I didn't it expect it, but I really missed doing these. I've still been reading and working on the blog, but I didn't realize how much I enjoyed reading and blogging a little ~15 page chunk everyday. I've been reading a bunch of OSR stuff lately, and one of the old D&D books had a note on fire-starting, how matches hadn't been invented yet. That got me on an internet rabbit hole that led to Jack London's To Build a Fire.
Summary: Dumbass (almost, depending on version) freezes to death in the Yukon.
Commentary: I never knew there were two different version of this story with two different endings. The original (1902) is much shorter, doesn't have the dog, and doesn't have him die. It's much tighter. I read the longer version first (it's the one that pops up first on Google). Tom comes off like less of a douchebag in the short one, and more simply inexperienced and a bit careless. He doesn't specifically ignore advice like he does in the other version. The hand burning feels more intentional. The 1908 version is supposedly more popular, and much extended. I think the addition of the dog is good, but otherwise I'm not a fan. There's a lot of repetitive description, much of which is awkward/wordy the first time. "Because the freezing point is 32 above zero, it meant that there were 107 degrees of frost." is an example. "Degrees of frost" is a weird construction to begin with, and London uses it at least twice.
I'm not sure we ever actually read the story in school. I remember watching this movie. Nearly an hour is a long runtime for 15 page story, and I don't remember caring for it. Might rewatch it at some point, but an hour is a good chunk of time. I did take the 15 minutes to watch this more modern version. The animation is interesting, but I think you lose a lot without Tom's inner monologue.
I'm going to go against the grain here and recommend the 1902 version: 4/5.
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