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| The Sea-Wolf and Selected Stories: 100th Anniversary Edition | 
| Author: Jack London
Creator: Ben Bova
Publisher: Signet Classics
Category: Book
List Price: $4.95
Buy New: $1.85
You Save: $3.10 (63%)
New (36) from $1.85
Avg. Customer Rating:  84 reviews
Sales Rank: 222242
Media: Paperback
Edition: 100 Anv
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 352
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 6.8 x 4.2 x 1
ISBN: 0451529367
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780451529367
ASIN: 0451529367
Publication Date: May 4, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: Brand new Item. CD, DVD, Book, VHS more than 400 000 titles to choose from. ALL days Low Price !
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| Customer Reviews:
Makes you question the author's orientation December 1, 2005
6 out of 32 found this review helpful
"The Sea Wolf" is probably the most homoerotic novel written by an allegedly straight auhtor. I stress the word ALLEGEDLY. Jack London was a notorious womanizer. He was married twice and cheated on both wives. Yet his female characters are very bland and deprived of any kind of sexual appeal. Yes, London had mated with many women. But he did not understand women. He suffered from the infamous Madonna-Whore complex. There were those "disposable" women in bars and seaports, whose names he never bothered to remember. And then there were women like his second wife Charmian Kitteridge, whom he deified. Charmian served as the prototype for his Maud Brewster. Jack London uses very reserved, proper diction to describe the physical attributes of Maud Brewster. She comes across as a well-preserved old maid, a cold Dresden doll. London concentrates on her pale face, frail figure and soft hair. There is no mention of her hips or breasts. You don't see any skin below the neck. And then you go back and reread the passage in which Vay Weyden takes care of Larsen after the mutiny incident. The intense erotic language that the author uses while describing naked male body leaves no room for doubt - men were of more interest to him than women.
 An Alright Book November 4, 2005
1 out of 6 found this review helpful
The book that I read was The Sea Wolf by Jack London. The story is about sailors that are out trying to carry cargo to a nearby port and then a lot of different things begin to happen. The book kind of starts out slow and then begins to pick up and gets better by the middle of the book. There are a lot of places in the book that it is going strong and then it cuts out and ends up getting weaker. Even though there are some weak spots if you keep with it, it will be worth the long wait. It is also a good book because it deals with real life crises that would really happen aboard a boat in the 1950's.
The book would be great for someone who loves adventure books. This book takes place on the open water the whole story. It involves hunters, cooks,
The strengths in this book are that there are a lot of details. Some of the detail that Jack London puts into the story gives you pictures in your head and you also kind of feel like you are leaving your seat and are actually in the story. Also that there is a great deal of understanding and you never feel that you are lost in the book you always know where you are. The detail is very specific sometimes you can feel like you are touching the exact same that that some of the other characters.
Then some of the weaknesses that were in the story were that some of the words that he chose had really nothing to do with what he was explaining or trying to say. Even when it would be a really strong statement that he is making it would be strong then all of a sudden it would be weak and you would kind of forget what he is talking about. Also if you felt like you were in the story then you would leave your imagination and go back to reading it because it would be so boring.
In conclusion the book should be for people who like adventures and suspense. The book overall was very good has a lot of detail and would have been even better if their were not so many weak spots. People would enjoy this book no mater what age group you are. Over all you should at least try it out and then make a decision
Depravity breeds depravity in this wonderful adventure story May 10, 2005
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This very powerful story about a brutal sea captain and the effect that his depravity and evil have on anyone that he is in contact with is a true adventure story as well. Jack London knew how to tell a story, and this book is a page-turner. Not only that, it has some of the best descriptions of sailing one of the old "tall ships" I've ever read. There is a chapter in the book that is a superb description of sailing one of these ships in a bad storm. Mr. London's descriptions of this and other catastrophic events at sea is so realistic that the reader sees it all as he or she reads it. London's political ideology does show through in spots. London was a firm believer in Socialism, and he does put forth these ideas at times in the book. His villain - Wolf Larsen, is the most evil man you'll ever encounter between the covers of a novel. The development of Humphrey from an ineffectual, bookish type of man, to a man that can subsist on his own wits and by the actual use of his own hands is the common thread that runs through the book. Even though he is in close proximity to the evil Larsen, Humphrey does not let Larsen's depravity change his own morals and his own essential goodness.
