The Clan of the Cave Bear

Rating:
Summary: The Best Book Ever!
Review: The best book is this one right here! Ms. Auel's story makes you feel as though you right there next to Ayla the whole time. You're there when she's in the earthquake, during her time with the clan, when she leaves and all the way up until the end. When I read the first story, I couldn't put it down and when I finished, I ran to the bookstore to buy the others. I can't wait for the fifth one to come out. And as long as there are more books of this series coming, I'll be reading them. Two thumbs up and a must read!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I read all of the four books in this series. They were so good, I couldn't stop. I can really relate to the struggles of the characters. They are all so real. I know this summer I will read them again. You should do the same.

Rating:
Summary: Prehistoric Growing Pains
Review: I could not pass on the opportunity to review my favourite book ever. Auel presents a captivating prehistoric tale of an orphan child, Ayla, who is adopted by the Clan, despite her outwardly different appearance. The Clan quickly learns that Ayla is inwardly different too, and Ayla struggles to conform to the traditions and ways of the Clan. Auel demonstrates a truly impressive, detailed knowledge of the prehistoric era, encompassing humans, animals and plants (I once attempted to remember the medicinal remedies for each, to no avail!) A moving story of conformity, loneliness, trying to belong and growing up (and sexual education besides), this is the book that dominated throughout my own growing pains. Anyone who has grown up in a surrounding not entirely their own will immediately relate to Ayla. I have never known a person not to be hooked from page 1, and everytime I open the front cover, I have to finish the book. A true masterpiece that raises the standards for fictional and fantasy writing to a higher level.

Rating:
Summary: Ugly Duckling
Review: This novel was a first in a number of respects. It was Jean's first book, also the first in a great series of four books and lastly the first of its class in the now popular prehistory genre. The four novels in the series are "Clan of the cave bear", "Valley of the Horses", "The Mammoth Hunters" and "The Plains of Passage".

Set in the transitional time between Neanderthal and Cromagnon, we are told a tale like Kipling's, "Jungle Book". Only Mowgly is a little girl named Ayla and she is raised by Neanderthals rather than wolves. But this is no children's story.

Ayla is an outcast in her adopted tribe and struggles against ostracism and physical assaults. Any thing she can do better than her tribe is frowned on as not appropriate and she struggles to do the things that the rest of them take for granted. Some of these include the obvious displays of great strength but also the clever supposition on the authors part, that Neanderthals memories are passed down through the generations by inherited genetic traits. How can little Ayla ever achieve that.

It all comes to a head in the first novel when Ayla has a malformed baby. Not malformed in fact, just a half cast. I wont go into any more detail. Suffice to say that I was hanging out for each new novel in the series and then gobbled each in virtually a single sitting when they arrived.

Rating:
Summary: Clan of the Cave Bear
Review: This is a truly touching book, in which you follow the life of Ayla, a girl born to the "Others", who is found by Iza, the top medicine woman of the Clan( aka cave people). You explore the feelings of the characters. Auel has created a wormhole into the past. Each character is distinct in itself, and you have a story outline both dramatic and explicit. When Creb\ Mog-ur performs his ceremonies, you feel as if you are there. It's like watching a movie, only deeper. You explore the humiliation of Creb's deformaty, the stubborness of Broud, and the kindness and caring of Iza. When Ayla is discovered to be hunting against the Clan laws, you plead along with her against the death curse. This is a truly wonderfull book. There are some mature parts, so if you don't feel you can handle them, don't try. Once again, I strongly reccomend this book!

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Summary: what a fun series!
Review: this book, and the rest of the series, came to me in a collection from a friend. i picked it up for some summer reading and read a book every several days until the end of the series. difficult to put down. i got very absorbed in the story. enjoyed the elements that were clearly related to joseph campbell's work. really enjoyed the sex parts too! reading about life lived that directly, that plainly, helped me to see how good i have it here in the u.s. if they didn't find food they didn't eat. i go to the suburban grocery store up the street and can choose from 13 kinds of apples (out of season!) and reject them for the slightest blemish. one night, during the third book or so, returning home late, my headlights caught five deer in the front yard. my first thought was--FOOD! WE'LL EAT! (and i'm not even a hunter). the later books seemed to suffer a little. perhaps victims of success? ............ though i'd buy the next one in a second! hats off to ms. auel.

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING series
Review: I have difficulty putting into words just how much each of the Earth's Children books have transformed my way of thinking. Auel's ability to create characters who use our natural resources for the greatest good has strong appeal. Each book has spun a world of reality-based fantasy which can guide how we see the world today. The world of Ayla, the Clan, and the Others is one in which EVERYONE should enter... and decide to stay.

Rating:
Summary: fascinating
Review: I have read all the books by this author that I have discovered by any chance,because I am a French reader. But I can say,even if those books are big ones I cannot let it down until I arrive at the top of the end.

Rating:
Summary: Clan of the Cave Bear
Review: I've read Clan of the Cave Bear so many times, that I've had to buy another copy. Along with her other books in the series, this is a must for everyone's personal collection. Jean M Auel weaves so much historical data in between the story lines,in fact, it is an integral part of all that makes up Ayla's life. The strength of the heroine combined with her human limitations makes Ayla come alive for the reader. I am driven to find out as much about Ayla as I can in reading this book and in the three succeeding novels in the series that continue with Ayla's saga. The books are grand, epic tales of a young woman's growing up and maturing in prehistoric times. Losing her family in an earthquake, 5 year old Ayla sets out in search of other humans in a sparsely populated prehistoric Europe. A clan of Neanderthals stumble across an unconscious, lion mauled Ayla. The Medicine Woman of the group,Iza, cares for Ayla. The clan is initially wary of Ayla, the first of "the others" that they have encountered, but she is gradually accepted by them. She has much to overcome, and Clan of the Cave Bear concludes in line with Ayla's difficulites through out the entire book. The story is picked up in "Valley of the Horses". I recommend that you read the entire series, and then wait, like the rest of us Auel-o-philes for the next book in this series. It's been over ten years since the last book (Plains of Passage)and I think I can speak for everyone when I say: Please Publish SOON!

Rating:
Summary: Impressive !
Review: I'm an archiologic from ISRAEL. This book is the best i read about how people leaved here thousand of years ago... Jean must be a very special person. Keen regards..