The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, Book One) by Jean M. Auel
|
Book Summary Author: Jean M. Auel Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2002-06-25 ISBN: 0553381679 Number of pages: 512 Publisher: Bantam |
| New | New Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $7.55 | ||
| Used | Used Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $2.74 | ||
| Collectible | Collectible Usually ships in 1-2 business days | $30.00 |
Your purchase is protected by the A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee. Amazon.com automatically transfers your payment to the merchant so you'll never need to pay a merchant directly. Amazon.com A-to-z Safe Buying Guarantee covers both the delivery of your item and its condition upon receipt.
Book Reviews of the The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, Book One)
Customer Review: Disappointing. I could not get past first few pages.
Summary: 1 Stars
I had heard so much about the Clan of the Cave Bear, and Valley of Horses, they had been on my 'read someday' list. Recently I picked these two up cheap at a library sale and, despite the daunting length, was all set to escape into a well-researched, engaging tale of the early days of humankind. I did not get very far. The first book began with an utterly absurd premise, that the 5-year old girl loses her mother because the little brush shelter of theirs, in which the mother is residing, is swallowed up when a great earthquake shakes the surroundings and finally opens up the ground beneath it into a huge crevice, which then closes up behind it.
That's right. There are so many believable ways for a stone-age child to lose her mother: Mom could be killed by any of countless large predatory animals, the impetuous girl could have fallen into a river which she was warned to keep away from, a flash flood, etc. And at the first sign of an earthquake, why did the mother not race out of the tiny hut in search of her child?
I almost stopped here, but decided to continue. In another page or two I learn the small child has no idea how to find food in her world, and in danger of starving. (Did Mom go out hunter-gathering while the child stayed in the hut watching cartoons?) In a dangerous prehistoric world, outnumbered by big, hungry predators, most likely the mother would not have let her only child out of her sight, and the presumably bright child would have surely picked up some useful information over the years about what is edible. Every mammal on the planet teaches its babies what to eat and how to find or catch it. Children in aboriginal cultures are already caring for their smallest siblings at the age of this helpless young protagonist.
With so many glaring plot holes in the first few pages, I could see no reason to commit a massive portion of my valuable time to this writer's work. It is obviously enjoyed by many readers but it completely lost me by page 4 or so.