The Plains of Passage

Когато излиза, тази поредица е хвалена като уникален поглед в битието на предците ни и даже получава няколко награди. Защо, не мога да кажа.

Въпреки сносните си литературни качества като (главно) младежко четиво, описанията на живота и бита на хората от палеолита влизат в разрез с практически всеки научен факт, който знаем за тях. Като се започне от храната, която ядат, през предметите, които ползват, до show more общуването и племенния живот, авторката представя една идеализирана, романтична представа, очевидно повлияна от поколения натрупани в съзнанието й митове за "благородния дивак".

Фактите от археологията и антропологията обаче сочат, че хората от палеолита нито са се хранили със зърнени храни, нито са имали голямо разнообразие от методи за приготвяне на храна, нито са изработвали и притежавали много и сложни сечива и предмети на изкуството, нито са опитомявали животни. Не са и имали широка междуплеменна социална мрежа, а напротив - били са войнствени и канибали, със смъртност на мъжете от насилие стигаща до 40%. Като цяло, авторката им приписва сложност и изкусност на бита, каквито човешкият вид придобива едва стотици хилядолетия по-късно, на съвсем различен цивилизационен етап.

Описанието на неандерталците като примитивни полумаймуни може да се преглътне, защото книгата е писана преди потвърждаването на хипотезата, че са били всъщност по-интелигентни от Homo Sapiens. show less

I would give this one star, but every so often there's a couple passages that I find genuinely interesting. There's no sugar coating it this time, The Plains of Passage is overwritten, oversexed, and hopelessly redundant in many places. Ayla and Jondalar have all the same conversations dozens of times over to the point of nausea.

The charm that was The Clan of the Cave Bear is dead. Dead and buried. Ayla has become a demigod superhero of a protagonist with virtually no flaws, a superhuman intellect, and excessively ridiculous ability to amaze everyone she meets. Jondalar, on the other hand, is wanted by virtually everyone, yet seems incapable of learning anything new. The character development and tension of Book 1 is replaced by a work show more that could have been written in 100 pages, yet was stretched into 700.

This book made me depressed to the point that I wouldn't continue onward in Ayla's journey...but at the same time, I'm almost to the finish line. Who knows, maybe I'll just read 1 in every 10 pages and count my losses?

Jean Auel is too talented for this. show less

Anyone who has got this far in the series knows what to expect of these books, and this instalment does not surprise or disappoint. Though Ayla eases off on the inventing spree and concentrates on being a one-woman UN peacekeeping force (somewhere between Kofi Annan and Marjorie Proops methinks) she still manages to invent a sexual position or too and come within a whisker of inventing the umbrella. Not at the same time I hasten to add.

Being serious, this novel was one heck of an achievement - to take two characters the full width of a continent, in a time when none of the infrastructure we would recognise today was in existence, and manage to convey the enormity of that journey without the story becoming hopelessly samey and boring. I show more admit there were times in the first few hundred pages when I felt myself turning into that kid in the back of the car that keeps whining 'Are we nearly there yet?'. Keep going, though, and the action starts, about halfway in.

The end is typical of the series too - I could have predicted exactly where the author would leave it! The next volume is now top of my 'want to read' list. show less

A reread of this book. I always enjoy this series, and this book is my favorite. Ayla and Jondalar have decided to leave the Mamutoi and make the trip back to Jondalar's home. Along the way, they meet up with several other groups of people, some good and some not.

Ayla is nervous about leaving the Mamutoi, who have adopted her and given her a family. But she loves Jondalar and will go with him despite her qualms. Because she was raised by "flatheads" after her own family died in an earthquake, she frequently faces prejudice from those who don't understand. However, she can always win over her detractors through her healing skills or personality.

Jondalar started his Journey with his brother but ended with Ayla after a cave lion killed show more and injured him. While happy to be with Ayla, he is homesick for his own people and convinces Ayla to come with him. After spending several months with the Mamutoi, it is time to move on. Having made the Journey this far, Jondalar knows the way back home and is anxious to get there.

