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italorebelo's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
4.0
bengaliyaoi's review against another edition
3.0
Look at me. Forget Hannigram and Sasuke/Naruto or whatever the hell you think is the prototype for toxic homoeroticism. I am going to tell you this once, and I want you to engrave this into your memory: Wolf Larsen and Humphrey Van Weyden are the ancestor of all gay and violent erotic tension.
Wolf Larsen is perhaps one of the best male characters ever conceived of, and were this novel published in the 21st century, I am convinced that young men everywhere would have modeled his behavior after him. His name is WOLF. He’s self-educated. He regularly shanghaies people into working for him. He beats the shit out of like five men at once. He beats the shit out of a shark. He engages in philosophical debates, and is described by our narrator as handsome and good-looking, and his physique has our narrator literally speechless. His eyes are beautiful. He makes his own navigational tools. At some point in the book I was expecting Hump to describe the perfect shape of his dick, such was the insanity of the descriptions that Humphrey kept laying down on him.
Humphrey is fine. He’s very much an ideological vessel, going up against Larsen’s individualistic and violent beliefs, but the great joy in Humphrey’s character lays in how utterly besotted he seems with Wolf Larsen, and how utterly he loathes him in equal measure. Larsen favors Van Weyden in a weird sadistic way, and Van Weyden hates him for it, but also takes great pride in his new duties. It’s bonkers. The first half of 60% of the book is just them being violent and tense around each other, in between discussions about mortality underpinned by intellectual sexual tension so thick you could cut a knife with it. If the entire book was just this I would’ve loved it, but unfortunately Maud Brewster arrives, and Humphrey remembers that he’s a heterosexual and that women are important, and the rest of the book is spent as Humphrey whines and tries to act masculine for Maud and Wolf Larsen is relegated to the sidelines as a boring and bland romance just…occurs in between Maud and Humphrey.
Now. Do you think this book had women in the early 1900s acting like fujoshis and saying shit like “UGH why did Maud even arrive things were sooo good between Wolf and Hump
Wolf Larsen is perhaps one of the best male characters ever conceived of, and were this novel published in the 21st century, I am convinced that young men everywhere would have modeled his behavior after him. His name is WOLF. He’s self-educated. He regularly shanghaies people into working for him. He beats the shit out of like five men at once. He beats the shit out of a shark. He engages in philosophical debates, and is described by our narrator as handsome and good-looking, and his physique has our narrator literally speechless. His eyes are beautiful. He makes his own navigational tools. At some point in the book I was expecting Hump to describe the perfect shape of his dick, such was the insanity of the descriptions that Humphrey kept laying down on him.
Humphrey is fine. He’s very much an ideological vessel, going up against Larsen’s individualistic and violent beliefs, but the great joy in Humphrey’s character lays in how utterly besotted he seems with Wolf Larsen, and how utterly he loathes him in equal measure. Larsen favors Van Weyden in a weird sadistic way, and Van Weyden hates him for it, but also takes great pride in his new duties. It’s bonkers. The first half of 60% of the book is just them being violent and tense around each other, in between discussions about mortality underpinned by intellectual sexual tension so thick you could cut a knife with it. If the entire book was just this I would’ve loved it, but unfortunately Maud Brewster arrives, and Humphrey remembers that he’s a heterosexual and that women are important, and the rest of the book is spent as Humphrey whines and tries to act masculine for Maud and Wolf Larsen is relegated to the sidelines as a boring and bland romance just…occurs in between Maud and Humphrey.
Now. Do you think this book had women in the early 1900s acting like fujoshis and saying shit like “UGH why did Maud even arrive things were sooo good between Wolf and Hump
rottenjester's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
made me appreciate the whale infodumping in Moby Dick more. at least that was interesting
mbucalo's review
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
lordchampion666's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
A gold standard for adventure books, the battle against nature and growth of the main character is wonderful to follow. Wolf Larson is one of my all time favorite characters. His unapologetic confidejce in himself and his place as the greatest impact on the firmament was so interesting and even though he was capable of extreme violence and had a very harsh set of beliefs, they never changed and he was always true to his beliefs. Despite being the antagonist, I found myself yearning for the conversations with him and was even rooting for him at the end. The discussions of philosophy are so engaging that they get me thinking as well.
smack_books's review against another edition
2.0
I was planning on giving this book a 3/5 until I read the last line of the novel. This whole book was shaped as a physiological thriller, and for most of it it actually was. That was until it felt like it took a huge 180 and became some kind of romance novel. For most of the novel Humphrey was analyzing how harsh environments like on a ship affected the people on it and he was constantly trying to understand the phycology of Wolf Larson, this guy who basically has no empathy for others and also forced him to even be on the ship. Then suddenly he’s just worried about how much he’s in love with Maud. It just felt underwhelming. I also feel like it should have ended way before it did, it just felt so dragged on. Lastly, it seemed like the climax happened behind the scenes?? This part is sort of a spoiler but I feel like tue climax of the novel would have been when all of Larson’s men turned on him and he took a turn for the worst but Humphrey wasn’t even there to see it. I would’ve been way more interested in that than Humphrey building a hut on some island.
velocitygirl14's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
reflective
medium-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
4.5
A complex and tense book that was both dark and engrossing at the same time. It was so weird that it could work as a deconstruction on morality and toxic masculinity.
analyticalchaos's review against another edition
3.0
Thomas Hobbes, a famous 17th-century philosopher, specialized in analyzing the innate relationships humans have with authority. He writes on the natural state of man: more accurately, the natural response to a lack of authority in human society. In this situation, Hobbes believes that everyone is in a state of war. Life is “solitary” and “poor”. Everyone fends for themselves. There’s no room for community or empathy, and no authority to fix it.
When one is at war, there’s only space for survival.
No other book illustrates this concept as well as The Sea Wolf by London. Set in the twentieth century, we open to our main character Humphrey “Hump” Van Weyden shipwrecked. He is fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) rescued. He finds himself on a hunting ship with a dubbed the Ghost, filled with a motley crew of past criminals and vagabonds.
The leader of this ship is the draconian Wolf Larsen. He is a man with no morals. Van Weyden’s first experience with Larsen is seeing him sock a shipmate in the stomach, from which Larsen has no regrets. Clearly, Larsen rules his ship with violence, so be prepared to pry it from his cold, dead hands.
Wolf Larsen refuses to let Van Weyden go. He insists that Van Weyden stay on the ship and work for him. So bookish, born-with-a-silver-spoon Humphrey turns into a used and abused "Hump". Hump must put up with the cruelty and violence on the Ghost. Throughout the novel, we see him rise the ranks and surprisingly connect with Wolf Larsen.
A conflicting tale of masculinity and authority, we see how our protagonist must transform his schema to survive a harsh reality. Whether he’s grappling with his own morality or struggling with constant violence, we see the effects of Larsen’s influence. Van Weyden questions the purpose of his life and his inherent masculinity.
The writing of this book is… all over the place, to say the least.
We volley back and forth from Wolf Larsen spitting some Enlightenment truths to him beating up some poor sap. It feels like an attempt to assert Wolf Larsen’s dominance, but London repeats the cycle so many times that it loses its shock value.
I will say, the addition of Maude as a character did remedy a part of this. We were able to see the cruelty through an outsider’s eyes. It showed the disconnect between Maude, a person from current society, and Hump, a survivor of the dystopian experiment that is the Ghost.
All in all, it’s an enjoyable book to tear apart and put under a microscope. But the reading part left much to be desired.
When one is at war, there’s only space for survival.
No other book illustrates this concept as well as The Sea Wolf by London. Set in the twentieth century, we open to our main character Humphrey “Hump” Van Weyden shipwrecked. He is fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view) rescued. He finds himself on a hunting ship with a dubbed the Ghost, filled with a motley crew of past criminals and vagabonds.
The leader of this ship is the draconian Wolf Larsen. He is a man with no morals. Van Weyden’s first experience with Larsen is seeing him sock a shipmate in the stomach, from which Larsen has no regrets. Clearly, Larsen rules his ship with violence, so be prepared to pry it from his cold, dead hands.
Wolf Larsen refuses to let Van Weyden go. He insists that Van Weyden stay on the ship and work for him. So bookish, born-with-a-silver-spoon Humphrey turns into a used and abused "Hump". Hump must put up with the cruelty and violence on the Ghost. Throughout the novel, we see him rise the ranks and surprisingly connect with Wolf Larsen.
A conflicting tale of masculinity and authority, we see how our protagonist must transform his schema to survive a harsh reality. Whether he’s grappling with his own morality or struggling with constant violence, we see the effects of Larsen’s influence. Van Weyden questions the purpose of his life and his inherent masculinity.
The writing of this book is… all over the place, to say the least.
We volley back and forth from Wolf Larsen spitting some Enlightenment truths to him beating up some poor sap. It feels like an attempt to assert Wolf Larsen’s dominance, but London repeats the cycle so many times that it loses its shock value.
I will say, the addition of Maude as a character did remedy a part of this. We were able to see the cruelty through an outsider’s eyes. It showed the disconnect between Maude, a person from current society, and Hump, a survivor of the dystopian experiment that is the Ghost.
All in all, it’s an enjoyable book to tear apart and put under a microscope. But the reading part left much to be desired.
tmpj99's review against another edition
adventurous
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5