The Clan of the Cave Bear: Earth's Children, Book 1

4.7 | 12,239 ratings

Price: 28.78

Last update: 11-27-2024

About this item

This novel of awesome beauty and power is a moving saga about people, relationships, and the boundaries of love.

Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read

Through Jean M. Auel’s magnificent storytelling we are taken back to the dawn of modern humans, and with a girl named Ayla we are swept up in the harsh and beautiful Ice Age world they shared with the ones who called themselves The Clan of the Cave Bear. A natural disaster leaves the young girl wandering alone in an unfamiliar and dangerous land until she is found by a woman of the Clan, people very different from her own kind.

To them, blond, blue-eyed Ayla looks peculiar and ugly - she is one of the Others, those who have moved into their ancient homeland; but Iza cannot leave the girl to die and takes her with them. Iza and Creb, the old Mog-ur, grow to love her, and as Ayla learns the ways of the Clan and Iza’s way of healing, most come to accept her. But the brutal and proud youth who is destined to become their next leader sees her differences as a threat to his authority. He develops a deep and abiding hatred for the strange girl of the Others who lives in their midst, and is determined to get his revenge.

TeeMee-Kraftqueen65-Obsessive Reader

Ranks As A Classic For Me-Deserving of 5 Stars

Reviewed in the United States on August 22, 2022

The reason, at least for me, this ranks as a classic, deserving of 5 stars, is because of the way in which Auel puts words to page in her style of writing, which is an exceptional skill. On top of all that, the research and lengths she dedicated herself to before even telling the story, adds to it being a rare feat of accomplishment. The way in which Auel's unique talent of being one of the great storytellers of all times, is simply mind-blowing and worthy of praise.

As much as I remember loving this series back when it first came out and I first read it, I realized now I wouldn't be able to read this book, let alone the entire series, straight through and at the same rapid pace I now tend to read at today.

This one requires so much more concentration to absorb and fully appreciate, as well as remembering what a huge difference of mindfulness we were at back when first printed and released. Huge difference in societal acceptance of what a female lead character, heck any female, was allowed to develop and be presented as in the written word.

Just as importantly though, in this review I also personally have a strong desire to share a particular viewpoint for other select readers that may be similar to myself.
It's very graphic details and scenes at times, which can cause triggers for anyone that's a survivor of any sort of abuse, and can be a difficult and stressfully distressing read. If you have "triggers" you may want to give some thought on how to approach some of the scenes.

It wasn't enough for me to stop reading the book. I just dug in harder, got through those areas, and read on. And what a wonderful experience it was!

Auel's style of writing is very intense, vivid, and illustratively descriptive. My mind's eye could smoothly and agilely take the words off the page and transfer them to a realistic interpretation of more of a visual versus spoken image. Like a motion picture, I saw the clan women hunting and gathering vegetables, nuts, and seeds, on the vast open plains outside their cave. I could see Ayla, the MC, as she climbed the hillside, into the cliffs, as she was looking for her hidden, secretive cave. I was easily able to place myself next to Ayla during the brutally cold weather periods, on the seering plains as she walked for days in the desert-like conditions. I was drawn in as if I was watching it unfold before my very eyes, when the men went on the mammoth hunt, or participated in the sacred rituals that had been passed down for innumerable generations.

What a monumental, colossal journey Auel weaves. She is more than just a writer, but rather a gifted storyteller that harkens back to the time period she shares with us. They had limited access to writing utensils, or parchment in order to document the stories, but rather had to remember everything in vivid detail to entertain, share, and pass on with the next generation.

My ONLY criticism is more one directed at the publishing company of this particular release of the e-book. To include 6!!! lengthy excerpts from other books from the writer, AND additionally an acknowledgements section, AND an interview with the author is above and beyond shallow and greedy! It still showed I had close to 2 hours left in the book. Major disappointment! As much as I enjoyed reading about the research Auel put forth to write this, it was still a huge letdown.

I would still highly recommend this book and the series to anyone interested in historical fantasy fiction.

Christina

Bear clan series first book

Reviewed in the United States on November 11, 2024

Very good book!

