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Summary: I love this book and can't wait to read Valley of the Horses
Review: In The Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean M. Auel, I was captivated by the spirit and life of the Clan. At the start of the novel, these people seem almost like savages. By the end I was in tears when Alla lost a loved one. The struggles and accomplishments Alla, the main character, experienced, seemed to be my very own. The story begins with an earthquake that tears a little girl away from the only family and home that she knows. Wandering lost in the wilderness, Alla is chosen by the great cave lion to bear his totum marks for the rest of her life. As the child lay dying of starvation and infection from the giant gashes which the huge cat tore into her leg, Alla passes out along side of a path. The Clan, a group of neandrathal cave people, is searching for a new cave at the time, stumble across Alla's broken body. Isa, the Clan's medicine woman, lifts the child up and decideds to raise her as her own. As the story unfolds, we see the human child, who not only looks different than the people of the clan, but by nature, acts and thinks differently, growing up and trying hard to understand how she can possibly be normal when she looks, feels, and seems so totally different than the only people she can ever remember. This is an exciting, interesting and inviting story that I would recommend to anyone. The book is not really suitable for children under age 14, due to some topics of natural human life that cannot be avoided. However, I don't think that it would be considered offensive to anyone. I personally bought the audio book. This makes it possible to do other things while listening to the story, such as sewing, drawing, computer, etc. IT'S A GREAT BOOK! BUY IT OR BORROW IT RIGHT NOW!
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Summary: Not a bad book, if you realize it's only fiction...
Review: The story of an orphaned little girl being adopted by a neanderthal clan in the latest ice age is very original, especially the description of their language, food, medicines, and ways of life in general. But what disturbs me about the book is whether these facts are actually correct: forMrs. Auel's saying her book is based on a very vast study of the subject. But a few years ago I've read an article about how neanderthals could talk just like us if anybody bothered to teach them - this is a MAJOR slip for a book that's supposed to be more or less accurate... I do understand how the fact that the Clan's language is not a vocal one enhances the plot of this book and the following ones, but maybe this inaccuracy should have been mentioned right next to Mrs. Auel's statement about her vast research... This way, I feel I can never be sure about any other 'facts' in the story.Another issue I wasn't comfortable about in the whole series is its feminist message. Even though I'm a woman, and believe in women's rights, I think that the importance of each gender's role in the clan wasn't given enough attention just to stress the 'unfairness' of it all. I think it's wrong to judge a society so different from our own, in time, herritage and customs, by our own standards of right and wrong.
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Summary: Emma's review on The Clan of the Cave Bear
Review: The Clan of the Cave Bear, by Jean M Auel, was a fantastic book. The idea of Ayla's family being killed and then being separated from society and found by a group of 'uncivilized' and 'under developed' Clan, makes for a great story full of adventure and excitement. There is never a dull moment around the tall, blue eyed Ayla and the rest of the people in her Clan. You find yourself not able to put down the book because you want to see what sort of trouble Ayla will get in, if she'll finally master the art of her sling, or if she'll finally be accepted into the Clan.
Auel captures each character and the Clan as a whole so well and you learn so much about them. She created a 'society' for her book without leaving out any detail. Auel created their 'language', social rank, hunting habits, religion, etc. which really helps you understand the Clan that much better.
Overall I really enjoyed this book and recommend it to anyone who likes adventurous stories with a heroic main character. It's a good book to pick up when there's nothing to do and you're looking for some entertainment. And after you read The Clan of the Cave Bear there are four others that follow. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
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Summary: Different, intelligent, very good book
Review: The main reason I was interested in reading Mrs. Auel's Earth's Children series was the unusual setting. There are very few fiction books that deal with the beginning of men as a species. Auel's work must be praised because she was able to picture a very vivid Neanderthalian clan; most of what we know today about neanderthals is speculation based on anthropological findings, since they lived in pre-historical times. Auel's researched is very complete and extense, and it shows in her book. Characters, situations, huntings, clan-dealings, everything is easy to imagine and follow as we read, because tha author's style of writing is smooth and visually powerful. This story is, obviously, just another speculation, but a very interesting one. The main character is Ayla. She's not a Neanderthal; she comes from the Others, a different sub-species, more advanced physically and mentally. Ayla lost her parents in an earthquake when she was very small, and was found and rescued by the neanderthalian clan. There, in spite of her differences, she struggles to be accepted and respected as a member of the clan. Auel's book is good because the characters are deeply developed, not only Ayla, but most of the clan people as well. There's a little difficulty for the reader to get acquainted with the unusual names and the function of each clan member, but once past that the reading is great. There's not much action in the story, but it never drags on. The main feature is, no doubt, the relationship between Ayla and the rest of the clan. I hope the other books in the series keep the good writing. Grade 8.8/10
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Summary: The Clan of the Cave Bear
Review: Jeam M. Auel's The Clan of the Cave Bear is one of the most moving and interesting books I have read in a long time. It is the story of a woman, Ayla, and is set in the world of prehistoric man, about thirty thousand years ago. Ayla is separated from her family at a young age after an earth-shaking natural disaster. She is adopted by a travaling Clan of Cave People. Ayla is a Cro-Magnon, and as she grows up, the author shows her readers how the girl's mental and physical deviations from her adopted family change both her and them. As Ayla grows up, the story becomes an epic tale of her struggle to both survive and fit in with a group of people she is destined to overtake through evolution eventually. Of course, Ayla doesn't know this, and the story is moving in that it shows how Ayla's love stretches all bounds, from her adopted mother and father, to her son, Durc, who was born from a brutal rape.
