The Last Neanderthal by Claire Cameron
My rating: 3/5 cats
i was a terrible online book club participant – i did all of the assigned reading, sure, but i only showed up to respond to one round of questions, after which point i just read everyone else’s responses like some ghostly book club lurker. i didn’t even drink any wine, which should make up at least 40% of book club activity.
my failure was one part down to me transitioning from a dayjob person to a nightjob person – with all the attendant physical and psychological horrors, and not having the time/headspace to participate in the group until the weekend, by which point everyone else had already weighed in and moved on, and one part me not really feeling this book (which might also be a result of part one). but it makes me sad to see all of the downright glowing responses to this book; wondering how i missed out on what other readers got out of it. i seem to be on a claire cameron seesaw – i loved her first book The Bear more than most people i know did, and with this one, i am sitting with my butt on the ground while everyone else soars above me, kicking their feet wildly.
it’s a narrative divided into two parts: the neanderthal “girl’s” prehistoric storyline and the modern day story of pregnant archaeologist rose excavating two skeletons whose import may rock the scientific world.
girl’s chunk of the story was great – all action and survival and an interesting perspective on the relationship between the individual and the family, other creatures, the surrounding world… but cameron seemed overly keen on describing bodily fluids and aromas, hair, secretions, the surrender to taboo sexual urges – establishing the idea of otherness; the evolutionary divide between neanderthals and modern man, but it mostly came off as an attempt to be shocking, which never interests me much as a reader.
as for rose’s half, well – i didn’t like any of it. rose is a wholly unlikeable character, which is not a dealbreaker for me, but she’s surrounded by a bunch of other characters who are either boring, spineless, or cartoony, all stumbling around in a perfunctory plot i could not summon any interest in. it was utterly dismal all around, and brittle rose and her dull story kept taking me out of the much better story of girl facing actual peril – weather, animal attacks, loss, separation, and that one thing she did that made me REALLY sad.
i’m sure it’s my own shortcomings and not the book, but i just could not get into this one. if it had been entirely girl’s POV with no rose and her “bravery” (<— scoff ), or that trip to ikea or the excruciating dialogue:
”Am I bigger?”
“Beautifully so.” He knew the precise kind of diplomacy that was required.
“A lot, yes?” I asked.
“Well…that is how pregnancy works.”
“I’m that much bigger?”
He sighed. “It’s more…you used to look like Rose with a belly. Now you are a belly with Rose attached.”
“Really?”
“Like you have been hired to carry a baby bump around.”
“It’s heavy.”
“I wish I could take it for you.”
it would have had a much better chance of winning my heart. because the girl half was frequently excellent, just not excellent enough to overcome the drag of rose’s contributions.
but don’t let me steer you away from this book, because i’m absolute garbage these days, and my brain-thoughts cannot be trusted. i will enjoy watching you all kick your feet in the air from here, before i fall over in exhaustion.
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i will be reading this book for the whole month of september and participating in learned discussions over at riffle’s monthly book club! it is online! bring your own wine!
https://discussions.rifflebooks.com/t…
01 – 09 September: Through end of Chapter 7 – BOOM! ready to rock!
10 – 16 September: Chapter 8, through end of Chapter 15
17 – 23 September: Chapter 16 through end of Chapter 22
24 – 30 September: Chapter 23 through to end
