Who fantasizes about living like Clan of the Cave Bear?

[Whistler]

I know there have been threads like this before, but seriously! Sometimes I so fantasize about living off-grid in some natural shelter with a community of like-minded people and bf and co-sleep and eat natural, healthy foods and practice herbal medicine. I don't think I want to go so far as to live in a cave, but man, Auel romanticizes the natural life like crazy and it sounds so cool.

[spughy]

Totally. What's more, a lot of the food she describes is actually still around where I come from, and just as tasty as she makes out.

Plus, dudes like Jondalar sound HOT. However, I have to say that mastitis in prehistoric times sounds like way less fun than it is now, and that's saying something.

[MeepyCat]

Yeah, except for the rape and the earthquakes, it sounds awesome.

I do fantasize about the community of like-minded folk who breastfeed and co-sleep and eat incredibly delicious natural foods (although not about moving off the grid, that's not my thing). I like modern plumbing though - I'm a big fan of hot water - and I just can't get past the rape thing.

[Whistler]

The rape part of the book really creeped me out too. I guess I was thinking the "community of like-minded people" would have a few different customs than they did there. Like-minded for me wouldn't include THAT.

The community in Mammoth Hunters was pretty neat too.

[Amaranth]

No, not in the least. The more I learned about prehistory (and archaeology), the less appealing those communities seemed.

Jean Auel managed to get a lot of interesting stuff in there, but she also left out a ton of stuff about violence, poor health, and short lives. Which is understandable - who wants to read about that?

[philomom]

I met with Jean Auel at Orycon this past year. She's a neat lady.

I love the Ayla stories. I love how Ayla invents everything. I love that she and Jondalar have so much great sex.

I do hope we get one more book out of this series.

[2xy]

Originally Posted by Amaranth

Jean Auel managed to get a lot of interesting stuff in there, but she also left out a ton of stuff about violence, poor health, and short lives.

I guess it all depends on your perspective.

There's still violence. Realistically, I don't think we'll ever get rid of violence.

As for poor health and short lives....in parts of the world that's still a reality.

I see a lot of people who have long lives and poor health. I don't think that's any more desirable. I really don't want to spend the last 10-20 years of my life struggling to move about.

I didn't really find the rape part of the books to be creepy. I won't say I expected to read about it, but in retrospect, I think that prehistoric peoples didn't concern themselves with human rights issues.

Prehistory seems appealing because present day, Western society is so overwhelming.

[CorasMama]

Originally Posted by philomom

I met with Jean Auel at Orycon this past year. She's a neat lady.

I love the Ayla stories. I love how Ayla invents everything. I love that she and Jondalar have so much great sex.

I do hope we get one more book out of this series.

Slightly OT, but do you ever come up to Rustycon or Norwescon? Because I'm on the ConCom of Norwes, and the Executive Committee of Rusty! I'm hoping we get down to Ory this year, I haven't made it to an OryCon in... 15 years? Back in the days of "it's in the other hotel", if you remember that!

[philomom]

Originally Posted by CorasMama

Slightly OT, but do you ever come up to Rustycon or Norwescon? Because I'm on the ConCom of Norwes, and the Executive Committee of Rusty! I'm hoping we get down to Ory this year, I haven't made it to an OryCon in... 15 years? Back in the days of "it's in the other hotel", if you remember that!

No, this year will only be my 4th year at Orycon. And this year it is Thanksgiving weekend at the Lloyd center. But next year, back at the Marriott downtown. I love that it is small and you can really get to talk to the writers face to face.