Louisa Meets Bear

by Lisa Gornick

When Louisa and Bear meet at Princeton in 1975, sparks fly. Louisa is the sexually adventurous daughter of a geneticist, Bear the volatile son of a plumber. They dive headfirst into a passionate affair that will alter the course of their lives, changing how they define themselves in the years and relationships that follow.

Reading "Louisa Meets Bear "is like assembling a jigsaw puzzle, as we uncover the subtle and startling connections between new characters and the star-crossed lovers. We meet a daughter who stabs her mother when she learns the truth about her father, a wife who sees herself clearly after finding a man dead on her office floor, a mother who discovers a girl in her teenage son's bed. Each character is striking, each rendered with Gornick's trademark sympathy and psychological acuity. We follow them over the course of a half century, from San Francisco to New York City and from Guatemala to Venice, through pregnancies, tragedies, and revelations, until we return to Louisa and Bear.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary, Adult, Literary Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Adult Fiction

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 9, 2015

About the author

Lisa Gornick has been hailed by NPR as "one of the most perceptive, compassionate writers of fiction in America...immensely talented and brave." She is the author of an upcoming novel, ANA TURNS (Turner Publishing, November 7), as well as THE PEACOCK FEAST (FSG), LOUISA MEETS BEAR (FSG), TINDERBOX (FSG), and A PRIVATE SORCERY (Algonquin). Her stories and essays have appeared widely, including in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Paris Review, Real Simple, and Slate. A graduate of the Yale clinical psychology program and the psychoanalytic training program at Columbia, where she is on the faculty, she was for many years a practicing psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. She lives in New York City with her family. You can learn more about Lisa and her work at lisagornickauthor.com.

Reviews

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm such a sucker for novels-told-as-interrelated-short-stories (loved Jennifer Egan's "Visit from the Goon Squad," and Elizabeth Strout's "Olive Kitteridge" is one of my all-time favorite books) that I downloaded this without even finishing the Kindle sample. While it was fun trying to figure out where each protag fit into the overall tapestry, something about the stories themselves and the work as a whole left me underwhelmed. I'm definitely not a reader who needs the main characters to be likable or even relatable (and they are not much of either here), but they need to be understandable... Gornick achieves this, but not in a way where I didn't think "so what?" each time. Maybe it was the absence of humor - I don't need a constant laugh riot, but something about the unremittingly solemn tone of each (mostly bittersweet if not out-and-out depressing) story mixed with the almost clinical portrayals of each protag left me cold. I read that Gornick has a background in psychoanalytic psychiatry, so I couldn't help contrasting this novel with Amy Bloom's works, since Bloom is a practicing psychotherapist whose novels feature characters at least as screwed up as Gornick's; while Bloom's stories are not exactly rays of sunshine either, there's just a... warmth? (for lack of a better term) in Bloom's writing that I found missing in Gornick's. In addition, I thought that each character's voice in this work (with the possible exception of the only story featuring a male protag) was essentially interchangeable, despite Gornick's attempts to depict a diversity of ages/socioeconomic circumstances/overall life experiences. Perhaps there was a point to this monotony (we are all the products of our blah blah blah), but it wasn't a point I found interestingly explored. Also, I have to agree with previous reviewers that the links between the stories are fairly weak, rendering this work more of a collection of disparate short stories connected by the loosest of threads - by comparison, the stories in Olive Kitteridge were much more unified in how they strove to illuminate a single seemingly-remote character from various perspectives (that actually succeed in sounding varied) across a span of decades. All the same, I was never bored - three stars for the lack of boredom, for the very nuanced development of myriad relationship dynamics (all the ways we fail our parents/children/lovers, and the ways in which they fail us - this is where psychoanalytic training pays off for a writer!), and for the fact that once a sucker for linked short stories, always a sucker... I just wish I'd been even a little bit transported.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lisa Gornick has a great deal of insight into the human heart, no surprise since she’s a psychoanalyst by trade. Take this: “Your mother,” one character says, “lived like an egg sliding over a Teflon pan.” In just a few aptly chosen words, we get a blazing insight into the character.

The book could be described as a hybrid: not really an integrated novel, but also not a short story collection. Each of the stories is linked to the others, not unlike, say, Tom Rachman’s The Imperfectionists.

In the title story, a young woman named Louisa meets an aspirational student William (nicknamed Bear) at Princeton. That relationship is like the hub of a wheel: other characters who are tightly or loosely connected with them are explored in subsequent stories (and one previous one) until we meet Louisa and Bear once again after life has intervened.

Arguably the best story/chapter, Louisa Meets Bear is also the most personal: Louisa addresses Bear in the second tense, directly speaking to him. As a result, the reader is meant to feel a complicit part of what is happening between them. And what IS happening is a young man determined to escape the dull grind of his lower-middle-class background, pursuing Louisa as if she were an exquisite prize. Put another way, it’s an exploration of an unhealthy love.

