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ecturbeville 's review for:
The Clan of the Cave Bear
by Jean M. Auel
3.5 stars (I think, though I might change my mind).
I enjoyed this story! It was really fascinating to read a speculation on Neanderthal societies and their interactions with early Homo sapiens, because otherwise it is so easy to think about that time period in a very sterile way and about the people as completely removed from us, which isn’t really the case. Still, of course, much is just that, speculation, because there’s only so much we have evidence of. I thought overall that the ideas and speculation were based in creative and logical-enough thinking, and those were fun to read and explore. I especially did enjoy seeing how Clan society and Ayla’s ideas clashed and how they all responded to that, as well as how Ayla established relationships with people in the Clan.
Some of Auel’s ideas, though, were pretty unbelievable or exaggerated. And while I imagine the following came from an idea that Neanderthals had shorter lifespans and therefore may have gone through developmental stages more quickly, I do wish she hadn’t decided that the timeline of childhood to adulthood was so much quicker, because from a modern viewpoint, it was quite uncomfortable reading about the sexual practices of the Clan due to the very young ages at which these began, and it seems to me there isn’t (nor was there when the book was written) enough evidence to make this claim.
I enjoyed this story! It was really fascinating to read a speculation on Neanderthal societies and their interactions with early Homo sapiens, because otherwise it is so easy to think about that time period in a very sterile way and about the people as completely removed from us, which isn’t really the case. Still, of course, much is just that, speculation, because there’s only so much we have evidence of. I thought overall that the ideas and speculation were based in creative and logical-enough thinking, and those were fun to read and explore. I especially did enjoy seeing how Clan society and Ayla’s ideas clashed and how they all responded to that, as well as how Ayla established relationships with people in the Clan.
Some of Auel’s ideas, though, were pretty unbelievable or exaggerated. And while I imagine the following came from an idea that Neanderthals had shorter lifespans and therefore may have gone through developmental stages more quickly, I do wish she hadn’t decided that the timeline of childhood to adulthood was so much quicker, because from a modern viewpoint, it was quite uncomfortable reading about the sexual practices of the Clan due to the very young ages at which these began, and it seems to me there isn’t (nor was there when the book was written) enough evidence to make this claim.