But in creating a believable, Stone Age world, with a mindset of its people, Elphinstone has done well enough: she’s clearly used as a guide the extensive knowledge we have of the modern era shamanist practices of the New World and Siberia, and her accounts of hunting techniques, tools, etc. are clearly well researched.
Yet is this a believably Mesolithic world? For me, in this, Elphinstone has failed, possibly because she’d relied too much on that model of shamanism, about which we have considerable data from the past couple of centuries. While it might be one of the best models we have about how such a society might have functioned, to assume that the boundless human imagination would have continued almost unchanged for so long fails the “does it feel right?” test.
So it’s a lively, nicely crafted tale of wilderness Stone Age life, the constant shifting of view is so well handled that you’ll seldom need to check back who’s talking, all-in-all a good yarn. But not, it feels to me, of Mesolithic life.
Article comments
1 - NovelIdea
As a reader I believe the test of good writing is whether it has the power to move me emotionally. When it comes to Jean Auel and the Earth's Children books, I find they easily pass the test. They're certainly not traditional literary works but somehow they leave a deep and long lasting impression. And I personally love the idea that our earliest ancestors worshipped the Gift of Pleasure. That is so refreshing compared to the old idea of caveman-rapists with clubs.
2 - What's your basis?
I think it's unfair to say Jean Auel's books are "appallingly badly written." From your description, it sounds as if you don't like all that attention to detail. Fair enough, but does an attention to detail shown through thorough description result in bad writing?