Amazon Customer

Great book

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2024

This was a really great book. I would highly recommend this read

Good beginning to a so-so series

Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2014

I first read this book when I was 14, as assigned reading for high school. It was for a humanities class and it was chosen for its description of human life in the caveman days. I loved the book at the first reading and it quickly became a favorite. I recently decided to re-read it after a couple decades and it held up surprisingly well. I have always had an interest in Neanderthal and Cro-Magnons, and the early development of humans on the planet. The book is rich in detail. The plot is engaging if not original. The tale of a fish-out-of-water in Ayla, a young Cro-Magnon girl, being orphaned by an earthquake and being found and raised by a clan of Neanderthals. It is a story of human development and adaptability, but also illustrates that we are not as adaptable as we think. The Neanderthals were doomed to die out and could not adapt. The new species, personified by Ayla, is more adaptable yet she could never completely conform to the Neanderthal way.

The book has its flaws and I would normally give it three stars, but I do really like this book so I bumped it up to 4. The characters, as endearing as some of them are, are flat and one-note. Iza is kind and Motherly. Creb is wise and kind as well as powerful. Brun is stoic and in control. Broud is moody and dangerous. Ayla is in reality a kind of a Mary-Sue with being extremely clever, and brave, and young, and fearless, and smart, and beautiful but she doesn't know she is beautiful... She is kind of a blank that could be considered an author-insert. Auel describes these characters using the same words over and over again. The descriptions of the primeval flora and fauna are interesting, but are on the side of being excessive. Some reviewers don't like the sci-fi twist of the Neanderthals having racial memory and even telepathic powers under certain conditions. I can understand that but it is a work of fiction after all and it doesn't bother me personally. I was more dubious of the book's conceit that Neanderthals didn't realize babies are started by sex. The clan believes that they are created by spirits floating around and being swallowed. There is a disturbing rape scene in the book, between a very young Ayla and a member of the clan. Her extreme youth throughout the book bothered me more when I read it most recently. I know, they were cave-people and matured and were expected to grow up quicker, but it is still odd to think by the end of the book Ayla is only like 12 years old after all she has been through.

Though this book is enjoyable, the rest of the Earth's Children series is pretty awful. Books 2 and 3 are OK, but not at the same level of interest as book 1. Books 4-6 are almost unreadable. Ayla meets with her own kind and runs around astonishing everyone with her awesomeness. She falls in love with an equally awesome guy, and the two of them go around being annoyingly awesome and have lots of overly-described sex but little plot or conflict. The latter books are soft-core caveman porn with a little plot thrown in. Unfortunately, writing about sex is not Auel's strong point imo. In addition, the series has WAY too much repetitive description of what type of tea Ayla brewed, how to cook ptarmigan the way Creb liked it, and descriptions of the environment. It is to the point where paragraphs seem lifted from previous books or chapters and used over and over again. In the course of the series, Ayla never tries to reconnect with the clan, and besides having to travel and having lovers' spats, really doesn't have much to do in latter books. The final book is so awful, that it reads like Auel copied pages of her research notes on cave-man times and occasionally remembers that there are characters to be written about. This book stands OK on its own, though the ending is kind of a cliff hanger. Just a warning for people starting the series out.

Dre

Great book

Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2024

Purchased this book for my mother that loved the story. She couldn't have been any more happy with this book.

Linda Lowe

one more time...

Reviewed in the United States on October 27, 2024

Reading again after many years... still walking thru time with Ayla, Iza, Creb and horrible still! Broud.
Cried again as she leaves Dutch.

So happy I decided to visit them again.

Jan

Turning back time with an old favorite!

Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2024

I recently felt the need to get back into herbalism and remembered the book that started me on that path so many years ago. Aylas training as a Medicine Woman sparked my interest in the wonders of natural healing, and reignited it now. Such a wonderful interpretation by Jean Auel!

Kindle Customer

Read. Must read

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2024

For any woman who has had any struggles in her

life, this is a must read. This is a story of encouragement and I can't wait until the second book. I already ordered it

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