Search - The Clan of the Cave Bear

[i]The Clan of the Cave Bear[/i] is the first in Jean Auel’s [i]Earth’s Children[/i] series, and it’s an exciting way to begin. The book is a coming-of-age story for a young girl, Ayla, living during the Ice Age who is orphaned during an Earthquake. Ayla is adopted by The Clan of the Cave Bear, although she clearly is not “Clan,” as she looks, acts, and communicates very differently. The story is clearly a work of fantasy, as there are obvious factual inaccuracies; however, the quality of Auel’s writing makes it easy to become absorbed in the story and forget reality.

Ayla’s tale is on of moving from childhood to adulthood, Auel masterfully weaves vivid details about the setting, while keeping the reader engaged in the plot. Each character in the novel goes through his or her own individual struggle because of Ayla’s difference, yet because of the Auel’s writing style, it is easy for the reader to understand why each character is faced with difficult choices, rather than automatically siding with the main character. There is also depth to the descriptions that Auel uses, which makes it easy to understand the love between Ayla and her adopted parents—Creb and Iza—the intensity of Broud’s hatred toward Ayla, and the heart wrenching pain that is inflicted upon her.

Overall, the book is a fairly easy, but very captivating read.

This book is so good I could not put it down, had to read it nonstop in a weekend-just to see what happens in the clan next! This writer is like you are really there living in this clan with these people. Now I know after resting my eyes and getting a few chores done-that in the next 2 days I will be drawn to the 2nd book in the series. Written in a seriously compelling way and the rich descriptive narrative ,the most enjoyable reading. Wow!!!!

I read a lot of books and this was one of my favorites. The story stays with you for many years. It is rich in detail of how the earth was after the ice age. The rest of the books have great discriptions also. All in all, it's a great series of one woman's struggles and journey to find her people.

great series

Excellent book, perhaps the best book I've ever read. I so wanted the second book to be as good, but it wasn't, in my opinion. The first one was fabulous though, full of detail and descriptions, social relationships, and the power of love and hatred.

It was great. Another family member is currently reading it....