"Hello I am a researchere who has given up my life to study neanderthals and my story telling skills are roughly equivalent to those of my subjects"should be Jean's introduction to her work, "as I believe fiction should be written in the form of a dull and tedious encyclopaedia."

It took me TWO months to read this book. TWO WHOLE MONTHS and I am still super confused about how I feel. On one hand, the premise and execution are awe-inspiring and I have to give it to Jean Auel for her expansive research during a (pre-internet) time when so little was known about the Pre-historic era. BUT.

But the misogynistic culture depicted in the clan made it extremely difficult for me to read. I am not sure if it was known during the time Auel was researching the Earth's Children series but the societies of Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons were actually egalitarian. I have read my share of misogynistic literature but TCoftCB was completely a different beast to handle.

Then there's the problem with Ayla, the grandmother of every Mary Sue in literature. She's blonde, she's tall and slim (but of course she thinks she's ugly), she can hunt (women aren't allowed to hunt cuz they are inferior), she has the strongest totem (except for Broud's) she's an awesome medicine woman, everyone loves her (except Broud, the prehistoric ratbastard how dare he!!!!!!!!). She can do everything WOW!!!11!!!!!! I don't know if Auel intended it but TCotCB has subtle racist undertones and it really prevented me from fully enjoying the book. (not to mention the rape and regular beatings- this book is a white supremacist's wet dream)

Suddenly, with a magician's flourish, he produced a skull. He held it high over his head with his strong left arm and turned slowly around in a complete circle so each man could see the large, distinctive, high-domed shape. The men stared at the cave bear's skull glowing whitely in the flickering light of the torches.

Contemporary anthropology can be pretty confusing, and science may have disproved some of what’s on display here, but this novel does feel like it was well researched at any rate, so let’s leave it at that. It’s still just a story, and an historical-fantasy at that.

“The child has a totem, a strong totem. We just don't know what it is.”

And we all know the story by now.
Cro-Magnon girl is orphaned by earthquake and is adopted by Neanderthal clan: drama and intrigue follows. It’s no surprise that emphasis is laid on the differences, and perceived differences, between H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens.

(I found the “Caveman” names quite typical, and amusing: Eg. Grod, Droog, Groob, Crug and for obvious reasons, Durc.)

This book was pretty huge back in its day. It also seems to be provoking all kinds of debate. The reviews on goodreads alone make for interesting reading, and more than a little contradiction.
Is the book racist? Is the book sexist? Is the book factually correct?

More to the point: is the book any good?

He had a sudden understanding of the gulf between the mind of this girl and his own, and it shook him.

The intimacies of clan interaction does have a terrifically epic backdrop in prehistoric (paleolithic) Europe and something that the author conveys quite well is the solitude; you really do get the idea that there are not many people around. However, expect a bit of an infodump: there are pages and pages of depictions of plants and their medicinal properties. If you can skip-read over these, you’ll read the book in half the time I did (I compulsively read everything).

She was part of nature's new experiment, and though she tried to model herself after the women of the clan, it was only an overlay, a facade only culture-deep, assumed for the sake of survival.

It’s an interesting story, but also somewhat cyclical, with some events seemingly repeated in some form or other throughout the story. Season follows season; day to day depictions of paleolithic Neanderthal life serving as backdrop for the pissing contest between Ayla and Broud; wash, rinse, repeat.

Something that reviewers seem to be skirting around is the rape scene depicted in the story. I found it fairly brutal, given the context (the victim is a 10-year girl), even if it does serve to move the story along. I would have expected the author to exhibit a modicum of sensitivity in the prose, but alas. The reason I’m mentioning this incident specifically is because it did influence my reading experience. Perhaps this is the idea, to set a more sinister tone for the rest of the novel.

We don't know why your totem has led you to follow that ancient path, but we cannot deny the Spirit of the Cave Lion; it must be allowed.

In the end, it’s testament to the staying power of the novel that I still enjoyed it despite its shortcomings. With a tweak here and an edit there it could have been great; as it is it’s still very good.

3.5 Stars
Read as part of the must-read agreement with my wife – 2015

"[Ayla] was a woman, and she had more courage than you...more determination, more self-control"

Ayla is a five year old child when an earthquake forces her to flee her destroyed home and her dead parents. Iza, the medicine woman of the Clan of the Cave Bear, stumbles upon her and takes her under her wing, but Broud, the proud son of the clan leader, Brun, takes an immediate disliking to the young non-Clan girl. Ayla grows up among the clan and struggles to find her place.

