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"Miles across the sunless Yukon toward the Klondike to search for gold, a man and a dog trek through the Great White North, struggling to survive nature's frigid indifference. The year 1896 is bleak for many as severe economic depression creeps throughout the united States. Suddenly, hope in the form of gold is found in the mountains of Northern Canada. For those facing the miserable destitution created by America's economic turmoil, this rich discovery seems like a miraculous chance for fortune and fame... Soon, hundreds rush northward with the dream of claiming wealth beyond imagination, pitting themselves against leagues of ice, snow, and solitude. But neither thick layers of wool nor an iron will are enough to ensure their safety in this oppressive cold... and no man should be traveling in an unforgiving environment of fifty degrees below zero..."--Back cover.… (more)
User reviews
Unfortunately for this adaptation, it suffers in comparison to the original when read the same day, but is still a fairly remarkable attempt at capturing the heart of the story: a man's confidence in his ability to safely walk with his dog to a far-off refuge begins to crumble as he faces a series of mishaps in -75 degree Fahrenheit temperatures in the Yukon. (This seems particularly timely as I confidently drove to work during two days of subzero temperatures in Iowa this week.)
Chaboute uses a minimal amount of words, relying on his art to convey the coldness and the danger of the environment. And it does for the most part. But the power of London's story is how its third-person omniscient narrator lets you know everything the protagonist is choosing to ignore and gives you a front-row seat to the changing tide of his thoughts as outside forces come crashing down on his bubble. Chaboute (or his translator) tries to make the few words used in this graphic novel more immediate by switching to second-person narration, and that's not a bad choice, but the little caption boxes scattered across a page give us ellipse-laden sentences like this: "...but the distant trail, no sun in the sky...this great cold...the weighty silence and the strangeness of it all has no effect on you...you are not worried...even though you are a newcomer to this land...a cheechako...and this is your first winter..."
The original is a classic for a reason, and this adaptation serves as a fine chance to revisit it.
“Thousands of men, questing for fortune or adventure, lost themselves and perished in this desert of snow and ice.”
The cold…
Man vs. the cold. Traveling alone. Not heeding good advice. And the dog.
This book is great!