A History Nut's Romantic State of Mind

This is a very special story. Easily one of the most unusual stories I have ever read.

I enjoyed reading this book a lot. A love story between a caveman and a contemporary woman who time-travelled to land in a pit. An ingenious story, full of imagination. I don't like to get technical about my novels so whether Ehd aka the caveman, was closer to human or Neanderthal did not bother me. Elizabeth, Beh, somehow travelled in time and Ehd found her in a pit and this is how Ehd and Beh started their journey together. This story is entirely focused on Ehd and Beh for the majority of the book. They were alone and Ehd was primarily pre-occupied with sex. I mean other than collecting food and hunting, what else is there to do?

Before I read the book I was not sure that I would like it. Time travel is kind of a pet peeve for me. And I almost never like first person narratives in fictions. This book has Ehd as the single narrator. We readers never got to hear Elizabeth's side of the story. But we learned about her through Ehd's eyes. Ehd and Elizabeth did not communicate through language, at least not in the sense that we use language. Isn't that intriguing? I think Shay Savage did a really good job illustrating the story with 2 lead characters who could not talk to each other. Everything was observation and reflection. This is an extreme case of "living in the character's head". And I think Shay Savage did a splendid job. As a reader I was immensely entertained.

I do think however, there is A LOT OF sex in this stroy. And I imagine this is unavoidable. I mean, just imagine what it would have been like living in prehistoric times? When you fight the nature and the elements for survival, this is no time for intellectual activities. Ehd was somewhere between a primate and a human, he showed compassion and love, but when we are stripped down to basic survival, it is about food, water, warmth, sex and procreation. I think it is only normal and one of the reasons why this book was so unusual.

I liked this book and really am glad that I read it. I probably won't re-read it, which is why I can't give it 4 stars. I did not feel emotionally invested in the story. But this was certainly a very entertaining read.