# Jean Auel's new book? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 24, 2004, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182 "2004-08-24T00:22:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/21 "2004-08-25T01:53:35Z")
> [@leafrog](#): > > Didn’t Ayla invent the Internet? No. She invented Al Gore… ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/22 "2004-08-25T03:26:58Z")
What I find strangest is how hungry I get from reading these books. Hungry. Like I could chow down on a partially cooked mammoth right here in my home office. Who am I kidding? _Raw_ mammoth sounds tasty when Auel describes it. And that bird, the one with the feathered feet. You know the one. Okay, am I alone in this? _cringe_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Scrivener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@The\_Scrivener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Scrivener)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/23 "2004-08-25T03:32:10Z")
> [@](#): > > Rumor has it that Ayla will be going to sea in this new one that is also supposedly the final book of the series. The rumor comes from the activities and travels of Jean M. Auel. Apparently she has been to the beach raking clams and also took a trip to the Mediterranean coast in Spain. Sounds like there’ll be a recipie for “paella _a_ Ayla”. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/24 "2004-08-25T03:57:14Z")
I’ve seen an advance copy of the new book. I have to tell you that I had a little trouble with my suspension of disbelief around Page 95, when Ayla win the all-around gymnastics gold at the Olympic Games. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/25 "2004-08-25T05:32:22Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > I’ve seen an advance copy of the new book. I have to tell you that I had a little trouble with my suspension of disbelief around Page 95, when Ayla win the all-around gymnastics gold at the Olympic Games. How ridiculous! _Gold_ medals in the _Bronze_ Age! ---
**Author:** ![CrazyCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/26 "2004-08-25T14:19:13Z")
> [@AveDementia](#): > > Oh geez, that reminded me. The moment when I knew the series had hit rock bottom. Didn’t they watch some mammoths mating in The Mammoth Hunters and described it kind of in lusty terms, like it got them hot or something? > > Someone confirm this for me please. I don’t want to gag for no reason here. _guh_ That’s just awful. Yep, that was TMH, all right. There was a similar scene in VotH, where Whinney is being bred. Not only was the mating described in the same florid, trashy-romance-novel language as the human sex scenes, it explicitly mentions Ayla watching them and getting wet. ---
**Author:** ![Jadis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@Jadis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jadis)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/27 "2004-08-25T15:40:11Z")
> [@CrazyCatLady](#): > > Yep, that was TMH, all right. There was a similar scene in VotH, where Whinney is being bred. Not only was the mating described in the same florid, trashy-romance-novel language as the human sex scenes, it explicitly mentions Ayla watching them and getting wet. Actually, I’m relatively certain that watching the mammoths mate (and Ayla and Jondalar’s subsquent “playing mammoth” activities) was in Plains of Passage. I’m so embarrassed that I know this. :o ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/28 "2004-08-25T16:19:00Z")
The thing that annoyed me about SoS was that after slogging through the other books I thought I was going to have some closure, that it was “the rest of the story”. But nooooooooo. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/29 "2004-08-25T16:42:45Z")
What I hated was being introduced to 70 million people, all of which had to hear "Ayla of the Mamutoi, daughter of the Mammoth Hearth, adopted to the Lion Camp…"ad nauseum. Then, after trying to keep track of all the names, you never hear from them again or they pop up 300 pages later, and you have to rack your brain going, “Who the fuck was that again?” Too long, too boring. But, as **Baker** says, I need closure. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2004, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182/30 "2004-08-25T17:06:37Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Who am I kidding? _Raw_ mammoth sounds tasty when Auel describes it. And that bird, the one with the feathered feet. You know the one. > > Okay, am I alone in this? _cringe_ Ptarmigan. It’s good, if you like wild game birds. > [@Gulo gulo](#): > > Coincidentally I’m rereading the series right now. If you skip over the torturously lame (and frequent) sex scenes, they’re ok and a good time waster. I love the descriptions of the food and food preparation, hunting, and medicinal herbs. That’s about how I read the books. The medicinal stuff I found really fascinating. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jean-auels-new-book/261182.md?page=1)