The Bear

by Andrew Krivak

Paperback, 2020

Status

Available

Publication

Bellevue Literary Press (2020), 224 pages

Description

"In an Edenic future, a girl and her father live close to the land in the shadow of a lone mountain. They possess a few remnants of civilization: some books, a pane of glass, a set of flint and steel, a comb. The father teaches the girl how to fish and hunt, the secrets of the seasons and the stars. He is preparing her for an adulthood in harmony with nature, for they are the last two left. But when the girl suddenly finds herself alone in an unknown landscape, it is a bear that will lead her back home through a vast wilderness, which offers the greatest lessons of all, if she can only learn to listen. A cautionary tale of human fragility, of love and loss, The Bear is a stunning tribute to the beauty of nature's dominion"--

User reviews

LibraryThing member Mnpose
This is the NEA Big Read book for 2022 with the White Bear Center of the Arts. While the book describes a post apocalyptic time I found it a gentle and hopeful read. It is a story of a strong and capable young girl.
I found myself reading the last 40 pages very slowly as I wanted to take in and
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remember every detail.
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LibraryThing member TimBazzett
THE BEAR is a radical departure for Andrew Krivak from his first two novels, THE SOJOURN and THE SIGNAL FLAME both concerned with men and war. But it's different in a very good way. I read the whole thing in just a couple sittings on the same day it came in the mail. I did not want to put it down.
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It's that good! (But the dogs needed feeding and walks, so ... a short break was necessary.)

It's a parable of sorts, set in an unnamed wilderness, about the last two people on earth, a father and his daughter. And later there is a wise bear, who talks. And a giant, kind puma, who also talks. There is a journey through dense forests, across rivers and over mountains to the ocean, where fragmented foundations and walls of a lost civilization are found.

A tragedy occurs, But the benevolent bear shows up and the journey back begins. THE BEAR has elements of The Odyssey, as well as a survival story - think Jack London's "To Build a Fire." I also kept flashing back to another novel I'd read many years ago, Canadian writer Marian Engel's BEAR, but there is really NO similarity to that controversial , erotic tale of bestiality.

I've gotten far afield and am not doing justice at all to Krivak's tale, which is really a very gentle story of self-sufficiency, survival, and natural wonders, and very suitable for younger readers. I wonder if he wrote it for his children. It is perhaps the sweetest futuristic story I've encountered in years, a lovely antidote to the spare of violent dystopian novels that young people seem to love so. I loved this book. My highest recommendation.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER
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LibraryThing member nancyadair
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
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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.

These two remaining 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 that somehow brings a sense of peace, the love and respect shown by his characters, the 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.
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LibraryThing member Lauranthalas
There is no one left on Earth except a girl and her father in this dream like tale. The girl and her father journey to the ocean to gather supplies. During this journey, the girl finds herself alone and a long way from home. A bear appears to help her on her journey and teaches her many things.

This
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book was just okay to me and I found myself quite bored.

I received a reviewer copy of The Bear by Andrew Krivak from Bellevue Literary Press through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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LibraryThing member Verkruissen
The Bear by Andrew Krivak is an easy read about a father and daughter who are the last people in the world. The father is raising his daughter alone in a world in which they coexist with nature and the stories that are passed on though humans and nature. When the daughter finds herself alone in an
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unfamiliar place a bear teaches her about survival and how the stories of the world are passed on through trees and animals. The girls survival in the wilderness reminded me of Jean M. Auel's "The Clan of the Cave Bear" with how she has to create weapons and tools to survive the harsh winter in a cave far from home.
The Bear is a beautifully written book that brings to mind stories of Native American folklore and magic.
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LibraryThing member ireneattolia
this was just lovely
LibraryThing member Christiana5
Wow! This short novel drew me in from the start and I read it in a few hours. It’s the story of the last two humans on earth, a father and daughter, in a distant future that resonates of early humanity. The prose is lyrical, and even though the characters have no names, the story packs an
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emotional punch, providing a both sad and hopeful vision for humanity’s future/end. Highly recommended.

I received this, along with another of the author’s books, from the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review. This is my second such book from this publisher, Bellevue Literary Press, and I’m incredibly impressed by their books, the speed at which they arrive for review, and their generosity in including a second book as well.
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LibraryThing member basilsbooks
This book was an all around perfect book for those wanting to step back into the feelings you had when growing up listening to a story and being completely taken away by it.
The book begs to be read silently and when reading it will feel like whispers and wind. I received this ARC and while I
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thought I would love it I didn't realize how it would touch me and make me take a look into our world. I have always been at home listening to nature or lying in a field of hay but this book makes you want to find home in earth and breathe slowly and take time. I never expected the book to make me cry and it really did, in the best ways. I highly recommend to those of us that fall into that category of "How beautiful the world will be when earth is left to her own devices and can claim it again". The book leaves you feeling a bit hollow and empty with sadness and recognition on the fragility of humans. I found it a great comfort, this book.
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LibraryThing member KatyBee
This quiet story is written as a fable about the last two people left in the world, living in communion with nature. In lovely, descriptive language, it visits the life of a father raising his young daughter. The girl's mother passed away when she was a baby and the father relays his memories and
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also teaches the girl to hunt, forage, make bows and arrows, and tan skins to make clothing. When an accident happens, the girl must depend on a somewhat mythic bear to help her survive. This short novel is completely set in the natural world of forests, rivers, passing seasons, and wildlife. No explanation is given of the demise of other humans, and the settings seem almost like a dream compared to our current industrial world. I found it very moving in its own peaceful way, especially the way the father passed on survival wisdom and respect for other living things to his young offspring.
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LibraryThing member auntmarge64
A pitch-perfect little gem.