I liked the descriptions of the land and animals that they saw along the way, but my favorite parts were when they encountered other people. The first is the Sharamudoi, with whom Jondalar and his brother had stayed. They find that the leader's wife has been hurt, and Ayla immediately steps into healer mode to help her. She is successful, of course, which puts her in good graces with the rest of the people. I also enjoyed the reactions to Ayla's wolf and horses. They stay for a while with the group, who want them to stay, but Jondalar insists that they keep moving.

The next group they encounter is the S'Armunai, with a welcome that is not so pleasant. The leader of the group is a woman who stole the leadership and is mentally unbalanced. Jondalar is captured and confined with the other men. He does what he can to help the other men while he tries to figure out how to escape and find Ayla. Meanwhile, she has been looking for him and watches the camp for several days while trying to find the best way to rescue him. How she does so is very dramatic and intense. Of course, she also insists on staying long enough to treat those injured and neglected before they leave to continue their Journey.

Next is the Losadunai, who live at the edge of the glacier Jondalar and Ayla must cross to get to his home. Again, they are warmly welcomed and treated well. I enjoyed seeing Ayla getting to know everyone. There is also some drama involving a young girl who some young men assaulted. Ayla's empathy helps the girl move past it and embrace her future. As Ayla and Jondalar continue their journey, they run into those same young men who have attacked a Clan (flathead) man and woman. After reading them the riot act and sending them on their way, Ayla treats the injured man as they share their fire and a meal. I liked how seeing Ayla with a man of the Clan helped Jondalar understand her a little better.

There is danger as they cross the glacier at the end of the winter, and the arrival of spring temperatures can cause dangerous melting, putting them at greater risk of injury or death. After several close calls, they make it off the glacier to the home cave of some of Jondalar's family. A bit of a romantic tangle is present with a young woman, which adds a bit of angst. Ayla also encounters a man of "mixed spirits," half clan and half Other, who reminds her of her son Durc, left behind in the series' first book. I enjoyed their connection and seeing Ayla ease his anger about how his mother was treated. After a brief period with them, they finally reach Jondalar's home, with a cliffhanger ending as we wait to see how they are welcomed.

I always enjoy seeing Ayla win over new people; this book was no exception. I also loved seeing reactions to the animals, especially Wolf, and I especially loved his part in the rescue of Jondalar from the S'Armunai. It is also adorable to see Wolf with the various children.

This was not my first reread of this book, and it won't be the last. show less

Once again, Jean M. Auel manages to snatch her readers up into a mythical past of mammoths and humans and their forgotten cousins. Ayla and Jondalar have overcome their internal struggles and prejudices and bring their makeshift animal family across a distant Ice Age. I loved getting to meet the different peoples and their many different inventions. But I especially loved the chance to return to more about the Clan. You don't realize how much you miss them and their strange ways after the first book, until moments like these. Of course, there's plenty of action and passion and moments that made me laugh out loud. Because the beautiful thing about Auel's story is not simply her mastery of the English language, but for crafting one of the show more most endearing love stories I've found. show less

Having read the first three books in this series (the first being the best, hands-down) I was excited to read this book and see how Jondalar and Ayla would continue their journey.

Auel is very imaginative and descriptive, but she definitely overdoes it in some parts. You could easily cut out a couple of hundred pages from here (the original volume is over 800 pages) and not miss anything because she goes in such lavish, long descriptions of the landscape and flora and fauna. Now, I'm happy that she did so much research and put such effort into this book, but I found some scenes to be plodding and repetitive. Ms. Auel has already established the richness of the land in previous books, so at this point, it just feels like repetition.

Also, show more Ayla comes across as bit of a Mary Sue character because she has invented and discovered so many things. At this point, it's getting old. Yeah, Ayla's smart, and her experience with the Clan has given her valuable insight, but like with the land-description, Ayla's 'genius' gets to be repetitive as well. Another thing I found extremely repetitive and boring was the sex scenes. No, I am not a prude, and a few sex scenes are fine, but it just got to be overkill. Reading about Pleasures stopped being a pleasure for me after about the third or so intimate scene.

