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3.57 AVERAGE
3.57 AVERAGE
I received this book as an ARC through netgalley.
It's a short book and the neanderthal parts are lovely to read, but you could easily skip Rose's chapters if you were so inclined.
Full review here: http://absoluteshannonigans.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-last-neanderthal-by-claire-cameron.html
It's a short book and the neanderthal parts are lovely to read, but you could easily skip Rose's chapters if you were so inclined.
Full review here: http://absoluteshannonigans.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-last-neanderthal-by-claire-cameron.html
I pre-ordered this and promptly forgot about it until it showed up yesterday. Once I started it, just to sort of check it out, I couldn't stop. The story of Girl is engrossing and I like how it parallel's that of Rose's.
I'm also seeing my 3 cats in a much different light.
I'm also seeing my 3 cats in a much different light.
This was fine but didn’t wow me. The Neanderthal Girl’s storyline was actually very creatively written and I really liked the way Cameron wrote from the headspace of a woman hundreds of thousands of years ago (obviously with creative liberties taken). But the present day story of Rose the archaeologist was just terrible. The dialogue was so weird? And everyone sucked? Really brought the book down for me honestly.
“Words could be empty. It was the return of a gesture that held meaning”
― Claire Cameron, The Last Neanderthal: A Novel
This story alternates between the present-day life of an archeologist who found the remains of a neanderthal and the life 40,000 years ago of a neanderthal family.
The book is very interesting, the modern-day scientist is the main character of the present-day timeline and describes theories about neanderthal lives and processes related to archeology findings. The "Girl" is the main character of the 40,000 years-ago timeline, she is young, strong, has recently become pregnant, and her story describes her journey for survival.
I really liked the book! I have always being intrigued by the idea of neanderthals, like, what do you meant there were other humans? What do you mean they were "homo" but not "sapiens"? (Homo neanderthalensis, if you want to be accurate), What do you mean that they went extinct and nobody knows the exact reason why? All these questions with no definite answers but fascinating to ponder.
This book has a historical feel but is also like nothing I've read before, probably because not many speculative-fiction books are written about neanderthals.
Overall it is a great read, interesting and well paced.
Review also posted on blog
About the author:
Twitter
Website
― Claire Cameron, The Last Neanderthal: A Novel
This story alternates between the present-day life of an archeologist who found the remains of a neanderthal and the life 40,000 years ago of a neanderthal family.
The book is very interesting, the modern-day scientist is the main character of the present-day timeline and describes theories about neanderthal lives and processes related to archeology findings. The "Girl" is the main character of the 40,000 years-ago timeline, she is young, strong, has recently become pregnant, and her story describes her journey for survival.
I really liked the book! I have always being intrigued by the idea of neanderthals, like, what do you meant there were other humans? What do you mean they were "homo" but not "sapiens"? (Homo neanderthalensis, if you want to be accurate), What do you mean that they went extinct and nobody knows the exact reason why? All these questions with no definite answers but fascinating to ponder.
This book has a historical feel but is also like nothing I've read before, probably because not many speculative-fiction books are written about neanderthals.
Overall it is a great read, interesting and well paced.
Review also posted on blog
About the author:
Website
A decent read but I just didn't connect with the characters or plot. I think this book might really touch women struggling with the battle between family and career, especially while pregnant. I appreciate the manner in which the author tried to intertwine two very different, but yet similar stories. Yet sadly it just didn't work for me. Still, I can see how some could enjoy this book.
This is a very interesting sort of science-y speculative fiction. I was completely engrossed and blew through it. I think my initial opinion that it has some flaws is valid, but overall I found it engaging and exceedingly realistic. The modern story pales in comparison to the original Girl's, but I've rarely seen such an apt description of the loneliness and misery post-birth whether modern or ancient.
A good read. Possible TOB contender... but likely to be overshadowed by books later this year.
A good read. Possible TOB contender... but likely to be overshadowed by books later this year.
This book intrigued me from the very start. I’d never read on the subject of Neanderthals except in the fiction series of Robert J. Sawyer, The Neanderthals Parallax. This book offers a much more realistic view on the hypothesis that they coexisted with us and even interbred. The story brings us on the rough day-to-day of the species and alternate–in contrast–with a slice of life of the archaeologist whom discovered them. A short book but one that brought me to inquire more on the riveting subject of our origins.
I received an advanced reading copy of The Last Neanderthal and devoured it happily.
Here is the perspective of a Neanderthal girl-verging-on-woman named Girl with a homo sapiens male living with her family group. (As opposed to Jean Marie Auel’s homo sapiens female living with a Neanderthal family group).
I found this a very enjoyable imaginative and informed conceptualization of what family life might have been like, the thought processes and group dynamics.
