Song of the day: “Escalator” by Tabi Bonney

The Inheritors

Author: William Golding
Genre: Fiction

A book unlike anything I have read before, it is a story of survival concerning a small family of Neanderthals who find themselves suddenly and unexpectedly face to face with Homo Sapiens. It is a tale told through the eyes of our distant cousins, explained in ways that attempt to approach every subject encountered by their reasoning and not ours.

The main character of this book is Lok a young and not exactly mature Neanderthal who is forced to take the reins of the family when the patriarch unexpectedly dies and the second in command is seemingly murdered by creatures, the likes of which they have never encountered. Under his care, an elderly woman, two adult women, a young girl and an infant. But when the enemy proves to be far more cunning than they do, and their numbers begin to dwindle, the Neanderthals begin to realize their days are counted.

This was an incredibly interesting read and one that challenges the reader to adopt a new point of view. By making the main characters Neanderthals, we are forced to see the world in the limited way they might. Dialogue is kept to a minimum with long explanations that tell of events in simplistic terms. But it is because of this simplistic methods that the book is so difficult to understand at times. Neanderthals fail to understand much of what is going on and we are rarely allowed to see things for what they really are, placed instead on the losing side, and given the opportunity to witness the unavoidable demise of the less sophisticated protagonists.

While this read might prove to be a bit frustrating for many readers, it is most definitely worth the time and effort. It does read a bit more slowly given the unorthodox form of story telling that might force a couple of re-reads in certain areas in order to grasp the story fully. But if this is not an issue, I think you will find this book is incredibly interesting, very moving and while tragic, it does also uses an interesting shift at the end of the view to help us put it all in perspective.

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