A father and his young daughter are the last two humans. They know little of the society that is no more, and they have no need to know what disaster ended it. The two have a small cabin on a mountain and live a hunter-gatherer life, the father teaching the girl all he
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knows as soon as she is old enough to take it in. The mother is buried on top of the mountain, and each year on the girl's birthday they travel to it to honor and remember her. It's a simple life that suits the two. When the girl is a young teenager she is forced by circumstances to find her way home alone from a long journey. How she manages this entails a bit of magical realism that fits right in to this haunting story.

Highly, highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member bragan
A short, beautiful little novel about a girl and her father, the last two people on Earth, who live halfway up an isolated mountain.

The writing in this really is just lovely. Not fancy, not clever in a show-offy sort of way, but clean and elegant and perfect.

The story itself surprised me a little.
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Partway through, it becomes partially a survival story, which I expected, and partly an odd sort of fable, in which various animals begin to talk to the girl and help her to survive. That took me aback a bit at first, and I found myself thinking that I preferred the earlier, more realistic parts of the story. But the writing continued to be lovely, and in the end, it all worked for me, very well. Indeed, I wasn't at all prepared for just how much the ending affected me, emotionally.
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LibraryThing member Beecharmer
I absolutely loved this charming book. It is the story of the last two people on earth. A father and his daughter. When an accident happens the girl has to make it on her own, but she finds help in the animals around her. I loved her will to survive and determination to return her father's remains
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to the mountain to lie beside her mother.
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LibraryThing member PinkPurlandProse
Many thanks to NetGalley, Bellevue Literary Press, and Andrew Krivak for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of The Bear. My thoughts and opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

A simple yet stunning story that fills you with wonder. No wonder Andrew Krivak won the
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National Book Award for Fiction. His prose evokes every sound in nature so you feel the wind on your face, the crunch of the leaves, the smell of the grass. A father and his daughter in an Eden-like world, long after man has disappeared from the earth. The father teaches the daughter the ways of the land and reminds us of a time when respect for those who we share the earth with was vital. But nature can be cruel and as they travel days to retrieve much needed salt from the ocean, the father dies. A bear who has been passed down the knowledge of human language, accompanies the girl on her travels back home.

This move at a serene pace, with a gentle push forward as the trials and tribulations that living off the land can bring. The relationship between the father and daughter is loving, tender, and so supportive. He is raising a strong independent girl that will know how to survive once he no longer is around. He tells her stories of her mother and the animals with awe and respect. He teaches her well because when the bear observes her, he does so also with respect. He sees the way she kills an animal, thanks the animal spirits, gives back to the land and uses all parts of the animal so nothing goes to waste. The bear helps her survive the trek back to her home. Their relationship is also beautiful and magical. But there is a third character, the land. She can be kind or cruel, is always magnificent.

This is one of those special books that you can read over and over again. Each time you revisit the story, you will find something else to marvel about. I was entranced the whole time I was reading it. It really did transport me to a new world, I was sad to leave the characters and loved the prose. One of my favourite reads in a while.
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LibraryThing member Beamis12
A wondrous take of love, loss and the natural world that remains. A father and his daughter, both unnamed, are the last two humans to inhabit the world. We don't know why, but birds, and animals, plants and fauna as well as fish are still present. The girls mother died when she was a year old, and
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while we don't know exactly where they are living, we do know it is near a mountain and a long trek away to the ocean. The years pass and soon the girl is alone, but only in human companionships, the animals call her the last one.

I just love how this author writes, minimalist, no words wasted but at the same time just descriptive enough. This can be considered a myth, a table, an allegorical take or even magical realism. What it is not is a dystopic novel, though civilization as we know it is no longer present. Nature has reclaimed its own and the animals take on magical properties, or maybe they always had them for those who knew how to listen. Melancholy for sure but at the same time hopeful. We humans haven't managed to destroy everything, despite our attempts to do so, we have only destroyed ourselves. Maybe a morality tale, but a beautiful one.

ARC from publisher.
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LibraryThing member managedbybooks
I really liked the idea of this book, but I hated the format. I understand the author wrote it this way on purpose, but the lack of proper punctuation and structure bugged me the whole time. This was a short, though poignant, book but the format just made it really difficult to get through.