I've heard so much about this series of books, particularly with the most recent (and apparently last of the series??) release of The Land of Painted Caves. While I had read that that book wasn't so hot, I did read reviews that praised the first few books. So I went out and got my hands on an audiobook of the first in the Earth's Children series.

First off, I have to give kudos to Auel for all the research and time she put into this novel. This woman didn't go, "I'm going to write a pre-historic novel" and then just throw in some almost modern humans in a wallpaper world. This book transports you back before cars and computers, before women's rights and civil rights, into a fantasy realm of what the world might have been like before the modern age. It was vibrant and meticulously detailed. I loved how the Others could speak but the Clan could not; how the Clan could access memories but were bad at new innovations while the opposite was true of the Others. A lesser author, like I said, would have seen the work needed and given up; Auel pushed on and produced a damn fine novel.

Besides the vibrant setting, the characters were detailed and intricate. My favorites were Iza and Creb, but I also liked Ayla herself, Brun, and Ooba (sp?). I liked how Iza embraced Ayla and was thoughtful enough to pass along the medicine woman trade, trying to think of Ayla's future. Iza was a warm, loving, kind-hearted, strong woman. Creb was fantastic. I thought he was sweet and kind, a good father-figure for Ayla, and I loved the comparisons between him and Ayla and between him and Ayla's son, Dirk. Ayla was a great character; she grows so much throughout the book. She tries to find her place in the clan; she is constantly testing the boundaries, but not because she is always defiant. Ayla is just not Clan; she is of the Others, and that breeding comes through. I liked the differences that she accented between Clan and Others: speech, crying, differences in body shape (I really liked how the Clan had a different perception of beauty). There were a few times when she (or her son) got really close to that Mary Sue line--the amount of times she breaks rules and is able to keep from being killed is pretty astonishing. However, I think Ayla did have enough faults, and was legitimately punished enough that I didn't focus on it too much. (I wonder, though, how far it is into the series before her turn to Mary Sue-ism comes is complete.) Brun was a great strong leader; he listened to his people, but wasn't afraid of action, afraid of punishment. And Ooba became such a sweet, loving sister to Ayla. I couldn't help but think of me and my sister when I read about the two.

The story meanders along Ayla's life, her struggles to become Clan, and her tension with Broud. I loved how she learned to hunt with a sling, and I liked how she became a good medicine woman, how she would drop everything to try to save someone's life. I got to learn so much in this book, my mind was bent to new depths--what would life be like living in a cave? What was the world like before?

If anything about the story bugged me, it would be the sudden departures into talking about mixing medicines. As I said above, I loved the research Auel put into this book; that said, inserting several passages ONLY to show what plants mixed with what roots would make a cure for this ailment got old. Fast. Fortunately, there were not TOO many of these scenes, but there were enough to be noteworthy.

Also, there is quite a bit of violence/abuse in this novel. Women are basically treated like property. Men can beat women and be completely justified--this happens to Ayla quite a few times in the book. Men also can force a woman to have sex whenever the desire hits them--even if the woman is not their wife. Again, this happens to Ayla quite a bit, in a rather uncomfortable rape montage (nothing is too graphic, however). While I am sure this is more realistic than having Clan women burning their bras (or whatever they would have used for bras), it is not for everyone and was rather uncomfortable at times to listen to. Sometimes, I wanted to smack some sense into these Clan men--how dare you treat someone like that! Being female does NOT mean being stupid and being unable to think for yourself! Ultimately, I appreciated how Auel did NOT resort to writing the Clan as if they were wise, with modern sensibilities about feminism...but I still hated the abuse.

I honestly cannot wait to start reading the next book. I am desperate to know what happens to Ayla...does she meet up with her people? Does she find a mate? I've read enough reviews to know some of the answers to my questions, but that doesn't make me any less eager to read for myself. I greatly enjoyed reading this prehistoric journey, and I definitely recommend--with the caveat that there is some abuse/violence to be on the lookout for.

I came to The Clan of the Cave Bear at the Mission Viejo Library when the novel I'd wanted next -- The Witching Hour by Anne Rice -- was out. Wandering the hardcover fiction, a row of books at eye level with thick, colorful spines and the same author snared my attention. Published in 1980, this bestseller launched five sequels, a maligned film adaptation in 1986 and became an industry onto Jean M. Auel, whose published fiction has been dedicated solely to this Ice Age series.