First half: GREAT, last half: weak February 17, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Humphrey Van Weyden, a pampered son of wealth, has lived a comfortable life of bookishness and learning in 1890's San Francisco. But everything changes when an accident on a ferry-trip across the bay leaves him floating helpless in a foggy sea. He is picked up by a schooner heading out to hunt seals, captained by the vicious Wolf Larsen. He is immediately pressed into service as cabin-boy aboard the Ghost, and learns a different kind of life than he has been raised to know. Wolf Larsen is not only brutal and overbearing to everyone he encounters, but he is also highly intelligent, having taught himself reading and mathematics. "Hump," as Humphrey is called by the Captain, gains some measure of favor with the Captain as he is able to discuss philosophy and such things of which the rest of the crew is wholly ignorant.
The characters and plot are intensely compelling, especially throughout the first half of the book where the drama is intense as he struggles to survive aboard the Ghost. His observations of the other crew members are interesting, as he discovers how different their lives are from his, and he feels pity for the things they lacked and which he took for granted. Also, the character of Captain Larsen is incredible; completely horrible yet you feel a sort of sympathy even for him.
My biggest complaint with the story is at about its midpoint where a woman character enters the story. The struggle for life suddenly takes on a different meaning for Humphrey, as he now has someone other than himself to worry about, but this changes the whole mood of the story. The struggle is no longer filled with the painful drama, but practically turns into a romance, and a fairly sappy one, at that. It's also here that the book slows down with quite a few long passages about the mechanics and technical details of ships and sailing. But overall a very interesting tale of struggle - it's just unfortunate that the ending wasn't as strong.
Starts off strong, but becomes lackluster by the end. December 20, 2004
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Humphrey van Weyden is a gentleman. He has never had to work for his living, or do a single task for himself. All that changes when the ferry-steamer Martinez, running across the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, is wrecked after a collision with another boat in the fog. Van Weyden is tossed into the sea, and eventually picked up by another boat. But this is no ordinary boat. It is the Ghost, a seal-hunting schooner captained by Wolf Larsen, who is far from being an ordinary man. He snickers at Van Weyden's offers of money in exchange for taking him to shore, and instead conscripts the unfortunate man to replace a recently-deceased member of the Ghost's crew. Van Weyden's trials encompass far more than merely learning how to work on a ship. He must also find his place in the strange web of heirarchy among the men. More precarious yet is his relationship with the captain.
We soon find out that Wolf Larsen is a monster of a man, possessing superhuman strength and a complete lack of deference to any idea of morals. He is certainly one of the most fascinating characters I've come across in my reading. You fear him, you hate him, and yet there is still something to admire about him. He commands respect. He can kill a man with the strength of his hands alone, but he is also something of a self-educated philosopher. He has clearly studied Darwin, and continually likens life to a ferment of yeast, in which the natural way of things is for the stronger to consume the weaker. And yet, despite Larsen's superhuman image, London manages to keep him plausible for the reader by giving him his own Achilles's heel, which becomes more and more apparent as the story progresses. "The Sea-Wolf" is worth reading for a character study of this man alone. Unfortunately, however, the second half of the book shifts its focus, losing sight of the Van Weyden-Larsen relationship and simultaneously losing much of the driving force behind the story.
Almost as soon as Maud Brewster entered the story, I began to lose interest. Shipwrecked and adrift in a small boat, she is picked up by the Ghost much as Van Weyden was. She, too, is refused passage to land. And inevitably, a romance develops between Brewster and Van Weyden. The story makes an abrupt change in course from one of survival and complex relationships between the ship's men, to that of a love story. But what a silly and unconvincing love story it is! London just doesn't write women well, nor does he make the relationship between Van Weyden and Brewster in any way believable. Maud is a flat character, and just doesn't seem real. She is also full of ridiculous contradictions. She is alternately described as a frail lily and a cavewoman. She bestows the name of Lucifer on Wolf Larsen, but turns all to pity and mush the moment he is struck by one of his headaches. The story would have been much better with romance left out and the focus kept on Van Weyden's personal struggle with Larsen.
The strength of this book definitely lies in its first half. London's writing is strong and vivid, and he does a superb job of capturing the nuances of each relationship between crew members. I only wish he had stuck to that. Every writer has his niche, and London's is not in the romance genre. The second part of the book is contrived, predictable, and does little to hold one's interest. The ending is dissatisfying. It is, however, worth finishing in order to discover what end comes to the aforementioned Wolf Larsen. This is the only element of the latter part of the book that really intrigued me. So read "The Sea-Wolf" for its adventure component, found in the first half, and read it for the wonderfully crafted character of Captain Larsen. But don't expect too much out of the latter half and its conclusion.
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