*Book
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received from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review*
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LibraryThing member jmchshannon
According to the blurb, The Bear by Andrew Krivak is a fable. I have no idea whether this is correct. I struggle with understanding fables and allegories and parables, so if there is a lesson to learn through this story, it is not one I bothered to decipher.

Even though I may have completely missed
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the point of the story, I thoroughly enjoyed The Bear. It is simply a lovely story. The writing is gorgeous. The descriptions are beautiful and make this modern gal long for a simpler way of life. Even though it describes the actions and adventures of the last people on Earth, there is nothing melancholic or disturbing about it. Rather, I like it to a commune with nature – peaceful, honest, simple. Lovely.

To be fair, I read this fable about the last two people on Earth before the Covid-19 panic started here in the United States. Still, I think that one could even enjoy it while stuck at home either through self-isolation of state-mandated “stay in place” edicts. So much of The Bear is about coping and making the best of a truly shitty situation. Need I say more?
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LibraryThing member CurrerBell
Novella, not novel, and it might have been a bit trite if it weren't for the fact that we are never told the names of the father and his daughter, which gives the entire tale a mythic quality.
LibraryThing member seeword
Before I started reading this I was sure that I would read a few pages and set it aside. It didn't seem like reading about the last two people on earth was a good idea for a pandemic read. But, oddly, I found it comforting and I read it in pretty much one seating. The writing is mythic and it took
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me out of my isolated state for a few hours. These days any book that I can stay with for more than a few minutes is a winner.
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LibraryThing member arubabookwoman
A young girl and her father are the only two surviving humans. They live on the edge of a lake at the foot of a mountain, foraging, hunting and fishing for food, the father always teaching the young girl skills she will need to survive after he is gone. Each year in the summer solstice, they climb
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the mountain to visit the grave of the girl's mother. When the girl is about 11, her father tells her they must travel to the sea many miles away to replenish their store of salt.

This was a beautiful and moving fable, a story about our place in nature. Although it is about the last two humans and how they survive, I don't think it really fits into the post-apocalyptic/dystopian genre. Rather, it is a lyrical meditation on how we are all interconnected with all other forms of life on Earth.

Recommended. 3 1/2 stars
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LibraryThing member amanda4242
This is the first time I've ever applied the word beautiful to a book about the extinction of the human race. There's no oppressive dystopian government or apocalyptic event; it's just the natural end of a species and the world continuing on in its absence. Highly recommended.
LibraryThing member GennaC
"A quarter moon had long set in the west and to the north shone lights of green and yellow and red that shimmered and waved like water across the upper air of the horizon. She gazed in wonder at the lights, at what could be alive there that high in the sky, and she felt a strength of will in
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her."

Hauntingly sparse and profoundly affecting. Post-apocalyptic in nature, but our context is sparing, allowing the words and the story to be the compass, with not even character names to distract from the heart of the tale. The Bear is about loss, the harsh poetry of the natural world, and the insurmountable journeys we all must take at one time or another. This story will probably not speak to you if you don’t feel a certain affinity to nature and its excruciating apathy, but for those with whom The Bear resonates, it will read like a masterful fable, dense with the lessons of the wild.
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LibraryThing member Veronica.Sparrow
What a beautiful fable! A young girl and her father are the last of the human race in the far future. The girl's father teaches her everything he knows about survival in anticipation of the day when she is alone. After her father passes while on a journey, it is up to the girl to find her way back
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home again. She is accompanied by a bear who helps her find her way through the wilderness.
There is so much depth to this equisite novel. There is the basic story but underlying it are layers of mystical folklore.
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LibraryThing member mysterymax
I have mixed feelings about this book. I read it in one sitting, and all the raves about the beauty and sparseness of Krivak's prose is well deserved. However, the sparseness was a point against the book as well. Too little was said for me. Once the girl had returned home and buried her father's
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ashes the book sort of died. No words were given to describe her feelings of being alone for the rest of her life. Oneness with nature is all well and good, but I believe both people and animals have a need to be with another of their species. Here was a strong-willed girl. She made it back from the ocean. And then she calmly accepts a life of just existing from day to day? It didn't feel right to me.

All that said, it is a book that begs to be reread, to see if there is more to understand.

Bellevue Literary Press included a second book in my package, "A Wilder Time: Notes from a geologist at the edge of the Greenland Ice" by William E. Glassley, which I really enjoyed. It's an impressive press if these two books are any example.
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LibraryThing member evano
A beautiful fable of a future where it's a pair of humans in a veritable Garden of Eden. Only, this is a father and a daughter and they are the last people, not the first. Beautiful, enigmatic, elegiac, filled with solitude more than loneliness and the understanding that someday, one of us may be
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the last.
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LibraryThing member bookworm12
This reminded me so much of The Snow Child. It feels like a prequel to that book. A young girl lives in the woods with her father. The descriptions of the wilderness around them pulls you in though it didn’t have the same impact on me as Snow Child.

Awards

Massachusetts Book Award (Must-Read (Longlist) — Fiction — 2021)

Language

Original language

English

Barcode

9213
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