Bear

Strange and elegant book about a summer, a woman and a bear on an island -- also about books and knowledge. I could not (um) bear interruptions whilst reading this short novel and gobbled it up in one sitting. Definitely goes on my This Year's Best Reading list. Marian Engel was a brilliant Canadian writer who won the Governor General's Award with "Bear" in 1976 which itself is rather shocking given the content and tenor of the times.

And like all paradises, transient, for without loss, a paradise does not exist. Marian Engel weaves a dense, exposed little world for her character and the reader, I'm not sure I can say more than the other reviewers, but only express my joy with the book. It's funny to see what is disturbing for some, tepid for others, and downright heaven incarnate in the north woods for others.

Bear is more than just a story about a woman on an island, interacting with a bear. It is about a woman who finds her place in life, her life wants and goals, and her tracks to her life journey. This is about a woman who was headed in the wrong direction--leading a drab, boring life, a life that seemed to be controlled by the affair she was having. She takes a trip to a historical house on an island in Canada and finds that it was more than she had ever expected. Her life change and new attitude was fueled by a sexual relationship. It is more than just a sexual relationship--she finds out how to love herself and love others as well. Bear is an interesting tale filled with sadness, love, and truth. This story needed to be written and needs to be read.

Marian Engel's short novel Bear is an odd book. Winner of the Governor General's Award (Canada) in 1976, it clearly has attained critical success. In broad outline, Engel tells the story of a bookish young woman, Lou, working as an archivist in dusty historical institute, who is given the field assignment to catalog a nineteenth century library located on a remote island in Ontario. The only other inhabitant of the island is the pet bear of prior the occupants, and a strongly sexual - though not consummated - relationship develops between them The subject matter of this book may be very disturbing to some - an afterward in the Canadian edition to this book notes that many have described the book as "pornographic". I do not agree with this censor's view, but agree that it is not a book for children or prudes. The real "subject" of the book is Lou's growth from retiring recluse to more confident woman; although the medium of transformation is through sexual awakening, this is not the sole or even principal end result. Finally, a word must be added about Engel's wonderful writing. Her characters, settings, and descriptions are lively, strongly visual, and at times amusing. Take, for example, her musings on historical Canadians: "The Canadian tradition was, she had found, on the whole, genteel. Any evidence that an ancestor had performed any acts other than working and praying was usually destroyed. Families handily became respectable in retrospect but it was, as [Lou] and the [Institute Director] often mourned, hell on history." More such fine writing awaits the reader of this short but non-complacent novel, which I recommend.