Synopsis
Containing an eyewitness account of the first human courtship ever, a study of the lives of an everyday, ordinary cave family includes portraits of Mom, the ape woman; brother William and his attempted animal domestication; and Dad, the inventor. 25,000 first printing.
Reviews
This wacky, tongue-in-cheek account of human evolution as exemplified by one family of cave dwellers calls to mind TV's The Flintstones , but wordplay and intellectual satire mix with outrageous anachronisms to lift it well above a cartoon depiction. Originally published in England in 1960, the novel is set in prehistoric East Africa, where Father ("Woman's place is in the cave") extends the use of fire and champions technological progress, despite the opposition of Uncle Vanya, who believes that ape-men and ape-women should remain innocent children of nature. The clan includes Mother, proud homemaker in their new cave ("At last the girls will get a bit of privacy"); Uncle Ian, who speaks with a Scottish lilt and travels to China ("Go north, young man"); and Ernest, the inquisitive ape-boy narrator who mates with coy, romantic Griselda. An accidental patricide, followed by a dash of cannibalism, climax this inspired, delirious hymn to the human animal's noble climb from hominid savagery to murderous civilization.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Humorous fantasy first published in Britain in 1960; rediscovered, it became a bestseller in Italy; this is the first US edition. Human evolution as a kind of domestic situation comedy? Well, Lewis's yarn--an autobiographical narrative by an ape-man named Ernest--recounts the efforts of Father, the leader and inventive genius, to evolve his tribe into the dominant species--preferably before the end of the Pleistocene. Weary of being terrorized by fierce carnivores with big teeth, Father obtains fire from a nearby volcano and transforms the lives of the tribe. Soon they're driving bears out of all the best caves, inventing cooking, and taking a break from endless flint-chipping. Then Father, with his eye on social evolution, forces his sons to steal wives from a neighboring tribe. Meanwhile, Uncle Vanya stubbornly refuses to leave the trees and condemns the whole enterprise; Uncle Ian returns from his travels in China, only to fall off an unfortunately unevolved horse and break his neck; and Ernest and his brothers finally lose patience when Father gives away the secret of making fire--they wanted a monopoly. So when Father invents the bow and arrow, thus threatening the jobs of traditional spear hunters, the brothers decide it's time to get rid of Father. Broadly amusing, though it's impossible to predict how well this comedy will travel. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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