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greatlibraryofalexandra 's review for:
The Mammoth Hunters
by Jean M. Auel
RE-READ.
It shouldn't take over a year to re-read a book. For fuck's sake. I love this series as a whole, but even nostalgia couldn't save this book. Here are two quotes I had about Ayla's mary-sue-qualities from the first two books:
Clan of the Cave Bear:
"And yes, in this book, and for most of what I remember of the follow-on novels, Ayla is a bit of a "mary-sue" - but in this context, I don't see how she could be anything else. Ayla is Auel's vehicle of exploration, the character who lives in both worlds and thus, understandably, has a broader grasp of where two wildly different people/culture are similar, and where they diverge."
The Valley of Horses:
"Critiques that Ayla is a Mary Sue remain valid, and she sort of is, but at the same time I maintain that the circumstance she’s in makes it realistic - a bitch is alone in a cave! Innovate or die is the option - of course she tames a horse, of course her closeness to nature and her observations reinforce her suspicion that sex creates babies! I’ll say again that Ayla is the vehicle through which we are exploring both human extinction and evolution in separate lines, and to maintain that narrative point she has to have a certain element of obvious Mary Sue-ness to her to underscore the vast difference between the two species of humans."
So here's the problem - the previous two books have exhibited, and highlighted, how Ayla's unique upbringing and cultural-clash coming of age equips her with significant critical thinking abilities. She is smart, she's a genius, and she is capable of extreme analytical leaps - and yet this book, "The Mammoth Hunters," is little more than a 700 page slog of idiocy that revolves around a contrived love triangle that only works through the infantilization of Ayla.
Initially, it could have been believable/interesting as Ayla struggles to over come her Clan conditioning that she must be available to to men at all times. But she is repeatedly told that this isn't the case, she KNOWS she has the right to choose, and yet for 500 more pages after this she whines and mopes and Jondalar whines and mopes - so while she continues to be Queen of the Great Leap Forward intellectually, Auel reduces her to an emotionally stunted morose moron in order to create a painfully boring love triangle. Jondalar, too is giving nonsensical storylines that boggle the mind and defy logic.
A little drama is okay. Whatever the fuck this mostly-miserable soap opera is is just tragic.
Anthropologically, this book is GOOD. The evolution of culture, of humans figuring themselves our, continues to be impressive - and the final scene with Rydag is really touching and beautiful. But it doesn't make up for the obnoxious snooze fest the rest of the book is. I know I liked the rest of the books in this series, but I'm put off continuing my re-read for now.
It shouldn't take over a year to re-read a book. For fuck's sake. I love this series as a whole, but even nostalgia couldn't save this book. Here are two quotes I had about Ayla's mary-sue-qualities from the first two books:
Clan of the Cave Bear:
"And yes, in this book, and for most of what I remember of the follow-on novels, Ayla is a bit of a "mary-sue" - but in this context, I don't see how she could be anything else. Ayla is Auel's vehicle of exploration, the character who lives in both worlds and thus, understandably, has a broader grasp of where two wildly different people/culture are similar, and where they diverge."
The Valley of Horses:
"Critiques that Ayla is a Mary Sue remain valid, and she sort of is, but at the same time I maintain that the circumstance she’s in makes it realistic - a bitch is alone in a cave! Innovate or die is the option - of course she tames a horse, of course her closeness to nature and her observations reinforce her suspicion that sex creates babies! I’ll say again that Ayla is the vehicle through which we are exploring both human extinction and evolution in separate lines, and to maintain that narrative point she has to have a certain element of obvious Mary Sue-ness to her to underscore the vast difference between the two species of humans."
So here's the problem - the previous two books have exhibited, and highlighted, how Ayla's unique upbringing and cultural-clash coming of age equips her with significant critical thinking abilities. She is smart, she's a genius, and she is capable of extreme analytical leaps - and yet this book, "The Mammoth Hunters," is little more than a 700 page slog of idiocy that revolves around a contrived love triangle that only works through the infantilization of Ayla.
Initially, it could have been believable/interesting as Ayla struggles to over come her Clan conditioning that she must be available to to men at all times. But she is repeatedly told that this isn't the case, she KNOWS she has the right to choose, and yet for 500 more pages after this she whines and mopes and Jondalar whines and mopes - so while she continues to be Queen of the Great Leap Forward intellectually, Auel reduces her to an emotionally stunted morose moron in order to create a painfully boring love triangle. Jondalar, too is giving nonsensical storylines that boggle the mind and defy logic.
A little drama is okay. Whatever the fuck this mostly-miserable soap opera is is just tragic.
Anthropologically, this book is GOOD. The evolution of culture, of humans figuring themselves our, continues to be impressive - and the final scene with Rydag is really touching and beautiful. But it doesn't make up for the obnoxious snooze fest the rest of the book is. I know I liked the rest of the books in this series, but I'm put off continuing my re-read for now.