This is the first book review I've put up, as I mostly am active on backloggd writing about games. Writing about books felt like such a grand thing that figuring out where to start seemed impossible to me, but sometimes you read a book that you are just ultimately compelled to yap about. Here we are.

I have been trying to re-educate my brain into one of a voracious reader, and the trouble with that is finding again a book that just completely hooks you. One that under no circumstances can you be compelled to put down. That's where Jack London's "The Star Rover" comes in. Shockingly, I had not been aware of London's incredible body of work! My partner was a fan of his nature-themed books "White Fang" and "The Call Of The Wild," which seem to focus on animals for their narratives exclusively, very intrigued about those.

As my title for this review might tip you off, I actually became aware of this book through the song by The Chameleons, one of my very favorite bands of all time. It's an incredibly powerful song that ends with the shouting affirmation "I'm alive in here!" Learning that such a fantastic song was inspired by this book meant it was a no-brainer to learn more about it.

The premise is that university professor Darrell Standing is serving life-in-prison for the murder of one of his colleagues, a fact he does not dispute at all, instead focusing on the increasing torture placed upon him by petty prison officials after a notable rat in the prison leads them to the erroneous belief that Standing was in possession of dynamite. The warden's inability to accept that Standing was not in possession of said dynamite leads to what should a complete bleakness for our narrator; he can't produce any evidence of dynamite and thus must endure their tortures. The most brutal of which is the "Jacket."

A canvas jacket that the prisoner is laid down upon, it is harshly tied around them to constrict them. A strait-jacket, yet seems to be full-body. London's description of this "Jacket" is spectacular in how truly unpleasant it is. While reading this passage I could feel a tightening in my chest and sickly feeling as Standing describes the feverish anxiety he develops as he feels the shortening of breath, a torture of "pins and needles."

The crux of the book's narrative focuses on how Standing escapes this torture. By deadening his body from his toes all the way up to his head, he is able to induce a little death on himself and astral project himself to his past lives, hence "The Star Rover." What I've come to find from reading more of London's work is that he loves framing devices, and I have to say I love them too! This book is an incredibly fascinating read, very spiritual in nature, and not in a religious way, but more in the unbreakable spirit of man kind of way. The climax of Darrell Standing's story is not his ability to win over the justice system, or other prisoners, it is instead a climax of the self: he is not to be broken by whatever happens to him in this life. I found it incredibly compelling stuff.

The book is also written in a way that I would think most readers will find very easy to grasp. It is presented as Standing's memoir as he awaits his execution in murderer's row, so it is presented very casually, Standing admitting he has to omit more extravagant details as his time is quite literally coming to a close. His narration also presents quite a great deal of humor into what might be a very dark book otherwise. While star roving as a boy named Jesse traveling to California, he is rudely interrupted by the Warden, and when he tries to go back to the boy, he finds himself instead as a starving hermit in Egypt. Standing admits he wants to figure out himself what happened to Jesse and that he truly could no care less what happened to the old hermit.

Now, seeing as this is a book from before World War I, I should inform that yes, there are indeed reminders you are reading a book from when Woodrow Wilson was president. Admittedly, I have come to accept that in something this old, and I totally get if you can't look past that kind of stuff. Still, there is too much compelling in this book to avoid it entirely. Standing's condemnation of the U.S prison system, of capital punishment, and of U.S taxpayers for whom their money directly funds the torture and murder of men still rings true 100 years later. When he describes the jacket, Standing takes careful pain to ensure a skeptical reader that YES, this IS happening in the year of or lord 1913. Don't worry Darrell, I believe you!

I'm very glad The Chameleons did not lead me astray on this one. I will be very gladly taking all my future book recommendations from 1980s post-punk bands from now on.

The jacket

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