Set in the late Pleistocene Epoch as many as 35,000 years ago and in an area that looks suspiciously like the present day Crimean Peninsula, of all places, The Clan of the Cave Bear begins with a 5-year-old girl named Ayla whose tribe is wiped out in an earthquake while she's off swimming in a stream. After nearly becoming a meal of the cave lions, Ayla is found starving and badly wounded by a tribe of wanderers who've also been displaced by the quake.

Brown haired, stocky and bow legged, the leader of the wanderers, Brun, recognizes Ayla as one of "The Others", a tribe that's blonde haired, lean and tall. Communicating with sign language and grunts as much as words, Brun ignores Ayla ("Not clan") but his medicine woman, a 30 year old senior citizen named Iza, takes pity on the girl and brings her back from the dead. The wanderers are desperately in search of shelter and it's Ayla who directs Iza's attention to a perfect cave.

One of the chief reasons to read the novel is Auel's credible portrayal of Ayla as the ultimate outsider, the First Outsider, who grows to maturity with the sense that she's different from everyone else and struggles to find her purpose. Ayla looks other clan members in the eye, a major faux pas for a woman. Her physique permits her the ability to swim, which she uses to save the life of a clan member from drowning.

Ayla's curiosity also leads her to teach herself how to use a sling and hunt with it, a crime punishable by death when the offender is a woman. Auel mines a great deal of tension by pitting Ayla against Broud, the ill-tempered son of Brun and heir apparent to the clan's leadership who is deeply offended by Ayla's ways and engages her in a battle of wills. I kept reading because I wanted to see the moment Ayla stood up for herself and went all Tina Turner to Ike, in this case, Broud.

Auel's research (begun in 1977 in consultation with numerous experts) offers interesting glimpses into prehistoric survival, the work of female gatherers preparing foods and medicines, and the work of male hunters tracking and killing game, most memorably, a trek north to hunt mammoth. My attention waned when it came to descriptions of religious rites where there seemed to be far less at stake (no chance of anyone getting injured or killed).

While the characters have forgotten more about the natural world than you or I will ever know, their weakness is a shortened life span; Ayla reaches womanhood and achieves status as Woman Who Hunts by age 10. I found the biology of the characters to be unique, a facet lost in the film version with Daryl Hannah, 25 years old and 5'10", cast in the role of Ayla.

The major weakness of The Clan of the Cave Bear is Auel's geriatric writing, which is plodding, and tells and tells and tells. I consider myself intelligent enough to imagine what characters are thinking or feeling by how they act and what they say to each other. I scanned the last 100 pages. There was simply not enough at stake -- at no point does the reader consider Auel's heroine might be killed -- and the author's visible attempt at writing kept me from becoming absorbed in the world she was creating.

Fortunately, writing takes a back seat for me. I can excuse a lot of telling versus showing if the author creates a compelling character, builds a fantastic world and dares me to put down the book without knowing what's going to happen to the character. I'm recommending this to readers with an interest in the prehistoric world or an interest in how to build a series. I can't say Auel hooked me into reading the sequels, but for a debut novel, this is a good one.

Ugh. Throughout my childhood this book sat off-limits on my parents' bookshelf. As the kid who read White Fang 9 times in one year, I really wanted to jump on its primitive-wilderness-and-spunky-heroine train, but I was not allowed to do so - apparently some of its scenes were deemed 'too graphic' by my parents (Now I know why). I finally bought it this fall at a discount paperback book store and have been unable to finish it in a year. The prose, ugh. The nature-porn cheesiness, double ugh. The heavy-handed foreshadowing, triple ugh. Book of my childhood dreams, you have let me down.

The story begins with an earthquake in the first few pages of the book that leaves a 5 year old girl alone, orphaned and wandering, on the brink of death. Luckily for her, the same quake destroyed the cave of a clan of cavemen, and they are also wandering, in search of a new home. A pregnant woman comes across the unconcious body of the girl, and despite her physical differences asks, and receives permission, to carry and tend to the girl.

As ugly and strange to the clan as the girl seems, she brings them luck and they very soon find a new cave, even better than their last. Iza, the woman who found her is allowed to adopt her. Iza has been left a widow by the quake, but is a very powerful medicine woman, so is provided for by Creb, the highly esteemed Mogur, or magician, of the clan who also happens to be her sibling. It's very fortunate for Ayla that these are the kind people she ends up with. Not everyone of the clan accepts, trusts, or even likes her, simply because she IS so different and so worthy of fear and distrust.

