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Jack London
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Martin Eden (Penguin American Library) Reprint Edition, Kindle Edition

by Jack London (Author), Andrew Sinclair (Introduction) Format: Kindle Edition
4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 758 ratings
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Martin Eden, Jack London’s semiautobiographical novel about a struggling young writer, is considered by many to be the author’s most mature work. Personifying London’s own dreams of education and literary fame as a young man in San Francisco, Martin Eden’s impassioned but ultimately ineffective battle to overcome his bleak circumstances makes him one of the most memorable and poignant characters Jack London ever created. As Paul Berman points out in his Introduction, “In Martin, [London] created one of the great twisted heroes of American literature . . . a hero doomed from the outset because his own passions are bigger and more complicated than any man could bear.”
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  • Customer Reviews:
    4.1 4.1 out of 5 stars 758 ratings

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Jack London

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Customer reviews

4.1 out of 5 stars
4.1 out of 5
758 global ratings
Intelligent but flawed hero
4 Stars
Intelligent but flawed hero
This was an interesting book and also a very powerful book about a young former sailor who seeks to educate himself through years of intensive reading and writing for publication. There were aspects about the protagonist that I really liked including his hunger for knowledge and learning, but he also had tremendous flaws. Perhaps because of the way he grew up, he was a very confrontational person. He didn’t just disagree with a person as much as he wanted to discredited, insult, and humiliate them.Also, many of the philosophy books that Martin read had a pretty harsh view of the world. He especially liked the social Darwinist, Herbert Spencer, and was aroused to furious anger when Spencer was criticized by just about anyone. Yet, he couldn’t seem to adjust to the world when he saw people behaving in a way that Spencer would have predicted. His bitterness was his dominant characteristic by the end of the book. He seemed to attribute this outlook to an all too clear view of the truth and humanity. Many people can enjoy life despite the flaws of the people around them and society in general. Martin was not able to do this.
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Top reviews from the United States

B. H. Stewart
5.0 out of 5 stars Publish or Perish
Reviewed in the United States on August 21, 2005
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Anyone who has written a novel and wants to see it in print should read this novel. Seriously. Poor Martin pinches pennies for postage money, types up his manuscripts, dispatches them in the mail and waits. When he inevitably gets them back, he mails them off to the next publisher on his list. Martin Eden is the perfect example of what it means to write for the public today. This tenancious, and realistic, routine eventually pays off, but the ordeal, as well as some difficulties in his love-life, has taken its toll. Martin becomes one of the bitterest cynics in all literature. The story moves at a fast clip and culminates in a shocking and heart breaking end. Unlike many of London's superb novels, this one will appeal mostly to adults--not that it is particularly racy; it just deals with adult problems and situations. Word has it that this is the most autobiographical of all London's novels.
4 people found this helpful
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J.P. A
4.0 out of 5 stars 4 Stars: Solid Read
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2016
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Jack London captured my heart as young boy with White Fang. Martin Eden was a good departure from London's traditional adventure and survive at all cost narrative. His most autobiographical novel Martin Eden was also an insightful and terrifying look into the mind of the young London.

London's Martin is a self obsessed, workaholic, fame seeking kid. The fact that London wrote about the futility of hard work at the turn of the century is remarkable. America's mantra at the time was pull yourself up by your own bootstraps and work hard to get your dream. With this culture prevalent at the time of Martin Eden's publication it's no surprise the book was creamed by critics and universally dismissed by the public.

But looking back from the 21st century it is clear that London was far ahead of his time. He saw the many weaknesses in the deeply human obsession to achieve and to be seen.

For me personally this book was chalk full of phrases that bounced around in my head as a young man. The obsession with work to be recognized, the belief that getting the girl will change everything, the strong desire to be rich and the need to be liked. At times London's language for Martin's internal dialogue was so spot on with my younger self's it was scary.

The biggest challenge for the novel is that Martin never redeems himself. The ending seems driven by London's own contemplation of suicide (which he later followed through on) and less by what the structure of the novel and the character needed.

Martin Eden is a dark, compelling and well written novel. I hope it finds a broader readership soon.

