Customer Reviews

Survivor

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Robert Steele Gray's "Survivor" was a fascinating and unusual read. Those seeking an intricately woven adventure novel--Clancy in prehistoric setting--will either set the book down halfway through or find themselves as transformed as the protagonist, having fallen in love with the pursuit of history that clearly motivates the author.

The fantastic premise, a lightening-induced return of a modern man to prehistoric times, is a rather bitter pill Gray must have us swallow in order to frame his modern perspective on pre-history. He does so quickly and painlessly at the beginning of the novel, thus betraying his true passion for the history which he endows with his real energy and skill.

A series of somewhat choppy bouts with disaster leave Mark, the time traveler, in a relationship with Um-See, his number two character. Here Gray skillfully begins to give his readers taste after taste of real prehistoric life. The caves of what would later be Arkansas provide an excellent (and of course, historically accurate!) setting both for details of Indian life and for interpersonal relationships.

It is in the relationship between Um-See and Mark that Gray most surprises us and most stretches his own writing skills. With a number of English words you can count on one hand, Um-See nonetheless becomes a warm and full character. Of course Gray uses the relationship to speculate on how communal life amidst the harsh environment of pre-history might have operated, but his efforts to do so are hardly stilted or forced. Mark's relationships with women--his first and second wife--are not so compelling, but luckily, these are neither central to the main story nor essential for the historical education the reader is receiving.

Technophiles like myself will enjoy speculating with Gray about the introduction of warfighting technology and tactics. The bow and arrow production and training are thoroughly enjoyable to read, and yet quite informative. The real depth is in the details. Gray answers the reader's every question from Mark's perspective. He paints in our mind a color photograph of subsistence, war, economy, politics, and perhaps appropriately to a lesser extent, love, in the lives of these prehistoric Indians.

Gray should be pictured as a historian who has turned to fiction to reach an impatient American public with the same material briefly covered in the first chapter of history books they didn't read in high school. His ruse worked. I'll forever see much more in the hills of Arkansas than dubious politicians; and I shall never again pass so quickly by the stale, ill-clad mannequins huddled around the painted campfire in the first room of the natural history museums. These people now have life, breath, and emotion; Gray has put it there.

Starting fast, at the very beginning of the book, Mark is taken by lightening back to prehistoric times. He begins to wander, looking for civilization, and the pace stays pretty brisk and he encounters one trouble after another. I thought the pace of the book slowed though, as his endless trek dragged on and on with pretty much the same fears and thoughts being repeated. Then Mark meets up with Um-See, and the book takes off again. I think Mr. Gray did a decent job at portraying the thoughts and actions of this tribe of people. The "communication with the present" part of the ending should have been left out. It contributed nothing and somehow made what Mark accomplished with Um-See's tribe seem less important. All in all, still not a bad read.

Gray's story about a 20th century man inexplicably thrust into Stone Age America is enjoyable but uneven. The early chapters of the protagonist's struggle to live and transformation from soft suburbanite into stubborn survivor are very good. Gray gets the details right: e.g thirst and hunger, the need to overcome one's modern squeamishness, the feeling of being filthy, the difficulty of building fire by friction. Gray also begins to develop the interesting theme of a man finding his true strength and drive through unexpected adversity. But the later chapters, when the hero, Mark, becomes part of an ancient Indian community, read like excerpts from Bugs Bunny's Book of Anthropology. The idea that Mark must write in order to learn the native language is unnecessary, for example. And the primitive warfare seems unrealistic, especially in comparison to the accurate survival lore of the earlier chapters. In sum, though, most people with a taste for survival stories will find the book a good read.

Having recently enjoyed the movie "Castaway," I was a little skeptical that this book would be almost a rehash. Of this I was totally wrong. Mark Llewellyn, a middle age couch potato is thrust back in time about 1800 years. It takes him several days to realize this and he wanders around looking for a way back to civilization. It doesn't take long for he preservation instincts to kick in to the point where he is putting his hand in the carcass of dead animals to eat some of the innards.

He stays away from the people he encounters, fearing that any encounter would cost him his life. He finally meets an old man living on a mountainside. The old man allows him to stay but makes him do grueling work. They go on hunts together and little by little they get to trust each other. Though Mark is virtually useless in most things, he tries, with crude materials to introduce some of the later inventions to the old man.

The rest of the book is great too and I don't want to spoil it by giving away too much. When you get to the last twenty pages you wonder how the author will resolve everything with so few pages left, but he does a wonderful job of it.

I bought this book as an after-thought not really expecting anything special. This book is excellent! A very easy to read and sort of different type of story that most should really enjoy! It is a clean well written adventure that holds your attention to the very last page. And a bonus as a great training manual, YOU NEVER KNOW WHEN YOU MIGHT BE SENT BACK IN TIME!

Well, you've got to give the author credit for coming up with the plot for this story. For anyone that loves technology, even the thought of being thrown back to the Stone Age where there's not a computer in sight has got to be a nightmare! Perish the thought!

I picked up this book to see what it could possibly be like to have that happen. What I found was a pretty interesting story that seems to have been well-researched. The character, Mark, acts just like you would expect him to act. At first, he can't believe what's happened to him. He just wants outta there. And then, realization sinks in and he figures out that he's got to learn to survive or die. Not knowing who or what is a true danger to him, he's scared of everything at first. And in many instances he should be.

Mark's "adventures" as he learns to survive is what makes this story good. He makes numerous mistakes along the way and is always trying to get himself out of one bad situation only to find himself in another. Eventually he catches on, and by that time, you're rooting for him since he's been through so much.

I enjoyed this book and would recommend it.

THANK YOU,MR.GRAY FOR PUTTING INTO WORDS EVERY LITTLE BOYS DREAMS,THE WHAT IF I COULD GO BACK IN TIME.I STARTED READING AND COULD NOT PUT THE BOOK DOWN. GREAT STORY,GREAT CHARACTERS.I WISH IT WAS 100 PAGES LONGER.

This was just plain good reading. The author came up with a novel storyline taking a 20th century character back into the stone age. The character (Mark Lewellyn) is challenged to survive. The historical aspect of the stone age as described by Gray is fascinating. You find yourself cheering to yourself as Mark confronts and overcomes each challenge. It certainly makes you pause and wonder how YOU would fare in similar circumstances-would you be a SURVIVOR? This was fun to read with surprises around every corner.

What a good time I had with this one. One could not help but cheer for the good guys.

If only I could give it 4 1/2 stars

When forty something Texan, Mark Lewellyn, an unambitious couch potato, gets caught in a thunderstorm right outside his home, twin bolts of lightning forever change his life. Catapulted back in time, Mark finds himself in a Texas unlike the one he knew, as he is inexplicably thrust into the Stone Age. Overweight, out of shape, and given to easy living, Mark is suddenly faced with survival and an ongoing quest for food and shelter.

Now a stranger in a strange land, Mark must give up thoughts of his past life and concentrate on his new one. When he encounters another human being, albeit a primitive Stone Age one, Mark joins forces with him and begins to learn to adapt to a new way of life. Mark digs deep into himself and discovers things about himself that he never before knew. He also discovers that the human condition is one that transcends time.

Written in a straightforward and easy manner, this is an entertaining and quick read, as the author is a solid storyteller. I read it in one sitting, and thoroughly enjoyed the story that the author had to tell. I also thought that the ending neatly wrapped up the story for both past and present. Those who enjoy time travel tales will find much to savor in this one.