The Bear by Andrew Krivak

In The Bear, Andrew Krivak weaves a hauntingly beautiful novel of elegant simplicity, visually rich and unforgettable. The story of a girl and her father surviving alone in a wilderness becomes a fable, a testament to familial love, and a portrait of humankind's place in the world.

This is a novel that entered my dreams, strangely offering a sense of peace and a feeling of oneness with the natural world. Strange because this is also a dystopian novel set in a future when mankind has disappeared and his civilization has crumbled, reverted to its basic elements. 

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Desolation

These two remaining humans live an idealized oneness with nature. They have some antiques--a glass window, some moldering books, a silver comb--singular heirlooms of another time. The father teaches his daughter how to fish and hunt, how to turn animal fur into clothing and blankets, how to sew shoes from leather and sinew. They drink pine needle tea and gather nuts. The weeds we heedlessly poison become their salad. The maple helicopters that we curse when cleaning the gutters are their survival food.

What a long way we have come, we humans with our large brains and big dreams and greedy appetites! I look about my yard and neighborhood and understand suddenly the plenty that surrounds me. Not just my father's apple trees that bore thousands of fruit this year, but the maple trees and the oaks down the road. Not just my raised bed of chard and kale but the weeds I diligently pull up one by one.

Krivak's heroine is aided by her totem animal, the bear whose profile is seen in the mountain where her mother's bones rest. With winter, he sleeps and the girl is aided by a puma. These magical creatures feel a kinship--a kinship humanity has rarely returned.

Oh, no, we are to conquer and subdue and use and abuse! 

But what has that gotten us?--Decimation of species, destruction of the environment, pollution that poisons us, alienation.

The gorgeous style of Krivak's writing, his story of survival and death, the love and respect shown by his characters, themes eternal and crucial, earmark this as a must-read novel.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley. My review is unbiased and fair.

Read Andrew Krivak's personal note on writing The Bear here.

The Bear
by Andrew Krivak
Bellevue Literary Press
Pub Date 11 Feb 2020
ISBN 9781942658702
PRICE $16.99 (USD)