The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, Book One) by Jean M. Auel
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.20 You Save: $8.80 (55%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.20 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children, Book One)
Book Review: This is an amazing book.
Summary: 4 Stars
This book was required summer reading 2 years ago for my english II AP class. I thought it was really an amazing book. I loved the main character how strong willed she was even though she was more human and not cave man. I thought Auel did a great job writing it, but sometimes she was too descriptive about setting of the story. Description and imagery is good, but too much of it takes away from the story. I have read the rest of the series, but if you like this book you should read the others that go along with this series.
thank you for your time,
Loran
Book Review: Ayla is a jewel
Summary: 4 Stars
The Clan of the Cave Bear is in my opinion a very creative story. The story brings out the characters living in the Upper Paleolithic era. The amount of research Jean Auel had done to create this novel is very apparent. The heroine, Ayla is a jewel and I could help but root for her as she struggles to make her place in this male dominated society. A wonderful book and I highly recommend it to every readerBook Review: Not the same as pitchure
Summary: 4 Stars
The book dose the job as far as that goes and it is a used book but I was expecting a newer book going by the pitchureBook Review: Don't EVEN get started
Summary: 3 Stars
WARNING! If you start on this book you'll probably be just as captivated as I was and move on to the others. BIG MISTAKE! Once you've read the 2nd book you'll be hooked.....& then comes the trouble.
First let me say that I'm a sucker for all types of adventure stories and that the adventures contained in the "Earth's Children" books (4 of which I've read) are fun and hard to resist; that's why they've been so popular.
The problem is the writing. Jean Auel is a terrible, I repeat TERRIBLE writer who came up with a good, fun idea. Some Amazon reviewers criticize her work because her main characters are "Stone-Age Super Heroes". I say: "so what, that's one thing that makes them fun & exciting". Who cares that her 2 protagonists invented just about everything useful to help push man (and woman) through the Stone Age? Who cares that they have a natural compassion, sense of equality and pacifist philosophy that can only be matched by Jimmy Carter? Who cares that their personal hygiene is up to 20th century standards even though they lived 25,000 yrs. ago? These books are historical, FICTIONAL adventure stories.
However the "historical" part is where Jean Auel gets into so much trouble.
Auel tries to overcome her poor writing ability by making two additional HUGE errors. The first is by repeating and rehashing in every book, circumstances, events, information and experiences (not to mention sex scenes) to a degree that is so beyond exasperating it absolutely ventures well into nauseating.
Her second monumental blunder is caused by her extensive research in the Botanical, Anthropological and Archeological fields. For some reason beyond my limited comprehension, Jean Auel must think that the more banal historical minutiae she includes in her fictional "super-hero" adventure stories, the more credibility she gains as an author. She could not be more wrong. I can only describe my frustration in reading the 4th book with the analogy of what they say about men who drive fancy, expensive cars...... they're trying to make up for a "short"-coming they know they have.
In each book these two problems get worse and worse. By the end of the 4th book you'll be tearing your hair out.....I promise! Again, not because the story itself isn't enjoyable but because the repetition and plant and landscape information & descriptions are so tedious and cumbersome that they take most of the pleasure out of plot. After reading reviews of the 5th book, my impression is that it's just as bad as the 4th.
Jean Auel doesn't realize that MOST of her readers ARE NOT going to start with the 3rd, 4th or 5th books. Most people like to start at the beginning. She also has NO concept that those same readers are there for the plot and characters, not for the research. But if we can learn a little about the evolution of the earth, it's human, animal and plant life development and value along the way....GREAT!
In comparison, when we pick up a Harry Potter book, we acquire some knowledge on magic, folklore, myths and legends. But that information is not what captivates us. It's the excitement of the characters, their interaction and the plot. If we wanted text book information, we wouldn't be reaching for a fiction novel, would we? You and I know this, luckily for her, J.K. Rowling knows this but unfortunately Ms. Auel doesn't. Because of this, the "Earth Children" popularity will not stand the test of time.
I guess my biggest question is "Where are the editors?" Does Auel put up the money to publish these monstrosities? The "The Plains of Passage" is 760 pages; it should and could have been cut by 250 pages.
If you want some truly GREAT adventure stories or series' reach for The Leather Stocking Tales, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Sackett Stories, The Wrinkle in Time Quartet, Harry Potter, The Adventures of Alan Quartermain or The Martian Tales, Discworld, Horatio Hornblower or The Master and Commander Series anything by Robert Louis Stevenson, Alexander Dumas or Jules Vern. My list is almost endless.
I'll grant you that anything written in the 18th or 19th centuries are more difficult to read but they are SO much more rewarding. However, there's still plenty of truly great adventure writing for you to enjoy from the 20th century.
In short the "Earth Children" Series just doesn't measure up. As much as I love Ayla and Jondalar, I don't think I'm going to read the 5th or upcoming 6th books. If I do, not only will I mostly just be skimming the pages without quotation marks but the books themselves will be read between classics, dramas and adventures written by authors who have an understanding of not just what their readers want but rather what their genre requires.
Book Review: Good story, bad read
Summary: 3 Stars
This book would be great if it wasn't for the writing. Seriously, the editing process should have pared it down, eradicated some over-used figures of speech, and challenged some of the obvious sci-fi creations that advance the plot.
The premise of modern humans and neanderthals having contact and more has been explored quite a bit. Auel does bring an interesting flavor with the story of Ayla, a presumed cro magnon who is mercifully adopted by a clan of presumed neanderthals and the culture shock this brings to all parties.
Auel's clan is very human in many regards. Sophisticated language, medicine, tools and hunting help them to survive. A flawed, but coherent mythology and religious structure guides their morals and their strictures. They display many of the human emotions and failings as any modern community, and certainly crave more than simply the basic needs of survival. The politics and personal dynamics that form the plot have a timeless and universal character.
Unfortunately, several aspects of the writing style, and several major "suspension of disbelief" plot devices made it difficult to finish. A few that come to mind:
1. The author has clearly done extensive research (or can fake it) on medicinal plants in this era. Unfortunately, it's just not that interesting to most readers given the amount of detail poured into the story. Chapters are interrupted for long discourses on yet another set of medicines and their preparations, when in fact the details add nothing to the story.
2. Too many ancillary characters with similar names to keep straight. The tribe boasts an Ika, Iba, Eba, Uba, Ovra - whatever. Many of the characters only appear every hundred pages or so and you just can't recall why they matter. Strangely, the basic motives and traits of the main characters are often repeated, which you of course should know, but these side characters just drift in and out with their similar names.
3. The pre-verbal communication is all done with hand gestures, yet they convey sophisticated sentence structures and long diatribes and grand ceremonial rites for hundreds of viewers. This just isn't believable. If anything, a species that has to rely on their hands as hunters, gatherers, and craftspeople would not be able to use those hands for such communication.
4. Repetitive figures of speech. "Ayla wasn't the only one who..." comes to mind (a way overused transition into a new paragraph - when you start to notice it and count them, that's bad).
5. There is a completely unnecessary sci-fi aspect to it, dealing with the mental abilities of the clan and in one case, the ability to see into the future (a cringe-worthy montage). Everything else in the story was at least plausible without this addition.
One more warning that is a bit of a spoiler, and also not the fault of the author. The book jacket cover on the paperback edition I read states that the clan eventually comes to worship the main character. This is false. "Accept and respect" would be accurate, but there is never any worship.
I'm disappointed by this fact - I would love to know what happens to the characters as the saga continues, but I won't subject myself to that writing style again.