I can’t say enough about this book. It really took me by surprise. I ended up finding it on Twitter and seeing that it was based in Maine I just couldn’t help it being a former “Mainiac” myself. I had no idea what I was in for!
This book is intense. I have read thrillers before, as well as suspense novels and those that touch on dark psychology, but this was a masterfully written psychological epic. It’s about a girl who finds herself orphaned when her father dies in a mining accident and her mother gets murdered by her rapist pedophile uncle. I know that sounds like a lot to take on right off the bat but it’s not written in a way that rakes you over hot coals, it’s more matter-of-fact, simply put, and moving onward as not to interfere with the pace.
From this tragic background our heroine is then put into foster care in the great state of Maine, which I have to add is perfectly described both in setting and in the backwards attitudes of people she meets. We can see her develop into an adult surrounded by a culture of toxic masculinity that is often perpetuated even by the women around her. It gives a rich and nuanced look of the culture that I find absolutely spot on for the area having lived there myself! From here we follow her life from her adolescence through into adulthood as she tries to figure out just why her uncle was such a bastard. She finds his old, deranged journals and with the help of friends attempts to decipher them. This spins her own life wildly out of control.
I love this book because the complexity of the characters and the sympathy of the narration. I know it sounds odd, but I think this book has had the most realistic female protagonist I have ever read despite being written by a man. It’s a breath fresh air! The main character is flawed, she’s troubled, she makes rash decisions and is not always on the moral side of things, and yet we get no judgement from the narration of either her or the often equally misguided individuals around her. This gives such a sympathetic view into the tough and often impossible decisions women in bad situations often have to make that I couldn’t help but find this book spectacular. The readers become so invested in her emotional life that it’s almost as if the main story, her reading her uncle’s disturbing and often psychotic journals, seems to frequently take a back seat. Still, it’s a really great book, worth reading all 400+ pages. I’d honestly list it as literature because of the depth of the characters, the interweaving of nuance, and the metaphors that are so deeply entrenched in the story. This includes but isn’t limited to – the bear, a real animal (or perhaps imagined) that frames the whole story and gives it an added perspective. And let’s not forget the ending! It took me by surprise and was very satisfying! Perhaps the best independently published book I have ever read. I hope it gains success in the future!
If you’d like to purchase a copy of The Bear you can find it on Amazon where I have it set up to also give me a small commission for getting interest in such a depressingly obscure novel.
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