The Shelters of Stone: Earth's Children, Book 5

I have enjoyed the love story between Ayla and Jondalar since I first read it. The imagination and creativity is wonderful and could be true. Jane Auel is a terrific writer.

Let me begin by saying that all the reviewers are right about this book. The characters are wooden, the anthropological details are excruciating, the plot moves at the speed of a snail in a snowstorm, and the main character, Ayla, has devolved into an everlasting know-it-all and generally perfect creature who has become, at the very least, rather annoying.And then there are the sex scenes. They are extremely graphic, but in a rather unpleasant way, probably because they are so rote and humourless. Generally, any sex scene that refers to any portion of the body as having "folds" is usually rather unsexy. My dear Ms. Auel, paper folds, and laundry folds. If I or anyone else I knew had sensitive portions of their anatomy that folded, I would suggest immediate medical attention. Indeed, anyone reading these unwieldy, unsexy, cringe-inducingly cheesy love scenes may need medical attention, because they are liable to laugh themselves to death.Have I said rote and humourless? Hmmm, that's the whole book, isn't it. And though I am well aware that some ancient civlisations rivalled modern ones for their sophistications, Ms. Auel's paleolithic society seems populated by earnest liberal arts graduates embarking on an experiment in communal living and alternative religion. Though I do not pretend to know all about the Paleolithic Era, I doubt that it so strongly resembled a New Age Craft Collective.Everyone is polite, clean, bland and good-looking. Except the villains, who are the only characters in the book with some real teeth. I for one, very much liked Brukeval. I liked him a lot better than Ken, I mean, Jondalar. If there is any character with less personality who is more nauseating than Ayla has come to be, it's our favourite hunky himbo of yesteryear. Him and his entire cardboard family and their tasteful multi-room caveman condos.Multi-room condos? Herbal birth control? Sensitive, politically correct men and the stately and wise matriarchs who spawned them? No war, no conflict of any kind, not even the odd fistfight or family squabble? Quiet, clean children and well-behaved, responsible teenagers, all of whom look down on the local trailer trash family, complete with drunken slag mom and welfare king dad?Just who do you think you're kidding, Ms. Auel? What did the human race do, devolve into the querulous, quirky, unruly, ultraviolent and yet creative and diverse species of monkeys in pants that we are today?Erm, as a historian, I woulkd venture to say that I don't think so.Yes, friends and neighbours, this book, like every one in the series after Clan of the Cave Beat is boring, repetitive, wildly unrealistic trash.And I loved it.I love all these books. I love them because they are hooty, corny, unrealistic escapist garbage, although I must admit I skip over most of the sex bits and botany lessons. It seems odd to me that so many readers are decrying this latest book in the series for the aforementioned sins, when every book since Cave Bear has been replete with them.A genuine flower in the dustbin, a tawdry, trashy, bloated classic of its kind. Here's hoping the penultimate book is every bit as charmingly awful, divinely ridiculous and entertainingly bad!

I like all of Jean Auel's books and actually ordered "The Mammoth Hunters" and have finished reading both of them. I now have her set of 6 books.

Another long novel in the "Earth's Children" Series by Jean M. Auel, there is more insightful descriptions of early man during the Ice Age. The author goes into interesting detail concerning the traveling involved for heroine Ayla and her mate Jondalar, how they face various encounters and overcome them and ultimately survive. If you are familiar with the series, you will notice that Auel meticulously details some of the flora and fauna one would see during this time period. Some of it is as if we are given an armchair travelog, but without the awful out-of-focus slides and no iced tea to enjoy whilst viewing. However, we also need some of that detail to discover just in fact, how early man adapted to their surroundings and made their environment work for them. Of note is how implements used in cooking is made, how canoes and small boats are made, how wood is bent, how traversing a river and getting across a glacier is done, how Ayla uses hand gestures and "horse whispering" not only to have command over her horses, but also to reach an understanding with Wolf, a major character in this adventure. Fascinating! The soft porn in terms of sexual relations between Ayla and Jondalar are not as plentiful, and that is a good thing worth skipping over, if you wish. Ayla does not walk on water this time as much as superwoman, and we get more usefulness out of Jondalar as he is an expert in flint-knapping and tool design. Of note too, is the end of the book where Auel thanks everyone. That is a good thing too, for she details her research into cave detail, how shelters were built, Cave communal gatherings, hunts and yearly meetings, fermented drinks, and other concerns. She spent a year or more inside a cave and actually employs some of the things she talks about. I enjoyed this book more than some of the others in the series, and would rank this 4th best behind the initial "Clan of the Cave Bear" (Book One) and "Valley of the Horses" (Two) and "The Mammoth Hunters" (Three). Finally, this book gives us a continuation of early man's lives in a sometimes hostile and unforgiving environment, slowly tamed in some ways by the characters involved. Not bad, but could have been edited in some ways. But then, it wouldn't be Jean Auel, would it?

Jean Auel has put so much research into all of her books. This is book 6 of the series but you need to read them all. Her characters are well rounded and the descriptions of the world they live in sounds so wonderful. You won't want to put them down.

Quinto libro di una saga di sei della Auel. Epoca della coesistenza tra Neanderthal e CroMagnon.Due diverse culture molto interessanti entrambe descritte molto bene e, credo, con un certo rigore scientifico. Naturalmente sono molte le assunzioni sia psicologiche che fisiche che credo non dimostrabili ma certamente affascinanti. La psicologia dei personaggi è molto simile a quella dei Sapiens di oggi ma forse è vero che non cambieremo mai.Mi ha interessato e divertito.Ho letto tutti quelli della serie fin qui.

Ce 6ième volume de la saga est aussi passionnant que les volumes précédant. Ayala et Jondolar arrivent enfin à destination dans l'ouest de l'Europe, ce qui est la France aujourd'hui et nous apprenons comment se déroule leur vie quotidienne. Le récit est bien documenté. On apprend beaucoup sur les outils et les ustensils d'usage courant, sur la chasse, les plantes, tout comme sur la décoration des cavernes. Le côté un peu ennuyeux est le fait qu'il y a beaucoup de retours en arrière, où on lit des passages qu'on a déjà lus et relus dans les autres volumes. Par moment on a envie de sauter plusieures pages, mais cela permet en même temps de se rappeler du contenu des livres précédant. Quant à la vie sexuelle du couple, il y a pour mon goût trop de détails qui se répètent d'ailleurs tout lelong du livre. On se demande si les hommes et les femmes de cette époque avaient une vie sexuelle aussi sophistiquée. J'arrête la lecture de la Saga, car je trouve que ce 6ième volume conclut bien "The Earth's Children". Je recommande aux personnes envisageant de lire cette Saga, de la lire dans la langue d'origine si possible.

The first two books were excellent, now it is monotonous

...j'entends que ce tome est différent car Ayla vit maintenant parmi les siens. Il n'y a plus de "grand voyage". Elle est arrivée et le centre de l'histoire est son intégration au sein de son nouveau peuple. Malgré tout, le style reste inchangé : de l'aventure avec un fond de détails type encyclopédique. On vit pleinement dans cet univers d'un autre temps à mi-chemin entre la fiction et l'observation "scientifique" : j'ai beaucoup aimé.

The whole series of Earth's Children books are simply unputdownable. There is never a slow moment as every page is action packed. One piece of advice - buy all the books and start at the beginning of Ayla's incredible story - you will be blown away.