FEATURED IN THE MARGINALIAN BY MARIA POPOVA (FORMERLY BRAIN
PICKINGS) - A GRAPHICS BEAT MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK
A debut picture book for adults about a bear that elicits immediate,
deep emotional recognition.
"A tender reminder that no one can save anyone, not even with love; that
we only ever save ourselves when we are ready: but love is what readies
us to be our own savior."
--Maria Popova, The Marginalian
Bear, Staffan Gnosspelius's debut book, is a gorgeous visual
meditation on depression. In this deeply affecting, wordless picture
book for adults, a bear is maddeningly afflicted with a cone that covers
his head and that he is unable to take off. He furiously stomps and
yells and tears at the cone, he implores the skies and fate for relief,
he is drawn to dark and wild and scary places. The depths of his sadness
feel like a defeat. It's a battle he wages until he's mentally and
physically exhausted.
Then, one day, Bear hears notes of music, the humming of a friendly
hare. The hare hovers nearby, concerned, sometimes driven away by Bear's
frustration and anger, more often staying close and gently offering
support. The author began drawing a bear with a cone on his head as a
way to make sense of how a person close to him was suffering from mental
illness. The resulting book is both an emotional gut punch and a warm
embrace, recognizable immediately to anyone who has ever suffered or
loved someone who has suffered in similar dark places. In other words,
all of us.
