Nell’s elegy for books as she decides which ones she absolutely needs moved me. The ending of the novel was the most beautiful section for me, as it expresses both a sense of loss and optimism. I was worried that there would be too much violence against women, but the novel avoids the needless wallowing in violence that most apocalyptic books depict, and the one violent incident that does occur is critical for the story. The three male characters all come across as inadequate, and finally the girls realize that they only need one another to survive. The strong feminism of this book may turn off some readers.
The bear is an important symbol who teaches the narrator, Nell, that the forest is not threatening but can be nurturing, life-sustaining and protective. The story is not about the apocalypse so much as it is about women returning to their natural mother, the Earth, and relearning how to live in harmony with nature. What I did not understand at first is how much of a feminist text this is. The ending left with me with a sense of rightness, as well as melancholy, a tone that completely suited this story. Events that before seemed quite unbelievable became meaningful and even beautiful. Once it did, everything clicked into place for me.
This book revealed itself slowly, and it took me quite a while to really understand what it was all about. Two teenage daughters become stranded in their rural California home at the edge of a large, wild forest after the unexplained collapse of society and the accidental death of their father gradually, the girls accept the reality of their situation and learn how to survive off the forest, which is the only resource they have in abundance. “See? All this,” and she swung her arm to encircle the rooms of the only house I’d ever know, “was only a fugue state.” She pointed to the blackness framed by the open door.
“Well, Edison invented the incandescent lamp in 1879.”
“People have been around for at least 100,000 years.
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