Parallel to Girl is the modern-day excavation of Girl and a homo sapiens male by Rose Gale, an archaeologist who has just recently realized she is pregnant. The skeletons commonly referred to as “The Lovers of Valdaro” are represented in the novel to be a Neanderthal female and homo sapiens male, which presents the reader with the striking visual to relate to, with the intertwined skeletons.
Early in the novel, the interlacing of the timelines was frustrating: I wanted to hear more about Girl right then! But overall the contrast of the two women's experiences work together to tell a richer story - we know the endpoint of Girl’s story from the skeletons, and seeing Rose slowly uncover the remains and artifacts - and her drive to continue work on the site - fills in the story in ways a single story from Girl's perspective might not be as satisfying.
content warning: incest (Neanderthal), infanticide
Here is the perspective of a Neanderthal girl-verging-on-woman named Girl with a homo sapiens male living with her family group. (As opposed to Jean Marie Auel’s homo sapiens female living with a Neanderthal family group).
I found this a very enjoyable imaginative and informed conceptualization of what family life might have been like, the thought processes and group dynamics.
Parallel to Girl is the modern-day excavation of Girl and a homo sapiens male by Rose Gale, an archaeologist who has just recently realized she is pregnant. The skeletons commonly referred to as “The Lovers of Valdaro” are represented in the novel to be a Neanderthal female and homo sapiens male, which presents the reader with the striking visual to relate to, with the intertwined skeletons.
Early in the novel, the interlacing of the timelines was frustrating: I wanted to hear more about Girl right then! But overall the contrast of the two women's experiences work together to tell a richer story - we know the endpoint of Girl’s story from the skeletons, and seeing Rose slowly uncover the remains and artifacts - and her drive to continue work on the site - fills in the story in ways a single story from Girl's perspective might not be as satisfying.
content warning: incest (Neanderthal), infanticide
The Last Neanderthal, Claire Cameron
I was a huge fan of the Clan of the Cave Bear books when I was in my 20's, so I was really excited to find this book. It did not disappoint. Cameron uses the novel's narrative to introduce us to the newer science that has emerged about Neanderthals, which claims that they were much more advanced than first though. It's such an interesting discovery and the novel is a great way to be introduced this amazing revelation about our very distant ancestors.
The novel is riveting and totally draws the reader into the story of Girl and her small family as they struggle to follow the cycle of seasons to forage for food, hunt bison, gather with other families, find mates and continue to procreate.
At the point in time we meet Girl the neanderthals are a dwindling species, and girl's family has shrunk considerably. Hunting is hard because Big Mama, the matriarch who leads the family unit, is old, and runt, a foundling, is not yet able to help with the hunt. When tragedy overtakes Girl's family she must make her way to the big gathering site by the river in the hopes of finding a new family to join. What follows is breathtaking.
Intertwined with Girl's story is the story of modern day Rose, an anthropologist who has discovered the mingled bones of a neanderthal woman and a Homo sapien man. The bodies are close together and looking at one another. The discovery is monumental because it proves Rose's theory that there was intermingling between the neanderthals and modern man, and that neanderthals were much more advanced than originally though.
Cameron's talent lies in her ability to bring Girl's struggles and experiences so completely to the reader. You are there with her as she interacts with her surrounding, her family, and unfamiliar experiences. Girl is a fully drawn and poignant character. Rose's story is not as interesting but that didn't stop me from loving this book.
I was a huge fan of the Clan of the Cave Bear books when I was in my 20's, so I was really excited to find this book. It did not disappoint. Cameron uses the novel's narrative to introduce us to the newer science that has emerged about Neanderthals, which claims that they were much more advanced than first though. It's such an interesting discovery and the novel is a great way to be introduced this amazing revelation about our very distant ancestors.
The novel is riveting and totally draws the reader into the story of Girl and her small family as they struggle to follow the cycle of seasons to forage for food, hunt bison, gather with other families, find mates and continue to procreate.
At the point in time we meet Girl the neanderthals are a dwindling species, and girl's family has shrunk considerably. Hunting is hard because Big Mama, the matriarch who leads the family unit, is old, and runt, a foundling, is not yet able to help with the hunt. When tragedy overtakes Girl's family she must make her way to the big gathering site by the river in the hopes of finding a new family to join. What follows is breathtaking.
Intertwined with Girl's story is the story of modern day Rose, an anthropologist who has discovered the mingled bones of a neanderthal woman and a Homo sapien man. The bodies are close together and looking at one another. The discovery is monumental because it proves Rose's theory that there was intermingling between the neanderthals and modern man, and that neanderthals were much more advanced than originally though.
Cameron's talent lies in her ability to bring Girl's struggles and experiences so completely to the reader. You are there with her as she interacts with her surrounding, her family, and unfamiliar experiences. Girl is a fully drawn and poignant character. Rose's story is not as interesting but that didn't stop me from loving this book.
Received an ARC of this book. Review will be posted shortly