Reply
Sun 20 Mar, 2005 11:04 am
I have read all of her earth children books,and love them.
For those of you not familiar with her work,she wrote...
Clan of the Cave Bear
Valley of the horses
The Mammoth Hunters
Plains of Passage
and
Shelters of Stone.
There is supposed to be a 6th and final book in the series,but I dont know when it is due out.
For lovers of historical fiction,I reccomend all of these books.Each one stands alone as good writing and excellent stories,but if you read all of them,in the order she wrote them (which is the order I listed them),you will find that they are all intertwined.
They tell a fascinating story of prehistoric man,based on research done by experts in Europe.
Many of the locations she uses actually do exist today,and can be seen in France.
I would reccomend her books to everyone.
Mysteryman--
I enjoyed the first two or three books in the saga for the local color. I adored the description of the latrine built from mammoth tusks.
As the pages piled up I found it harder and harder to dismiss disbelief. Our Heroine was one very busy gal in her efforts to advance civilization. Our Hero and his irrational jealousy became more and more tiresome.
Even so, my life and memory banks are richer for having read the first three book.
I did attempt to read one of these novels, I find that "romance" fiction is just not my cup of tea.
dyslexia wrote:I did attempt to read one of these novels, I find that "romance" fiction is just not my cup of tea.
I dont think I would describe them as "romance fiction".
Yes,there is some romance in these books,but there is also some extremely accurate and vivid portrayals of life during the stone age.
Her research has been extremely thorough,and backed up by the leading experts in the field.
Personally,I would call them historical fiction.
ok well that's fair enough, personally I don't agree about the "accurate and vivid portrayals of life during the stone age" but that's of no great matter, if you enjoy the books by all means they are worth your reading of them.
I only read the first two books and it almost seemed they were written by two different authors. The first book I would call historical fiction, but the second I thought of as historical romance. Like Noddy I have no problem with reading romance, but it did not entice me to read the whole series. Perhaps Dyslexia only tried the second in the series, in which case I could understand his classifying the story as romance. To each his/her own tastes. Just my 2 cents.
I loved the entire series, each of the 6 times i read them.
No...im not a fan... not at all.. ;-)
I liked the first, struggled through the 2nd and 3rd and had to stop about 100 pages into plains of passage. I rarely toss a book away without finishing it, but this one I did.
I'd have to agree with noddy that Ayla's abilities made Da Vinci look like a sloth, and it was too much for me to suspend disbelief after a while. The soap opera elements got too much after a while too, as Noddy also alluded.
I enjoyed reading the first three and have read the entire series with the exception of Shelters of Stone.
I thought her fourth, Plains of Passage was very very long and drawn out and disappointing...it lost my interest...I even read it to the end in the hopes that it would get better.
I regard Auel as one of my "guilty pleasures".
Or did - I loved the first two - except for the tediously long drawn out romance stuff in the second one.
For me, the fascination is with the imagined societies and the minutiae of daily life.
I agree that they have worsened progressively - but I still read them in hope! I own, but have nor yet read the last one.
The gaps between novels seems to be lengthening - so heaven knows when the last one will b eout.
I do wonder if it may be enlivened by something of a return to the roots of the series - since the thematic structure would seem to suggest some coming together of Ayla with her "Clan" folk - and her son - even if only via trance?
dyslexia wrote:ok well that's fair enough, personally I don't agree about the "accurate and vivid portrayals of life during the stone age" but that's of no great matter, if you enjoy the books by all means they are worth your reading of them.
Dys - are there any novels which you WOULD consider "accurate and vivid portrayals of life during the stone age"?
You sound as though you know a bit.
I've not ever read Shelters of Stone, and was unaware of its existence. Damn it, MM, now i'm going to have to go out to find it . . . i blame you . . .
I enjoyed Clan of the Cave Bear a lot, and eagerly grabbed Valley as soon as it came out - only to find myself a bit disappointed. Around half-way through Mammoth Hunters, I began to suspect Auel had done all she could with the story in her first effort. I finished it opinion unchanged, and a quick in-the-bookstore perusal of Plains upon its release confirmed my suspicions, leaving me majorly disappointed, and a non-purchaser. While I admit I haven't actually read the later books, I have read plenty of reviews of them, and nothing I've read leads me to revisit Auel's saga.
"The Clan" was brilliant and held me spellbound. The second, I had to put the poor thing down. That's as far as I got.
Still, she left vivid memories for me.
Auel's books are in the guilty pleasures category for me too. I can't remember if I read Shelters of Stone! I'll have to look it up and see if it sounds familiar.
I was just coming to note that they are "a guilty pleasure" for me. The sex scenes are predictable and formulaic, the happy accidents of discovery just too pat--and yet i find myself drawn in each time.
Ah, yes, I read it. Probably two years ago when the paperback came out. It was better than the previous two. Less romance, more interesting characters.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace