I just finished this classic book last night. I loved it! This book is about a domesticated dog, Buck, who is half Shepherd and half St. Bernard. Buck is kidnapped and sold into the dog sledding industry at the time of the gold rush.
The book is written from Buck's perspective, but it is not a Disney-fied version of a dog's perspective. We follow the dog's thoughts and perceptions as he goes from domesticated, to fully alive, and wild. The book is brutal to read, as it follows all of the trials that Buck faces while learning the "law of club and fang." These trials include beatings, starvation, exhaustion, kill or be killed scenarios, death of friends, fights, dealing with weather extremes, and learning, through trial and error, the life of a sled dog.
Tho book is really a great inspiration on surviving life's trials and letting them shape your character into something stronger and more pure, what God intended you to be. When you compare Buck in the beginning of the book, struggling and learning to live in the cold extremes of the northern outdoors, to the end of the book, Buck is a mean, lean, wild dog machine which can take on a full grown bull moose, a pack of wolves, and a hunting party of Indians, it really puts life into perspective.
Through this story, I was encouraged to let the tough times of life mold my character into something stronger, wiser, and more wild and alive than the domesticated version of me that is weak, foolish, and tame.
I believe that this book speaks to the idea of Christian Spiritual Formation: the process of being formed into the image of Christ for the sake of the world. The world will benefit from a stronger, wiser, and more wild and alive me than it would the domesticated version. I believe that it would benefit from a YOU that is stronger, wiser, and more wild and alive as well. Read this book and let it challenge and inspire you.
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