Reindeer Moon

by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas

Paper Book, 1987

Status

Available

Call number

813/.54

Collection

Publication

Boston : Houghton Mifflin, 1987.

Description

Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. HTML: "A whole culture is imaginatively and authoritatively illuminated" in this "suspenseful, insightful, poignant" novel of prehistoric times (Publishers Weekly). Twenty thousand years ago, a courageous girl lived in Siberia near Woman Lake, a place you won't find on any modern map. Only thirteen, Yanan and her companions�??hunters of deer, gatherers of roots and twigs�??struggle to survive the harsh realities of hunger and cold, bound by an unending cycle of birth, kinship, violence, and death. As Yanan recounts the terrible adventures of her brief life, she departs on spirit journeys that evoke the lives of the animals to which she and her people are intimately linked. A lyrical novel of our species' prehistory, Reindeer Moon opens up corridors to the imagination that lead us back to the long-forgotten echoes of our distant human past. "Unforgettable . . . Reindeer Moon beautifully resurrects a lost world of merciless magnificence. Dozens of memorable characters live and die in this moving tale, which should become a classic." �??Chicago Tribune Book World "Those familiar with the author's landmark study, The Harmless People, will not be surprised at the range of anthropological information she brings to her first novel, or at the lucidity of her prose. What will astonish, engross and move readers in her narrative of a group of hunter-gatherers who lived 20,000 years ago is the dramatic immediacy of the story and the depth and range of character development." �??Publishers Wee… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member Darls
Wow this is absolutely Brilliant material. I dont agree with the ways of the people in the book they took animal forms etc. But its just fiction but the way this lady writes is really amazing. Not one sentence was boring and you can see someone who really loves and knows animals.

Good writing just a
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culture I dont agree with. I suppose it was becuase they were primitive and had not yet found Salvation.
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LibraryThing member bragan
The story of an ordinary (if rather strong and feisty) young woman living sometime during the last ice age, as related by her after she has died and become a guardian spirit. Despite the supernatural element, which works surprisingly well, the story is mostly concerned with very ordinary things:
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births, deaths, the little scandals and quarrels of small groups of people living in close quarters, and the never-ending search for food. But it's consistently interesting and very readable, partly because it's just plain fascinating to try to imagine what kind of lives our ancestors might have led twenty thousand years ago, and partly because the characters feel so believable and so recognizably human.

The cover blurb declares that it's "for everyone who loved The Clan of the Cave Bear!" It's been a long, long time since I read that one, but I'm willing to venture the opinion that this book is the better of the two. It's certainly better than The Valley of Horses, which is the point where I gave up on Auel.
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LibraryThing member cbloky
interesting book if you like seeing how people lived back in the days of the mammoths. loved learning how they married into different tribes because of what they offered each other.

Language

Physical description

338 p.; 24 cm

ISBN

0395421128 / 9780395421123
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