Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday!

I haven't done a book review in a while, but I decided to do another classic. This one is even older than the last, having been published in 1877. It was written by Anna Sewell and was published only five months before her death, but quickly became a best seller and is still one of the best selling books of all time.

Summary of the story:

"The story is narrated in the first person as an autobiographical memoir told by the titular horse named Black Beauty—beginning with his carefree days as a colt on an English farm with his mother, to his difficult life pulling cabs in London, to his happy retirement in the country. Along the way, he meets with many hardships and recounts many tales of cruelty and kindness. Each short chapter recounts an incident in Black Beauty's life containing a lesson or moral typically related to the kindness, sympathy, and understanding treatment of horses, with Sewell's detailed observations and extensive descriptions of horse behaviour lending the novel a good deal of verisimilitude.

The book describes conditions among London horse-drawn taxicab drivers, including the financial hardship caused to them by high licence fees and low, legally fixed fares. A page footnote in some editions says that soon after the book was published, the difference between 6-day taxicab licences (not allowed to trade on Sundays) and 7-day taxicab licences (allowed to trade on Sundays) was abolished and the taxicab licence fee was much reduced." - Wikipedia

My review:

The whole point of the book was to "to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses," which I think it does pretty well. I read this book when I was fairly young, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's a brilliantly written novel that invokes a lot of sympathy in the reader, especially when it comes to some scenes where they describe animal cruelty towards Black Beauty and other horses. This book was a very influential part in the anti-cruelty campaigns going on at the time, and even to this day is often referenced when it comes to cruelty towards horses. I think this is an amazing book that everyone should read, whether or not you like reading, care about horses or about animals in general, I think everyone should read it. It's not overly complicated and it paints a vivid image in your mind, which I think is one of the many things that make this book so amazing to read.

If you haven't read Black Beauty already, I really think you should! Are there any other classic fans out there?

~The Elf 

Flashback Friday

Flashback Friday!

This Flashback Friday goes waaaay back. Published in 1903, The Call of the Wild is a classic novel by Jack London. The story is set in the Yukon territory of Canada, during the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s. The main character of the novel, a St. Bernard-Scotch Collie named Buck, was once a domestic dog, but through the events of the novel reverts back to his primal instincts and becomes 'the Ghost Dog of the Northland Legend.'

This is a summary of the story:
Buck was just a normal every day dog, until the gardener's assistant, from the estate he had been living on, shipped him off to dog traders. Through cruelty, they taught him to obey and soon shipped him off to Klondike to become a sled dog. Working for two mail carriers who worked for the Canadian Government, Francois and Perrault, he began to adjust to the life of a sled dog. He learnt to fight, scavenge and sleep under the snow, eventually becoming the leader of his sled team.
After going through a few other masters, Buck fell into the hands of John Thornton. Buck becomes loyal to Thornton, however, he is conflicted by the urge to go back into the wild. Later on, Thornton is killed by Yeehat Indians, leading to Buck deciding to follow 'the call of the wild,' where he takes revenge against the Yeehats for Thornton. After, he meets a pack of wolves - which he eventually becomes the leader of - and becomes a legendary figure, a Ghost Dog. He lead the pack, fathered countless pups and inspired fear in the Yeehats, but every year he still returned to the place that Thornton died to mourn him.

My review:
I absolutely loved this book, when I read it a few years ago. Jack London was a brilliant author, the first I've ever read that made the main character an animal. It's a huge adventure that you go through with Buck, seeing how he changes and the things he learns. You stay on the edge of you're seat as he fights for survival in many different situations, until he finally seems to find a balance between his loyalty to John Thornton and his wilder instincts. 

Then you watch as it's all ripped away.
It's a very well told story with ups and downs from the get-go. By the end of the novel you're cheering for Buck to finally get the happy ending he deserves, but this is a story that definitely gives off the idea that there is no going back. Buck can't go back to being a normal domestic dog, he has no choice but to follow his instincts and enter the wild, becoming a powerful leader of a pack of wolves... And yet, even at the end, you still catch a glimpse of his loyalty and his domestication when he goes to mourn Thornton.

If you haven't read this book already, I definitely think it's a must read!
~The Elf