As Ayla grows and learns the customs, language and ways of the clan, her life is hard. She is almost a different species than them. She is much farther up the evolutionary ladder, so finds it very hard to fit into the mold they consider appropriate for women. She is proud, strong, very intelligent, and able to make leaps of logic that often get her into trouble with her adopted people. She secretly learns to hunt which is strictly forbidden to women. This is just one more infraction, in a long list of them, that fuels the hatred Broud, the leader's son, feels for Ayla. She is punished for this, but later is allowed to continue hunting. Through her differences, Ayla becomes a self-sufficient woman, able to take care of herself. This is a foreign concept to the clan, as their skills are firmly divided by sex, with females being no more able to learn male tasks than they are to learn the female's. Ayla can do both.

As the years pass, Ayla is trained By Iza, alongside her daughter, to become a medicine woman. Ayla is not only a quick learner, but an inuitive one. She can not only recall what she has been taught, but devise new treatments and medicines that would never occur to Iza. Ayla has a child, but is left unmated. The story ends, wide open for book two, with Broud, the new clan leader, cursing Ayla to death. Fortunately, we know she will survive, even without the help and comfort of the clan. Ayla can take care of herself.

It's amazing how much information Auel is able to fit into this book without it coming across as a list of plants, animals and customs. Tons of information is imparted, and we are given a vivid look at what life would have looked like in Ayla's time. The long descriptions never come across as dry or boring, but instead leave me with more questions. This is one of those rare books that leave me looking things up, poring over encyclopedias, scouring Wikipedia, anything for just a little more detail.

There are many fortunate coincidences, leaps of logic and just plain lucky happenings that are a bit far-fetched, but I was able to overlook these because they advanced the story and made it possible for Auel to give us such a rich look at what life may have been like. So much happens in such a few short years, but it needs to, so that the foundation is laid for the rest of the series.

This was my second read-through of the book the first was almost 30 years ago. I remembered most of the story but I had forgotten the subelty of the story and how three-dimensional all of the characters were. I had only made it to book 4 in the series before so this time I am looking forward to finishing the entire series.

I circled around this series for a long time, unable to decide if it was something I was interested in or not. However it's been recommended to me many times, so I began to pick up the book second hand over a few years - - as ever, it was the first books that I took a while to find.

It was an unexpectedly brilliant read. I thought I would enjoy it, I didn't go in with the idea that it would be dull or a waste of time, but I hadn't counted on the intensity of it. It's got a soap opera feel to it in some ways maybe, but it's done in an epic, rather believable (for this reader at least) way. Of course everything is dramatic, and like many books the heroine experiences a dizzyingly vast array of disasters and misfortunes. It's not really a spoiler to say that she loses her entire family, and all her people, right at the beginning. And then wanders lost and starving. And then is attacked by a cave lion - and at this point the book is just getting started. But I bought into it all, and was riveted.

This was a very creative book, filling in history that in many ways is unknowable with ideas that make sense. Ayla's life with the Neanderthal Clan who find her is endlessly fascinating, and I especially loved anything featuring Creb, my favourite character.

There are harrowing details aplenty, violence of all kinds, including sexual, lots of hunting (which I had expected) and an environment that is harsh but also beautiful. I noticed some readers don't love the information heavy aspects of the novel, but for me these were a highlight. I realise these books are fiction, so I'm not claiming this series will make me any kind of expert, but the author has clearly done her research and her passion for the knowledge she has accumulated and woven into her story shows. I spent a lot of time Googling various things she mentioned, and that in itself added to my level of involvement in the world she was building

I also didn't expect the hunting scenes to be so interesting. Although I have no desire to follow suit, it was incredible to read about the hunts, and even learning something about ancient weapons. It's not all killing, there is much focus on gathering as well, and herbal medicine, which was interesting and was another topic I was looking up online as I read.

The initially small ways in which Ayla began to grow into herself, and push back against the Clan was inspiring. When she began hunting in secret, practicing with her slingshot until she was better than the men, I cheered her on, while feeling a great deal of worry for her. I also had sympathy for the clan. As time goes on the differences between Ayla and her adopted family become more stark. Yet neither are truly at fault - they are simply different.

Well, I say neither are truly at fault, but in reality, Broud cannot be excused by mere difference. He is a bully - and I could use many other, stronger words to describe him. I'll stick with bastard. I realise most stories have a villain. Jean M. Auel really delivered with this one. Some people might find the repeated rape difficult to read (I did and I am not overly sensitive [I don't think] about these things, especially historical fiction) but I also think realistically this would have been a weapon used. It still is a weapon used. However, if this a topic you struggle with, I would skip this book.

