to more food and other possessions but that is because he/she is ALREADY leader. Those things do not make the leader. So, because the wolf apparently sees materials possessions as power he sees white people as being superior to all others. See where I'm going here? Very irritating.Ok, here's another problem: inconsistency. I realize these are different stories but they both concern sled dogs at some point. In The Call of the Wild, the sled dogs regard the lead sled dog with deference and treat him as leader in all other aspects of life. In White Fang, the other dogs view the lead dog as running away from them and therefore a coward to be tormented. The lead dog must sit with the people in order to be protected. WHAT??!! I don't know anything about sledding but I know about dogs and this simply doesn't make sense. The Call of the Wild was written first so maybe he discovered something that I don't know about. I tried to find some other reviews to see if there was any mention of this but all I could find were school papers and descriptions of the book. Anyone know where I can find good critiques not written by 6th graders?Ok, so I didn't completely dislike White Fang. I was irritated by those things but the storyline is very good. I was surprised when I found out it was written after The Call of the Wild because it seems a little more rough. It reads like a first book, where The Call of the Wild seems more polished. In both books I really enjoyed the interplay between the main characters and the other dogs. The dogs seemed more real than the people. This makes complete sense, since the story is told from the point of view of the dog. The other dogs would be the ones that Buck and White Fang knew the best. London accomplishes this very well. I also enjoyed the exchange between Buck and Thornton and White Fang and Scott. Being an animal lover and having dogs all my life, I know the power of the love from an animal. I was impressed by how Scott won over White Fang. His devotion to Scott reminds me of my boyfriend's dog, Skillet, who treats Jeff as if he hung the moon and my dog, Loki, who treats me the same way. Both of these dogs were rescued also. There seems to be something that happens to a dog who is rescued and loved that makes them more devoted than a dog who comes to you as a puppy, like my other dog, Aurora. She obviously loves me and I love her very much but Loki and Skillet become visibly upset just being out of our presence. I was also impressed that Buck remained with Thornton even when he wanted to be free simply because he loved this man. Many people may say this is anthropomorphizing, that animals can't love like this. I say they have never given themselves to an animal enough to feel that love.