Hat Tip to Ryan Halloway for pointing me to it.
19 people found this helpful
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Andrew Wainwright
5.0 out of 5 stars Jack London's Triumph
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2012
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This novel is a brilliant portrait of the artist as poor, self-educated young man in and around San Francisco in the early 1900s. There is no clearer picture in 20th-century American literature of the often disconnected writing and publishing worlds and of the individual's drive to succeed against stacked odds that are especially the result of class divisions. London's memorable settings and characters, along with his powerful narrative drive, combine to create a classic work that undoubtedly influenced later American realism and particular creative descendants like Hemingway.
4 people found this helpful
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mikasavaii
5.0 out of 5 stars London's best
Reviewed in the United States on May 14, 2020
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If you like London you will love this novel. Perhaps his best. Then again, I'm an economist, not a literary critic.
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michael suman
1.0 out of 5 stars Extremely small print
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2024
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This is my favorite London novel. I bought this copy as a gift, but the print is so small that I have to buy another edition.
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pamela m kowalczyk
3.0 out of 5 stars an old friend
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2023
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I first read Martin Eden over sixty years ago. When I read it then I had never heard of the philosophers Martin had studied: Kant, Hume, Hegel, Spencer, Berkeley. Since then I’ve read them all and their names are no longer a mystery. I think everyone who wants to understand American literature should read it. I don’t think it is a great novel but I think I understand London better by having read it again. It is autobiographical to a large extent and mirrors Landon’s ambition to become a great writer. I’ll always remember it as one of the first of a group of serious novels that made a reader.
One person found this helpful
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Paul Kokenis
5.0 out of 5 stars Man's trials & tribulations.
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2018
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I enjoyed this fine story of a man struggling through a personal metamorphosis and eventually seeing the Truth at the end if his life.
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Andy H. Cr.
4.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent but flawed hero
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2021
Verified Purchase
This was an interesting book and also a very powerful book about a young former sailor who seeks to educate himself through years of intensive reading and writing for publication. There were aspects about the protagonist that I really liked including his hunger for knowledge and learning, but he also had tremendous flaws. Perhaps because of the way he grew up, he was a very confrontational person. He didn’t just disagree with a person as much as he wanted to discredited, insult, and humiliate them.

Also, many of the philosophy books that Martin read had a pretty harsh view of the world. He especially liked the social Darwinist, Herbert Spencer, and was aroused to furious anger when Spencer was criticized by just about anyone. Yet, he couldn’t seem to adjust to the world when he saw people behaving in a way that Spencer would have predicted. His bitterness was his dominant characteristic by the end of the book. He seemed to attribute this outlook to an all too clear view of the truth and humanity. Many people can enjoy life despite the flaws of the people around them and society in general. Martin was not able to do this.
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Andy H. Cr.
4.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent but flawed hero
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2021
This was an interesting book and also a very powerful book about a young former sailor who seeks to educate himself through years of intensive reading and writing for publication. There were aspects about the protagonist that I really liked including his hunger for knowledge and learning, but he also had tremendous flaws. Perhaps because of the way he grew up, he was a very confrontational person. He didn’t just disagree with a person as much as he wanted to discredited, insult, and humiliate them.

Also, many of the philosophy books that Martin read had a pretty harsh view of the world. He especially liked the social Darwinist, Herbert Spencer, and was aroused to furious anger when Spencer was criticized by just about anyone. Yet, he couldn’t seem to adjust to the world when he saw people behaving in a way that Spencer would have predicted. His bitterness was his dominant characteristic by the end of the book. He seemed to attribute this outlook to an all too clear view of the truth and humanity. Many people can enjoy life despite the flaws of the people around them and society in general. Martin was not able to do this.
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One person found this helpful
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Client d'Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars FABULEURX
Reviewed in France on October 16, 2023
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Jack London maîtrise son art. Roman déroutant et tragique (comme la vie). J'ai adoré.
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Chun Poon
1.0 out of 5 stars Onleesbare versie
Reviewed in the Netherlands on August 22, 2021
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Koop een andere Kindle versie.
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Elalagod Elzbieta Lagodzka
5.0 out of 5 stars Font
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 14, 2020
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I will never buy a book from Amazon The font is so tiny I cannot read !!!!!!!!!!
One person found this helpful
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Emre Yiğit
5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr zuverlässig
Reviewed in Germany on April 23, 2020
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Das Buch kam wie immer sehr schön verpackt an, der Verkäufer ist sehr zuverlässig, fragen beantwortet er sehr schnell.

Ich bin echt sehr zu Frieden, mittlerweile meine erste Wahl.
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Tommei Riccardo
5.0 out of 5 stars Buona edizione
Reviewed in Italy on September 6, 2019
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Ok, visto che è uscito di recente il film con Luca Marinelli è il momento giusto per leggere Martin Eden.

Una nota sulla stampa: la versione Penguin Classics ha un font abbastanza grande e una rilegatura morbida, di conseguenza è molto leggibile e maneggevole, anche per lettori pignoli come me.

Per contro, non consiglio l'edizione Jack London 100th Anniversary. Ho letto "The Sea Wolf" in tale collana e ha buon font ma carta e una rilegatura un po' troppo rigide. Questione di gusti, naturalmente.

Le stroncature che lamentano font microscopici si riferiscono chiaramente a edizioni diverse (o a una versione precedente a questa). Del resto su Amazon si vedono molti acquisti anomali (edizioni ridotte, ristampe squinternate - ricordo un "The importance of being Earnest" con un errore ortografico sulla copertina (sic!) - scolastiche, versioni in lingua acquistate per errore, etc). Caveat lector.
3 people found this helpful
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