Auel obviously did a lot of research for this book, which is shown by her seemingly unboundless knowledge of the prehistoric landscape, animals, plants, and lifestyles that surround her characters. She vividly depict the Paleolithic setting, making the reader almost believe he or she could visit the endless grasslands or glacier mountains the author writes of. Overall, The Clan of the Cave Bear is an epic book, very captivating, and definitely a real page-turner.
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Summary: Prehistoric soap opera
Review: It's obvious that a lot of research went into the writing of this book, and Auel included just enough factual detail to barely qualify the story as historical fiction. But it is a soap opera - a well-written soap opera - and only time and setting separate this story from modern life. In fact, the characters, and their complex thoughts and emotions, as well as their ability to reason and communicate, seem more advanced than us (which is not saying much, I grant). Ayla is exceptional, almost super-human in every way, and by the end of Book Two in the series I expect she will have invented the hunting rifle, discovered calculus, cured cancer, and opened up day care centers for orphaned and deformed children. Who says blonds are dumb? I've heard from other disappointed people who are big fans of this first book that the rest of the series resembles a Harlequin romance, but I will not find out for myself.
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Summary: Read this!
Review: This amazing book remains one of my favorites ever. This might sound 'sappy', but it's true! With beautiful writing, a well-researched setting, an engrossing plot, and lovable, if debatably human, characters, what more could one ask for in a novel? I normally read fantasy, and this exotic, nearly made-up setting sometimes qualifies at that -- but this is simply better than just about every fantasy novel out there! Set in Ice Age Asia, this chronicles the life of a woman named Ayla. It begins with her as a young child, orphaned, who is adopted into a clan of Neandertals. Just about every novel I've read including Neandertals has them act human -- but these people are individual and distinguished from their Cro-Magnon contemporaries, without acting in the slightest like caveman savages. Jean Auel explains their larger brain mass, factoring it into the personality of the members of the 'Clan of the Cave Bear' (describing all of this race, not merely the clan Ayla is adopted into). The young Ayla is different from the Clan people -- while not exactly 'smarter', she is far more creative. Not only that, but she's a tomboy. She defies Clan tradition by acting male -- something Clan females would never have considered. Yet the Clan members are no less special for their traditional actions. Iza, the clan medicine woman, and Creb ( a 'mog-ur', or shaman), are wonderful characters. And Ayla is amazing, throughout her life in the book. Giving away the plot in this would be pointless. But "The Clan of the Cave Bear" -did- make me cry at the end. I don't see how anyone couldn't cry. I've cried at it every time I've read it. It's just that beautiful. I'd definitely recommend this book to anyone. If you haven't already ordered this...do so! It's great. The only complaint I have about this is Ayla's ingenuity. She manages to come up with so many new ideas, ones that would be revolutionary even by Cro-Magnon standards, that it didn't seem realistic. Still, this doesn't detract from the story at all. 5 stars out of 5, no question about it.
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Summary: Interesting, Adventurous and Heart Warming...
Review: Earth Children Series: 1.)THE CLAN OF THE CAVE BEARS 2.)THE VALLEY OF HORSES 3.)THE MAMMOTH HUNTERS 4.)PLAINS OF PASSAGE 5.)THE SHELTERS OF STONE What more can I say that 244 Amazon reviewers has not. This book is full of adventure and it let readers see through the past, on how early humans (cro-mags) live their life. Their cultures, beliefs, custom and tradition. Ayla, being born to Others was found almost dying by one of the Clan of the Cave Bears. She was eventually adopted by them and have to adjust to her new family, new environment. The challenge was overwhelming and I ache for the little girl. But then again, this is also where I admire her courage, strength and determination. The affection between Ayla, Creb and Iza was a heart warming read. I admit some parts of this book falls a bit verbose, other parts I find a bit far fetch or a bit hard to believe considering the time plot. I am not an Anthropologist so I may be wrong but Ayla's intelligence of finding and realizing things on her own sometimes left me doubtful especially for a girl her age. However, it's really not too deep to distract me. In fact, it piqued my interest all the more and made me read on. Overall, this book is imaginative, educational, entertaining and worth your time. This is definitely a different reading material compare to my usual historical romance novels but I am thankful my mother in law suggested this book to me. It's the first of Ms. Auel's Earth Children Series. I am now in the middle of the second book of the series and so far, it is as interesting as this one. My mother in law waited 10 years for the fifth installment of this series and I'm glad I don't have to wait that long. It'll be out next year, 2002.
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Summary: One of the most entertaining I have read.
Review: I enjoyed the characters in this story. The complexity of the every day life for these characters is portrayed as though one is sitting right there. The visual language takes the reader to time and place of the characters. There is love, pain, heartache, family ties, loneliness. It is a tail of life as it could have been so long ago.
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Summary: Excellent book
Review: I love this book in the "Clan" Series. The characters are fresh and exciting, the story is new and bold, the details are fascinating and exquisite. To read how the people of prehistoric time could have lived and communicated was a great treat. The girl Ayla adapts and grows to live among the Clan people, but never really gives up her inner self which is freed to develop in the later books. This particular book is excellent as a stand-alone story and should be enjoyed by itself, since the rest of the series leaves much to be desired.
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