I'd have to say my biggest gripe is (surprisingly) not what I mentioned above, but Jondalar going on and on about how much he loves Ayla, how he would not want to live without her, etc etc. Come on. We get the idea already. It's nice to know that Jondalar is in touch with his feelings and is honest with them, but really. He just repeats himself.

My favorite scenes in this book was their interactions with other people. It helped to break up the monotony of reading about their Journey. I liked reading about Ayla healing Roshario, or helping the Clan couple after they were being attacked by a band of renegade Others.

If you've read the first three books in this series, then it won't hurt to pick up this volume, just don't expect it to be as 'fresh' as Clan of the Cave Bear or Valley of Horses. Fortunately, it does have its interesting scenes, so this book gets a decent 3/5 stars from me. show less

A reread of this book. I always enjoy this series, and this book is probably my favorite. Ayla and Jondalar have made the decision to leave the Mamutoi and make the trip back to Jondalar's home. Along the way they meet up with several other groups of people, some good and some not.

Ayla is nervous about leaving the Mamutoi, who have adopted her and given her a family of her own. But she loves Jondalar and will go with him despite her qualms. Because she was raised by "flatheads" after her own family died in an earthquake, she frequently faces prejudice from those who don't understand. However, she is always able to win over her detractors by way of her healing skills or personality.

Jondalar started out his Journey with his brother, but show more ended up with Ayla after a cave lion killed his brother and injured him. While happy to be with Ayla, he is homesick for his own people and convinces Ayla to come with him. After spending several months with the Mamutoi, it is time to move on. Having made the Journey this far, Jondalar knows the way back home and is anxious to get there.

I liked the descriptions of the land and animals that they saw along the way, but my favorite parts were when they encountered other people. The first of these are the Sharamudoi, with whom Jondalar and his brother had stayed before. They arrive to find that the wife of the leader has been hurt and Ayla immediately steps into healer mode to help her. She is successful, of course, which puts her in good graces with the rest of the people. I also enjoyed the reactions to Ayla's wolf and horses. They stay for awhile with the group, who want them to stay, but Jondalar insists that they keep moving.

The next group they encounter are the S'Armunai, with a welcome that is not so pleasant. The leader of the group is a woman who stole the leadership and is mentally unbalanced. Jondalar is captured and is confined with the other men. He does what he can to help the other men while he tries to figure out how to escape and find Ayla. Meanwhile, she has been looking for him, and watches the camp for several days while trying to find the best way to rescue him. How she does so is very dramatic and intense. Of course, she also insists on staying long enough to treat those who have been injured and neglected, before they leave to continue their Journey.

Next up are the Losadunai, who live at the edge of the glacier Jondalar and Ayla must cross to get to his home. Again, they are warmly welcomed and treated well. I enjoyed seeing Ayla getting to know everyone. There is also some drama involving a young girl who was assaulted by some young men. Ayla's empathy helps the girl move past it and embrace her future. As Ayla and Jondalar continue their journey they run into those same young men who have attacked a Clan (flathead) man and woman. After reading them the riot act and sending them on their way, Ayla treats the injured man as they share their fire and a meal. I liked how seeing Ayla with a man of the Clan helped Jondalar understand her a little better.

There is danger as they cross the glacier at the end of the winter. The arrival of spring temperatures can cause dangerous melting, putting them at greater risk of injury or death. After several close calls, they make it off the glacier, to the home cave of some of Jondalar's family. A bit of a romantic tangle is present with a young woman there that adds a bit of angst. Ayla also encounters a man of "mixed spirits" half clan and half Other, who reminds her of her son Durc, left behind in the first book of the series. I really enjoyed their connection and seeing Ayla ease his anger about the way his mother was treated. After a brief period with them, they at last reach Jondalar's home, with a cliffhanger ending as we wait to see how they are welcomed.

I always enjoy seeing Ayla win over new people, and this book was no exception. I also loved seeing reactions to the animals, especially Wolf. I especially loved his part in the rescue of Jondalar from the S'Armunai. It is also really sweet to see Wolf with the various children.

This was not my first reread of this book and it won't be the last. show less