Engel, Marian. Bear. McClelland and Stewart, 1976.
Reason read: October is Animal Month.
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.
Author fact: Engel passed in 1985.
Book trivia: Bear is a ridiculously short book of less that 150 pages (at least my copy was).
Lines I liked, “It took the curse off his warnings about the bear” (p 75),
Playlist: “Old Black Joe”.
Nancy said: Pearl called Bear odd and strange and a gem. The cool thing is that she also mentioned it has been long out of print, but I was able to find it in a local library. Yay for public libraries!
BookLust Twist: from More Book Lust in the chapter called “Animal Love” (p 13). I’d say.
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