When Ayla eventually has her son, I knew, as I'm sure most readers did too, especially when it becomes clear what a good mother she is and how devoted she is, that she was likely to be separated from this child somehow. I was anticipating this, and it was still an emotional blow when it finally happened.
In some ways having the echo of the opening of the novel was a little on the nose, yet I also thought it worked. And this time, though alone again, Ayla is not a little girl, she is skilled, capable, and has been told to search for her own people. There is a kind of hope in that ending - and I was glad I had a copy of the second book to resume the story!

There were many other things I loved - the relationship between Ayla and her adopted mother, Iza and the information Iza shares with Ayla about medicine and healing. I loved the landscapes, the family dynamics, the spiritual ceremonies, even if one did make me feel physically sick. Most of all I loved the totems, spirit animals and the signs. I am someone who is rather practical in may ways, but also drawn to things like signs, and Ayla's experience with the signs that guide her was oddly resonant (though I've never had to contend with a cave lion) as was the attitude she took to keep herself going during the gruelling challenges she faced. In a way I think the novel focuses on resilience, and perhaps learning some independence. But it's also set up so she will use that independence to find her people, so it's not this idea that you don't need anybody, but maybe that you shouldn't be entirely dependent on them. Or maybe I am over-thinking it!

Anyway, I loved this book. It's taken me months to review it (eleven months actually), so I've probably left out points I originally intended to make, but do remember a fair bit, especially that I read this at an ideal time, and it was clarifying and enlightening about things in my life that were utterly unrelated to the novel, yet were heavily influenced by it anyway. I am grateful to Jean M. Auel for that, and also for writing a hugely entertaining and interesting story.

The Clan of the Cave Bear (Earth's Children #1), Jean M. Auel

The Clan of the Cave Bear is an epic work of prehistoric fiction by Jean M. Auel about prehistoric times. A five-year-old girl, Ayla, whom readers come to understand is Cro-Magnon, is orphaned and left homeless by an earthquake that destroys her family's camp. She wanders aimlessly, naked and unable to feed herself, for several days. Having been attacked and nearly killed by a cave lion and suffering from starvation, exhaustion, and infection of her wounds, she collapses, on the verge of death.

The narrative switches to a group of people who call themselves "The Clan" and whom we come to understand are Neanderthal, whose cave was destroyed in the earthquake and who are searching for a new home. The medicine woman of the group, Iza, discovers the girl and asks permission from Brun, the head of the Clan, to help the ailing child, despite the child being clearly a member of "the Others," the distrusted antagonists of the Clan. The child is adopted by Iza and her brother Creb. Creb is this group's "Mog-ur" or shaman, despite being deformed as a result of the difficult birth resulting from his abnormally large head and the later loss of an arm and eye after being attacked by a cave bear.

The Clan worship spiritual representations of Earthly animals called "totems", whom they believe can influence their lives by way of good or bad luck and for whom Mog-ur acts as an intermediary. Brun agrees to allow Iza to treat the dying child and to adopt her only if Creb can discover her personal totem spirit. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز نوزدهم ماه فوریه سال2003میلادی

عنوان: قبیله خرس غار؛ نویسنده: جین ام. آول؛ مترجم: شهیندخت لطف اللهی (محبوب)؛ تهران، چشمه، سال1381؛ در585ص؛ چاپ سوم سال1389؛ شابک9789643620417؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان ایالات متحده آمریکا - سده20م

داستان در پایان دوران انسانهای بدوی، یا همان «نئاندرتالها»، و آغاز دوران انسانهای اندیشه ورز، روایت میشود، و ماجرایی پر کشش دارد؛ شخصیت اصلی داستان دختری به نام «آیلا» است؛ «آیلای» پنج ساله، پس از زلزله ای بی‌خانمان میشود، و گروهی از «نئاندرتال‌»ها تصمیم‌ می‌گیرند، از او نگهداری کنند؛ خوانشگر در این داستان؛ شاهد رویارویی انسانهای اندیشه ورز، با نسل انسانهای غارنشین، در دوران از بین رفتن آن‌هاست

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 03/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ 24/10/1400هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

This book was powerful for me. It brought to life a world disappeared by more than 10,000 years. Ayla is such an inspiration and strong woman. I love her dedication to life and to her tribe and to herself. I love that she became a medicine woman. This book is one of a kind.

4.0 Stars
This was such a unique historical fantasy exploring what life may have been like in the prehistoric age. The story is very low in terms of magic, which is explored through the spiritualism of the tribe. This was a very immersive story and I would certainly be interested to continue on with the later books.