Claire Cameron (1)

But in the cave, the remains of a Neanderthal lay with those of a modern human. It looked like they had died together."

Archaeologist Rosamund Gale has made an amazing discovery in a remote French cave--the remains of a human and a neanderthal seem to have been buried together. She has long espoused the theory that humans and neanderthals had much interaction with each other, and that neanderthals were more advanced than had previously been thought. She hopes that she will find evidence to support her theories as she excavates the site.

The story of the present day excavation, and Rosamund's advancing pregnancy, alternates with the story of a small group of primitive people 40,000 years ago, consisting of Girl, her mother, her brother, and a stray they call Runt. This small group of hunter-gatherers meets annually in the spring with other such small groups. I loved the way the author brings us into the mind of Girl, and we view their lives from the point of view of a pre-historic person.

The book is well-written and brilliantly imagined. I don't know if everything in it is scientifically accurate (apparently the picture at the end of the book is not), but I really didn't care. The only point that bothered me was Rosamund working in her physically grueling job until past her due date, and with extreme physical discomfort. That would not have been me, and it didn't seem realistic. In fact, I much preferred reading the parts about Girl and her family and struggles for survival to reading about the excavation and various bureaucratic struggles in the present day.

3 stars

First line: "They didn't think as much about what was different."

Last line: "We are so much the same.… (mehr)

I received this book in a give away. At first I hesitated to start it, because I dreaded the scenes of the bear killing Anna's parents. However the unusual point of view of the book, namely through the thoughts of five year old Anna, made those scenes more bearable for me. Claire Cameron's decision to use this point of view is ambitious and risky to say the least. It not only requires intense research in child psychology and trauma in children but also ability to make it believable on the written page.

As far as the psychological credibility of the novel, I had some doubts. For example Anna describes "a piece of meat the black dog left all on the ground. It doesn't have a hoof on it either but instead it has daddy's shoe." Even though Anna says that she doesn't like it, she doesn't scream something like: "Blood, mommy, daddy's shoe has blood!", which is what most kindergartners I work with would do. Had denial already set in before Anna saw her dying and bloody mother?
Later in the story Anna almost continually thinks about her daily life with her family, and not on how scared and helpless she and her brother are. Most children cry for help in such a situation. It does not seem to occur to Anna to somehow try to attract attention, so that they can be rescued. When she and Stick get hungry they find, fortunately not poisonous, berries. Why doesn't the hunger spur Anna on to try to get help?

As far as the literary side of this novel is concerned I think it is very daring to take on the point of a traumatised five year old. It means that the language has to be simple and direct. The book is in a stream of consciousness style, which allows the author to omit certain grammar and punctuation rules. Personally I like the idea, and I think it makes the book unique, but it is not for everybody. I also had some moments where Anna's endless digressions made me feel impatient, and wanted the story to continue in a more linear way.
I like the fact that Anna has a two year old brother, Stick (Alex) and a doll named Gwen. Stick and Gwen are instrumental in rounding out Anna's character. They make it possible to show Anna's relative maturity compared to them, as opposed to Anna's powerlessness over their situation.

In the epilogue Anna and Alex return to the island where the attack happened. It is twenty years later. They build a cairn in memory of their parents, and Alex asks question he apparently has asked many times before. We do not know what either of them has thought or felt in those twenty years. I wanted to know more about the process of Anna's recovery, or did she really recover? This last scene leaves the reader unfulfilled. MAybe there is enough material for a next novel.....



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