lolol this was fine. definitely not the type of fiction that i typically read, but the writing was pretty moving at times. yearning! and shame! and wonderfully long sentences! come for the animal sex scenes, stay for the commentary on loneliness and communication. it made me incredibly uncomfortable, but great writing. and while the character isn't someone you are going to fall in love with, at least she isn't boring ( )

Lou, an archivist for an Institute is sent to a remote Ottawan island to catalog the estate of Colonel Joycelyn Cary. The institute has acquired the Pennarth Estate's books, journals, and other ephemera. Admittedly, I had to go into this story with an extremely open mind. From everything I heard, the only detail that stuck out to me was that the protagonist has sexual feelings for, and tries to copulate with, a bear. Say what now? The second thing people said, as if to follow up on that statement, was that Engel writes in such a way that a relationship between a woman and a bear is totally plausible. My first indication of realism comes when, even though Lou and the bear have a growing friendship, Lou is constantly reminding herself he is a bear that weighs over 300 pounds with claws and teeth. Bears are predators that are attracted to the emanating odors of blood and fear. To be sure, the writing is beautiful. The treatment of women in society (in the 70s) is accurately articulated. I just couldn't wrap my brain around the fact that Lou's choices for male companionship were so wretched that she had to settle for an animal. The end. ( )

yawning. boring. sloppy. ( )

Plot:
Lou is an archivist. She is sent to a remote island where her archive has inherited the private estate, including the library, of local eccentric of Colonel Cary. Hoping that the library would contain some local history, Lou sets about the task to catalogue it all in the solitude of the island. Although she isn't quite as alone as she might have thought: in a shed next to the house lives a bear that Lou is tasked to take care of. As the summer goes on, the two become ever closer.

Bear has garnered a bit of internet fame in recent years, leading to the rediscovery of the novel by a broader audience. I am not immune to this kind of book trend, especially when it's about rediscovering a female author who arguably writes feminist fiction. Bear was definitely an interesting read though not one I fell in love with quite as much as I would have liked.

Read more on my blog: https://kalafudra.com/2023/04/13/bear-marian-engel/ ( )

I was reading Canada: A Very Short Introduction when it pointed out this book and that in the book the protagonist has an actual affair with an actual bear. With a premise like that, I was intrigued.

We follow Lou, a lonely archivist living in Toronto who is sent to a small island with an octagonal house to organize and categorize the books, and determine whether they contain anything of interest to historians. The book is introspective, Lou spends most of her time on the island alone, except for the bear. When we begin the book, Lou is clearly unhappy—she's lonely; her relationships are all unsatisfying; and there's just a general air of sadness around her. ( )