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Critic's Corner
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Auel's Earth's Children series began in 1980 with "Clan of the Cave Bear." Next came "Valley of the Horses" in 1982, followed by "The Mammoth Hunters" in 1985, and "The Plains of Passage" in 1990. Twelve long years passed, then came "The Shelters of Stone!" It was a long wait, but well worth it. Auel is an international phenomenon. Her books have sold 34 million copies worldwide. Her extensive research has earned her the respect of archaeologists and anthropologists around the world. She lives with her husband, Ray, in Oregon, where she is at work on the next book in the Earth's Children series. Those who have not read the first four books might want to do so, however, Auel lays down enough flashbacks in "The Shelters of Stone" to allow it to stand alone. Readers unfamiliar with Auel's work, need to know she has reached back into a fascinating time in prehistoric Europe. A time during the last ice age when according to Auel, Neanderthals and Cro-Magnons coexisted. With little effort, Auel takes her readers into the era of the late Pleistocene Epoch extending from 35,000 to 25,000 years before present time. Ayla, the blond, blue-eyed Cro-Magnon raised by the Neanderthals after her parents died in an earthquake, is once again the heroine of Auel's story. She and the handsome Cro-Magnon male, Jondalar, who Ayla saved from an attack by a cave lion have bonded, and made their way across the plains to Jondalar's people the Zelandonii. These people occupy limestone caves in the Dordogne Valley of southeastern France--today a well-known archeological site, and where the Auels lived for a few months in the mid 1980s. As the book opens, the young couple arrive at Jondalar's home accompanied by Ayla's pet Wolf, and two horses, Whinney and Racer. The various members of Jondalar's family are astonished by anyone having a pet wolf and horses that respond to their owner's commands. This provides some light moments as Wolf is introduced to the family and to other members of the Zelandonii. You meet so many new characters with strange names it becomes confusing. Auel anticipating this, placed a list of characters along with their relationship to the couple in a separate area at the back of the book. I found this most helpful in keeping track of the various players. As the story proceeds, Ayla finds herself again the outsider who must prove her worth to a new people. Her skill as a healer and her interpersonal skills soon win her many friends and a few enemies. Disbelief is suspended as you enter this alien world so far removed from our 21stCentury. "The Shelters of Stone" is not the action filled story fans of Auel's Earth Children series are used to reading. It is however a fascinating tale of a culture unknown to many. The daily tasks, the foods eaten, medicines used, and religious practices make, at times, slow reading. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the story which tapped into the primal fears and deep-seated longings of these strange people. Auel, with her well-researched re-creation of Cro-Magnon life manages to hold your attention even though the plot is slight. I say that because the story is a day-by-day tale that does not offer much in the way of character development. It is more like an everyday diary of life as it once existed. You are there, you experience the ordinary events of the Cro-Magnons' lifestyle. Auel does manage to spark the imagination with her detailed descriptions and narrative passages depicting the ancient art of these humans who lived on the edge of glaciers. As you walk through the caves and see in your mind's eye the artistic wonders created by the Cro-Magnon clans, you have to wonder about their obvious intelligence and artistic creations. Before Auel's Earth Children series, I considered this era of humankind little more than dumb creatures. Now, I realize they were more. In her Acknowledgments, Auel states, "I was brought to tears when I saw that sanctuary of prehistoric splendor painted by those early modern humans of Upper Paleolithic Europe, the Cro-Magnons—work that can still stand against the finest of today." "The Shelters of Stone" is a work of many colors and one I recommend
without reservation to serious readers of all ages. Click Here to Order The Shelters of Stone Jones is a published writer & literary critic Copyright July 2002, all rights reserved |
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