We meet Louisa’s cousin’s adopted daughter, Brianna, who travels to Italy with her adopted parents; her father Richard is forced to confront his uncomfortable sexual urges while at dinner with his Peter Pan-like college chum. We get introduced to a significant ex-lover of Louisa – named Andrew – who scares his newly-pregnant wife with an off-hand tale of a horror he experienced as a recent NYU law graduate trying to “do good” in Guatemala. And we meet someone significant in Bear’s future life, a psychoanalyst, who finds a love-obsessed former client decomposing on her office floor.

From time to time, the symbolism gets a little heavy-handed: for example, when Bear’s sister Charlotte gains an epiphany-of-sorts while viewing dinosaurs in a museum, where she accompanies an accomplished blind woman. But for the most part, these interlocking tales are spot-on. At the end of the day, this book – which plays out like a symphony unfolding – is about how we inadvertently disappoint each other and ourselves and yet soldier on, shaping ourselves to endure.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written by a psychoanalyst, this collection of interconnected short stories all feature characters connected to the couple featured in the title story -- family members, friends, lovers, etc. We see how the consequences of one relationship affect others in a ripple effect. Moving sequentially (although sometimes the next story skips back to before the previous story ended), these stories are more conventional and easier to follow than, say, A Visit from the Goon Squad, but appeal to a similar audience. I really enjoyed the characters and the writing style, both were complex and lovely.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

At the very beginning, it seemed promising, with some lovely writing. Before long, I found the sentence structures annoyingly convoluted and lengthy. I was tolerating that because I was interested in the characters. Until I realized I wasn't. At some point, I faced the fact that I just didn't connect with them. At least, not enough of them. And man, were there a lot of them. The book was comprised of stories that were interwoven, with minor characters from one story rising to prominence in another story. I found it tedious. Somehow, for me, their motivations and inner lives didn't come through. They were just names interacting with other names. I dutifully plowed through, but I was weary of it less than halfway in.

[Cynthia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interconnected stories that didn't connect very well for me.

[Robert Blumenthal · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book of interconnected short stories that could all stand on their own. There is no consistent narrative movement, but the stories are chronological spanning over 40 years. They revolve around Louisa and Bill, nicknamed Bear, and their assorted relatives, friends and acquaintances. The stories are all somewhat sparse and very reality based. They are about real humans going through their lives looking for meaning in their relationships with their spouses, children, parents and friends. There is quite a bit of tragedy in these stories, especially in the first few. There is also quite a bit of introspection and questioning of choices made in life and what is best for an individual as he/she proceeds through their lives. The answers are not clear cut and simple. There's not a lot of compelling narrative action in these tales, but the reader comes to really care about these characters and how their lives are affected by events. There's some of Lori Moore and Mary Gaitskill in the writing, and the author reveals exceptional writing skills. This is a moving and intriguing collection.

[Paola Piliado · Rating 3 out of 5]

For the first half of the book, I found the stories very compelling and beautiful. I lost most of the interest when the author started adding more characters and I couldn´t see why until well advanced the short story. I couldn't connect with them until the story was almost over. For the most part, the stories involving Louisa and Bear were the most interesting and finding out that the author is a psychoanalyst makes a lot of sense. I still enjoyed it but by the end, the rating went down for me. Still very well-written and thought-provoking

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

A collection of the common, complicated miseries of a default-life (marriage, children, etc.) resigned to fate. So depressing that this moment of active choice sparkled as I read it: there was a faint but already beating awareness that the moment had arrived when I could choose happiness and, amazingly, because nothing in my past would ever had predicted such a thing, I did.

[Carly Thompson]

I read about 75 pages before abandoning this. Some of the writing was lovely, but I just didn't care about the characters and couldn't get into it.

[Victoria Moss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved, loved, loved it. Just finished and want to read it from cover to cover again. Fantastic story full of characters you care about and can't get enough of.

[Deedee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interconnected short stories with some more interesting and central to the loose story line than others.

[Bill Hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first I did not think I was going to like this. Too much sexually adventurous privileged college students. Then as the characters aged it got interesting.

This is a series of short stories with inter-connecting characters that take place over a 40 year period. It's kind of hard to keep all the connections straight. Many times I went back and read previous passages to remind myself who the characters were. At one point I even tried to make a chart. There was one story I am still not sure how it connects. But it doesn't matter because they mostly stand on their own. Except the last one doesn't make sense if you haven't read at least some of the earlier ones. In fact that last one was my least favorite and i think it was just added to have an "ending".

I wish the male characters had been filled out as much as the females. Insightful and good descriptions.

[Jodell · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, each little individual story could have been it's own story and deserving.
Or maybe the whole book could have been only about Louisa and Bear and what happens to their lives as they intertwine with their future life's. As it was several times I got confused by all the people in the book and a little mad because I wanted to keep reading about Lousia and Bear. The other character that totally got me was Bear's wife. I learned along time ago that true love story's don't mean that they are together in the end. It only means at one point in time they had moments that will never be forgotten and a tender spot in their chest where their heart rest until it stops beating.

[Akeiisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lovely writing in this collection of linked short stories, although something about the style didn't quite work for me. I had a recurring sense of looking through a dirty/smudged window and getting a taste of someone else's life without ever getting a full picture or complete slice of life. Overall 3 out of 5

[Lynn Cornell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever read a book and liked half of it but not the rest of it?
I loved the first half of this book but not so much the last half. It became like a big jigsaw puzzle and I couldn’t keep the characters separated in my mind.
It is a quirky book full of interesting characters and I’m glad I read it.

[Bess Conner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very nice

I don’t know why I picked this up, I don’t usually read short stories but I very much enjoyed these. The interconnection was very interesting and I’m half tempted to reread it to see what I missed the first time. I enjoyed the wonderful fully developed characters and watching for hints as to how they were doing as the years went by.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling, drew me in, but took me most of the book to truly understand the connection between the stories. Difficult to stop/start, as it makes it harder to follow the fragile interconnected threads. Would love to read more from Gornick, especially a short stories collection. I have a feeling that would be masterful work.

[Beverly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some of the stories within the story kept my attention...some did not. I felt like I needed a synopsis of the characters right from the beginning so I could remember who they were further on. I kept hoping I would like it better so I read it right to the end.

[Scoyphenson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the writing and the stories and most of the characters, but I really disliked Bear. He was shallow and cruel and borderline abusive. His appeal was more understandable when everyone was young, but once the characters transitioned into full adulthood it stopped making sense.

[Susan Kinnevy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I enjoyed reading this novel, I found some of the story links a bit strained and I was really disappointed in the ending, which made it seem as though positive outcomes for characters were somehow reliant on a 1950's view of family -- hot chocolate, warm cookies, etc.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short stories are great. You can nibble on them one at a time or devour them in a single sitting. One of the differences in this collection is that they are all connected in some way. Some of the connections are more obvious than others.

[Perry · Rating 4 out of 5]

It has been a while since I read a book of interconnected stories, but I have always enjoyed the genre. The characters and families in Louisa Meets Bear reflect and refract each other. I think Barberini Princess was my favorite of the set, but I liked figuring out how the characters were related.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have to accept I don't care for short stories. They were good but I just can't get fully immersed and involved in them. Not her fault.

[Morgan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Waste of time. Terrible characters, awful plot device.

[Loretta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Won’t be recommending this one.

[Phyllis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very confusing book. Supposed to skip back and forth between generations I think but I just couldn't keep straight.

[Kanella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Complex writing style, you have to reAd every word to process. Can't decide if 3 or 4 stars. The book is different.

[Donald Scarinci · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent book by a great author. Why didn't I read it when it was first published? Good read, enjoyable as it is inciteful.

[Shenna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not the type of book for me…I was not a fan.

[Rochelle Jewel Shapiro · Rating 5 out of 5]

After wowing us with Tinderbox and Private Sorcery, Lisa Gornick had given us Louisa Meets Bear, ten linked stories which can stand alone, each so firmly that they have won awards, such as Distinguished Short Story in Best American Short Story anthology.

Each is a story of passion. Luisa, daughter of a geneticist, meet Bear, a plumbers son, and they plunge (no pun intended) into a stormy affair that affects their choices for years. In other stories a daughter stabs her mother when she finds out the truth about her father. A psychotherapist/wife/mother finds her teenage son in bed with a girl and a man dead on her office floor. A mother who has been separated from her son finds out that he has helped a blind woman learn to play the piano. Gornick paints each character with both unnerving truthfulness and compassion. Just as in the reruns of Law & Order that I compulsively watch, even the most minor of Gornick’s characters have personality. In Instructions to Participant, a mother who studying Social Work goes to a tenement to find a woman she’s supposed to interview. No one answers the bell. A boy sitting on a stoop has just blown his gum into a green bubble. “The boy darted his tongue in and out to gather the gum back into his mouth. ‘Bells don’t work,’” he tells her.

The stories take you around the world—Italy, Russia, Guatemala and are grounded in world events—Nixon’s invasion of Cambodia, the killings at Kent State, the shooting a black teen by a policeman. There is danger pulsing through each story.

What’s most striking is the way Gornick makes time leaps in the story and also between stories. A story’s main character can turn up in a later story as a minor character or the child or lover of that character. As you read, you think to yourself, Hey, don’t I know this guy? just as you do when you run into someone in life.

Writers will want to study the way she describes gestures, bodily sensations. She always stretches for an image. “My head throbbed at the thought, dissolving like a drop of colored water into a pool of oil…” For a literary writer, Gornick keeps you in suspense. Each chapter ends with a quiet wham! Each of her carefully composed sentences is a unit of drama. With masterful asides, she encapsulates a chunk of back story or the dynamics of a relationship. And what a sense of humor! “Despite her Arabian pants and embroidered Mexican blouse, Mahanna looked to Marnie like a girl from Short Hills who needed electrolysis.”

Gornick’s fiction is not only worth reading, but worth studying too. You can learn a lot about writing from her and even more about life.