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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
'Shaman' is a Cro-Magnon coming-of-age story, about an adolescent named Loon in what is now the area of the celebrated Chauvet-Pont D'arc cave in Southern France. Loon's adoptive father is also his tribe's shaman, and the book begins interestingly and suddenly with our protagonist being stripped and left alone to fend for himself in the midwinter wilderness as part of a 'wander', a walkabout-like ritual required of all apprentice shamans. Within the first few pages, Loon attempts to build a fire, and the excruciating detail that follows is a good indicator of what you can expect from much of Kim Stanley Robinson's novel - it's both admirable and annoying. The first half of the book is more concerned about building a world and imagining a distant way of life, one which Robinson clearly admires. Absorbing storytelling is brushed aside in favor of manual-like descriptions of mixing paint and weaving baskets. Now I love all of 'Moby Dick', even its chapter dedicated to rope, but 'Shaman' doesn't quite have the scope or the vision to justify this sort of thing. And though I support the decision to humanize these characters by putting somewhat modern dialogue into their mouths, having Upper Paleolithic people shout "Mama Mia!' on multiple occasions is a little TOO casual.
Loon's new wife is kidnapped by a northern tribe in the second half of the book, and the story gets much more interesting and harrowing. These sections and and the mesmerizing final section make the book somewhat worthwhile for anyone with an interest in our ancestors - but you still have to suffer through three entire pages discussing showshoe straps. I couldn't believe my eyes.
'Shaman' has adventure, earthy sex, and tragedy, but you have to slog through a lot of information to get there.
Loon's new wife is kidnapped by a northern tribe in the second half of the book, and the story gets much more interesting and harrowing. These sections and and the mesmerizing final section make the book somewhat worthwhile for anyone with an interest in our ancestors - but you still have to suffer through three entire pages discussing showshoe straps. I couldn't believe my eyes.
'Shaman' has adventure, earthy sex, and tragedy, but you have to slog through a lot of information to get there.
I just couldn't. I keep trying to read it, and I keep finding other things to do. I'm not interested in the world, the story, the plot, the writing, or the characters.
And I should be. I really, really should be. The premise is fascinating. It's got a lovely cover. I remember loving Robinson's Mars books in high school. But I'm just not at all interested. And it's to the point where it's holding me up from reading other books.
And I should be. I really, really should be. The premise is fascinating. It's got a lovely cover. I remember loving Robinson's Mars books in high school. But I'm just not at all interested. And it's to the point where it's holding me up from reading other books.
I really enjoyed this. Yes, it's a little slow, but I liked the pacing--it suited the subject and the lifestyle of the character. I'm a big KSR fan, especially the Mars series, and this reminded me of some of the more digressive, weird sections of the Mars books. I also really enjoy long, extremely detailed & well researched books, so this suited my tastes nicely. I can definitely see how someone would not enjoy this, and it isn't my favorite of his, but I liked it a lot.
I loved and got completely lost in this world. Love, sex, art, inner strength- the life of a caveman is so otherworldly and yet a completely recognizable human experience.
Loved this. Robinson does a great job building and populating ice-age France. As he often does, he takes his time with the lay of the land, but this pays off once the plot really kicks into gear. We follow Loon, a Shaman-in-training, and several others in his group (or "pack"). It's not the first book taking place in that time period, but I get the sense that Robinson's research was extensive and up-to-date, beautifully bringing to life a very plausible human culture. Many historical novels cheesily incorporate famous historical figures. In this case, Robinson incorporates some of the hallmarks of humanity - art, music, cartography, domesticating of wolves - and we get a similar thrill of recognition. I'm not exactly sure how this fits in with all K.S.R's science fictional work, except that he seems to show a love of humanity's progress and potential, even as so much SF gets increasingly dystopian. Here, we see humanity in the raw, living very close to an animal existence, but, as always, full of potential.
Why do I like this book? No idea. But it sticks with me
—Hers aren't the interesting things to be right or wrong about. Those are just the way things are.
—But that's what she wants to know.
—Sure. So does everyone. But things we can know in that way are a very small part of what matters. So it's a form of looking away. You get to the hard questions, [she] just looks away.
Distant prehistory seems, to me, like a difficult setting for a novel - how do you make the characters relatable without abandoning realism? But Robinson does it very effectively. My only real complaint about this book is that it's much too long.
3.5 For me the first half was one of those hard, ungainly reads. Robinson probably paints a realistic picture of a fourteen-something stone age boy, but I do not enjoy the constant masturbation and sex thoughts and lets be frank sex scenes are not the author's forte (not in Mars and not here). That part was a 2.0 for me. Once you're past the first third, the narrative picks up considerably and the author manages to subvert expectations in many instances (though not all). The characters also come more alive as the focaliser matures.
On the whole, the novel gives a fascinating glimpse into ice-age life, but some things stand out negatively. Robinson uses modern words for many things and concepts. I don't mind reading 'burin', but some colloquialisms really jarred me. What I really liked was calling the Neanderthals "Old Ones". It would have been nice to see more of that.
Also he doesn't really describe the people much. Only in comparison to the "Northers" do we learn that Loon's people are brown-skinned, but not as dark as their northern fellows. I didn't like the fact that the mystical "Third Wind" narrates the narrative either. Apart from that the supernatural is mostly deniable and you could call the narration a conceit, but it didn't work for me.
All in all, not a bad book, still closer to a four than a five - even if you don't mind the frantic sex stuff.
On the whole, the novel gives a fascinating glimpse into ice-age life, but some things stand out negatively. Robinson uses modern words for many things and concepts. I don't mind reading 'burin', but some colloquialisms really jarred me. What I really liked was calling the Neanderthals "Old Ones". It would have been nice to see more of that.
Also he doesn't really describe the people much. Only in comparison to the "Northers" do we learn that Loon's people are brown-skinned, but not as dark as their northern fellows. I didn't like the fact that the mystical "Third Wind" narrates the narrative either. Apart from that the supernatural is mostly deniable and you could call the narration a conceit, but it didn't work for me.
All in all, not a bad book, still closer to a four than a five - even if you don't mind the frantic sex stuff.
It was a good read, but for me, when compared to his past works lacked a certain depth of feeling and knowledge.